The OWOP Challenge…A week in outfits

What is the OWOP challenge? Well, it stands for One Week One Pattern and it’s a daily, week-long challenge aimed at sewists over on Instagram. The idea is to wear garments for the week based on one pattern. You can wear one or two items and style them different ways or you may have lots of pattern hacked garments made from the same pattern that enables you to wear a different one every day. Sheona is running the challenge this year and full details are on her blog over at Sewisfaction.

It’s a great way to get creative with styling one item of clothing or to change up a pattern and create different design features on it. Some sewists decided to make a few brand new things for the challenge and others to just make outfits with memade clothes that they already have in their wardrobes.

OWOP for me was kind of a no-brainer, in that, I have several pairs of pants/trousers that I’ve made over the last year or so from the same basic pattern. You see, some time ago I decided to perfect a basic pants pattern so that I could use it over and over again. I’d become so fed up with the fit of RTW pants and jeans because of my wide waist, flat butt combo, and I’d had enough of trying to alter everything I bought.

Well, about 9 years ago I did a short pattern drafting and design course that resulted in a diploma. Whilst I really benefitted from the course and it taught me so much about how to adjust patterns, I don’t really draft from scratch these days and to be honest, can hardly remember some of the complicated techniques used…but, I did draft a basic pants block for the course and I still have it. The style drafted was for a straighter slightly wide leg, but the crotch curve and length and some of the basic measurements are relevant. What I did was to combine that block with a pattern that I took from a slimmer fit RTW pair that wasn’t too bad a fit….several muslins later, lots of research and much teeth gnashing resulted finally in pants that fitted….huzzah!

How about I guide you through my OWOP outfits?

Day one was my printed corduroy straight leg style pant… The fabric that I bought as a remnant from Jersey Fashion, has some stretch and is very comfy. This pair has a contoured waistband and a fly front zip but no pockets anywhere.

Day two are my cream jeans. These are the same style as my ivory ones seen in this post where you can read about how I made them. I just tweaked the pocket a little on the cream jeans by raising the opening. The fabric was from Empress Mills.

Day three are my burgundy red ankle length pants seen before in this post. Again these have a fly front, they have a contoured band made in the same way as my cream and white jeans, and I’ve added seaming details around the knee area. I got the idea for the seams from a pin I found on Pinterest some time ago. 

Day four is a jogger hack of my basic pattern. The top of them is made exactly the same as day two and three. Then from the knee down, I widened them a little so that I would have enough fabric for a little fullness. I finished off the bottom with tucks and side zip. I really want another pair like these, so I’ll try to do that in the new year and write a proper blog post on the making process. By the way, you can see them style differently in this post too.

Day five. I’m channelling a bit of an equestrian vibe here in more of a legging style and knee-high boots. This variation is very plain. No pockets, just a high waist and a very simple fold-over waistband with a fly front. I cut the legs quite narrow with a bit of negative ease due to the stretchy nature of the fabric which has lots of widthways stretch but no vertical stretch.

Day six. More olive fabric (from Jersey Fashion) This time in a stretch woven jacquard design. These have a side inserted a concealed zip and a 2.5” deep contoured waistband. I also did the same knee seaming detail as my red ones.

Day seven… A date night look. And I’m cheating here a little as I’m not actually wearing this look until the middle of next week when Hubs and I celebrated being together for 20 years. It’s the anniversary of the day we met 🙂 The design again is very simple. It’s just a fold-over band and a fly front with no pockets for a streamlined silhouette. The fabric is exactly the same as the skirt I showed you last week.

So there you have it! I really enjoyed doing this week-long OWOP challenge. It was fun to style different looks and made me realise just how much I really appreciate having my basic pattern. It really is a TNT for me. Thanks to everyone who’s followed along on Instagram and thanks to Sheona for organising it all. Looking forward to next years OWOP!

Don’t forget to let me know in the comments if you enjoyed doing the challenge yourself or following others along on Instagram,  or if you struggle with pants/trouser fit. Oh and tell me if you want me to write a post about what alterations I do for my particular figure type too and I’ll try to oblige.

Thanks for reading, see you soon!