Fabric surprises

I ordered some (okay, quite a bit of) fabric online and it arrived yesterday. As often happens with online orders, some of it isn't exactly what I expected. (Some of it's exactly what I wanted, but that's not the topic of the day.) I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but some main pieces aren't as good a match for the garments/patterns I had in mind as I'd hoped, and now I'm pondering what to do with it.

I'd hoped to whip up a skirt or two, at least, and possibly even a pair of pants, for upcoming mainland travel, but the "designer" twills that arrived are... really nice. Luscious, and light, with a nice drape now that they've been through the wash: out of the box one of 'em could only be described as "creepy" to the touch, but it's mellowed out now. The problem is, they're too nice for what I thought I'd make. They cry out for a something tailored and with a sort of minimalist fussiness to show them off, and whatever I make from them will need to be LINED. I did also purchase some lining fabric, but with something else in mind, so it's not the right color. Hmmmm.....

Somehow I managed to order a dark orange ("paprika") stretch twill...

...without realizing it's a polyester/lycra blend, not the cotton/lycra I was expecting. Totally my error: I checked the listing page, and yup, it's poly. If your first reaction is to cringe -- as mine was -- I have to say that this is a very nice poly indeed. This fabric is gorgeous! Anyway, there's a skirt in this book:

that would suit the fabric very well (view G, if you're curious, which just looks like a dark blob in a jpeg). I like the cover skirt, too. That's a Joel Dewberry home dec fabric in the background, BTW, which I will probably also make a skirt from, if it doesn't end up as a hobo bag or pillow cover. If I were a size 2 I'd make jeans from it, but I'm not, and I won't. I can dream, though.

The thing about these Japanese patterns, which I drool over, is that I'm a size larger (at least) than their idea of a large, and at this precise moment I am not convinced I really want to tackle sizing it up. Maybe. I'm going to think about it some more.

Other options include view C (on the left) or B (on the right) of Vogue 7910:

I have made muslins of both of these, and like them a lot. The angle-pocket and side-inset details are very nice, and these fit quite well right out of the envelope (!) without a lot of fussing, which is a huge plus. Except I'd like them even more if they were streamlined (they're quite full at the hem), which will involve fussing. I might tackle one tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'm deep into my first attempt at altering a pants pattern to fit, and it's driving me nuts. More on that later...