One Pattern, All Week

Alrightly. So, as previously announced, this week I've been taking part in Tilly's OWOP! project: to wear a garment each day from one of my favourite sewing patterns for a whole week. My pattern of choice was Simplicity 2451 (pictured above). I promise I'm going to stop blogging that damn pattern envelope picture now that this week has come to a close!

Day 1 coincided with the Spring Brighton Craftaganza! Here I am pictured with the irrepressible Rehanon who so kindly volunteered to help me make the event go with a swing. If you're interested at all, you can check out more photos from the event here. The lovely Handmade Jane also came to Craftaganza and was rocking one of her OWOP! skirts.

But back to the outfit. On Day 1 I wore my piped denim version of this pattern with my Mariner T-shirt, mustard cardigan and awesome Bebaroque tattoo-print tights. The main benefit of wearing this outfit was the pockets which I unconsciously jammed full of thumb tacks, balloons, business cards and other event-organising detritus.

Day 2 was spent trying to recover from the previous day's craziness by enjoying a walk around Brighton with my London-dwelling homegirl Silvia and Patty. Subsquently, the outfit was incredibly unimaginative consisting of the bandstand/foliage version with a black stretch top and my usual secondhand mustard cardigan. This outfit combo is so boring and predictable, in fact, that I was forced to find a giant lobster to stand next to in an attempt to make this photo interesting enough to prevent my dull outfit from making you fall asleep. Plus, despite the unseasonably warm weather, this outfit really wasn't warm enough so I changed into my usual slogging around wear as soon as I got home. I really can't relax and be properly comfy when wearing skirts, and Day 2 reminded me of that.

Day 3 and back at work. I don't know if this outfit entirely looks particularly good for my age or body shape, but I was basically pretending my piped denim skirt was a pair of jeans and combined it with what I normally would for a Monday. Here I'm rocking it with my remade Peter Pan collar sweatshirt. Simples.

Day 4 and I am reminded just how much I love the Big Flower vintage fabric version! It's just soooo pretty. Sometime when I'm wearing it, I catching myself looking down and staring for awhile. It's the most gorgeous vintage print design and I think the proportion of the design on this little skirt is pretty quirky and unexpected. Plus the pocket and yoke details break up the print just enough to avoid the print wearing me, rather than me wearing the print. Sadly, once again, I failed to come up with a more interesting outfit combo than my black stretch top and mustard cardi. Damn it.

Day 5 and I was back to pretending I was wearing jeans. This time I rocked the denim skirt with a remade jumper. This outfit feels like I'm pretty much ready for anything! Not sure why.

Day 6 and a sneaky-peak of a new garm! I'll introduce it properly soon, but this stretch peplum top created a new outfit combo with the bandstand version and ever-present mustard cardi. The thing that is annoying me most about this photo is that the top and some of the skirt tones, are actually really amazing jade/emeralds, rather than the flat turquoise my camera has interpretted.

Day 7 and the final day of this week of skirts. Today I came up with a different pairing for my vintage Big Flower version with my stripey long sleeved T-shirt and mustard cardi. If I've learnt anything from this week, is that I really should give that mustard cardigan a bit of a break! The colour just seems to work with so many things... Anyway, I'm not really sure if this outfit looks ok, either in terms of garment combination or on my figure. But I definately don't think it looks bad in either of those terms, so I'm happy.

Anyways. So, a week of Simplicity 2451. A week of skirts. As you may already know, I was NOT looking forward to wearing skirts all week. It was actually a far more pleasant experience than I predicted once I found that one of my pairs of trainers looks ok when worn with skirts, and that I actually own more pairs of tights that I thought. The unseasonably warm weather also meant I wouldn't freeze, plus I had more outfit options than if it's been a standard March week.

This pattern was a great one to do the OWOP! project with. The pockets are so useful, particularly because I've been suffering hard with hayfever recently and they have provided me with an easy and portable supply of tissues! I have also come to the conclusion that I prefer the shorter length. I hope everyone else had a great week, whether participating in the OWOP! project or not.