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| Beginner Contest Winners | By Deepika on 9/28/09 5:05 PM |
Announcing the winners of the Beginner and the Advanced Beginner Sewing Contests!
In both contests, the first place was chosen by the judges and second place winners were chosen by membership vote.
Beginner Contest
The challenge for beginners entering the Beginner Contest was to make any sewn item, such as a garment, an accessory or a home decorating project. Look at these outfits. Let's meet the creators of the winning beginner projects:
First Prize: Peter in NYC For Butterick: 4712 Robert L. Green (70's vintage)
Peter in NYC began sewing in June 2009 upon purchasing his first sewing machine. After sewing some smaller projects, he decided to tackle this vintage 70s pattern he bought on Ebay. A novice sewer, he relied on advice from PR members and the Islander shirtmaking DVD to guide him through the project. He used material from a cotton/poly vintage fitted twin bedsheet to create the garment. The shirt has a slim fit. He cut most of the seam allowances down to 1/4 inch (on the pattern) as recommended in the Islander Method DVD and eliminated the buttoned epaulets and patch pockets. He narrowed the collar a little to give it an updated look. | Second Prize: RachelEsq For McCall: 5845 Lined Dress and belt
Although she had previously sewn home decor projects, RachelEsq just started sewing apparel a few months ago. This is her third dress, but the second time she has made this pattern. Inspired by a Trina Turk dress, she used a thick, stretch cotton pique and lined the dress in a pale yellow polyester fabric. Being familiar with the pattern, she felt free to make some adjustments, including adding an invisible zipper for a more polished look and lowering the neckline (using a plate to draw the curve). She made muslin copies of the pattern pieces so that she could more easily match the print. The only reservations she has about the dress are the low back, requiring a special bra, and the 28 darts which make sewing it relatively time-consuming. These 2 dresses turned out so well that she is now thoroughly addicted to apparel sewing! And, she stresses, obsessed! |
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All Beginner Contest Entries
Advanced Beginner Contest
The challenge for the advanced beginners was to make a garment incorporating at least one technique that was new to them.
Check out all the entries for this contest! Now meet the creators of the winning outfits:
First Prize: Miss33 For Patrones Magazine: 272- 09-2008 Coat Sinequanone 41
Miss33 got the pattern for this double-breasted lined cotton duck coat with cuffed 3/4-length sleeves, rounded neckline, belt and pockets from a Spanish magazine. Since she didn't read Spanish, she used her own method for putting together the pieces. Although she liked the cuffs in the original pattern, she felt that the fabric was too thick to support this design, so she eliminated the cuffs. She also decided not to include the wide front pockets, which didn't flatter her petite frame. She particularly liked the rounded neckline and curved front hem because they make the coat lighter and allow the large buttons on the double-breasted front. The cotton duck was too thick for her to fashion belt loops, so she used satin bands instead. She finished the garment off with a nacre belt buckle adorning a fabric cotton duck belt, the first one she ever made. | Second Prize: BeautifulRune For BurdaStyle: Dots Invasion Dress
BeautifulRune doesn't generally like maxi dresses, but when she saw the polyester knit fabric she used and the pattern, she knew it was a dress she had to make. It's a dress constructed from many pieces. She left off the zipper (because she didn't need it with the knit fabric)and shortened the length by 3 inches. She used fusible woven interfacing on the straps and fusible knit interfacing on the under bust band to compensate for the weight of the skirt. It was her first time sewing with a knit. She enjoyed the experience and figures that when maxis are no longer fashionable, she'll extend the life of the dress by shortening the skirt to knee length. |
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All Advanced Beginner Contest Entries
We thank PR member Annette1 for managing both contests. And our beginner contest judges for patiently looking through all the wonderful entries and deciding the winners.
Contests were judged by:
Mahogany Stylist and Elaray
Prizes:
Both the contest winners get a choice of Online Class on PatternReview and a 1 year complimentary Friends of PR membership. The runner ups get a Pattern of their choice and a PR button.
Check out the current contests.
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| Building Trend Files - An article by Jennifer Sauer | By Deepika on 9/14/09 10:12 PM |
Fashion, by its very nature, is change.
The common saying, "To know where you're going, you need to know where you've been" definitely applies to this ever-evolving industry. Here, I urge you to go step further: also know where everyone else is going. Don't get me wrong... I don't mean that you should blindly follow the fashion trends (Hello, fashion victim!). Definitely go your own way. But, to be a successful designer, you need to be unique within the overall context of current fashion trends. As I tell my students, you need to know the rules before you can break them properly.
...read more
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| New Techniques Contest Winners | By Deepika on 9/8/09 6:13 PM |
A big reason why sew our own garments is because we strive for perfection. RTW is not good enough for us. We want things BETTER. And our yearly New Techniques contest is a great motivator!
Anyone, regardless of skill level, was encouraged to enter. Contestants were asked to use a technique in a garment that they had never used before. We also wanted to see their failures in using the new technique as well as their eventual success.
So let's meet the winners shall we? But before we go there, we'd like to thank our judges for their time!
Thank you Marji and Heatherrique! We appreciate the time and care you both took to determine the winner. We know it was not an easy task but you did it.
First Prize: ITAdmin
ITadmin decided to learn about and practice fagotting, a decorative way of joining two pieces of fabric or lace. She
boils fagotting down to three points
a) The method used to prepare the seams being joined;
b) The size and kind of thread used for the joining; and
c) The joining stitch.
She used a corded edge, after deciding she like its look. She then experimented with different types of thread and different stitches, finally trying fagotting on McCall 5587 on pocket and hemline and Simplicity 2858 on pocket and sleeve.
Read all about ITadmin's foray into fagotting here.
Honorable Mentions
Honorable mentions go to: Kayseri and Redhotpepper
Kayseri decided to try corded seams and edges. She drew on links on PR and member reviews to come up to speed. Then she experimented, trying cording placement and finally making a breakthrough with using the Monogramming Foot for finishing her cording. See her review for more details.
Redhotpepper tried a technique new to her: hand topstitching. She made Vogue 8576 and purchased some topstitching thread and proceeded to spend the better part of a week doing all the stitching on this dress that may have cost $10 including the price of the pattern! Check out her review
Many thanks to Nancywin for managing this contest.
Contest Gallery
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| Vote in the Embellishments Contest | By Deepika on 9/8/09 10:36 AM |
Embellishments! That's what sets us apart from the rest. It's our way of expressing ourselves in our own unique way. It's that extra personal touch in an otherwise plain project.
And that's what our Embellishments contest is all about. Tell me that you don't feel inspired by these embellishments!
Contest Gallery
It's the last three days to vote in the Embellishment Contest, so cast your vote today!
Click here to vote
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| Vote in the Beginner Contests | By Deepika on 9/4/09 11:55 AM |
One of the joys of sewing and participating on PatternReview is to be able to share our work with others who are as passionate about it as we are. I am sure you all get super excited whenever you meet someone who is new to sewing and they bring out their first project to share with you. Doesn't it remind you of your own first project?
And this is exactly the reason we have Beginner Contests here on PR.
As I sit here reading all the entries in these contests, I am getting goosebumps just looking at them. These participants deserve a few minutes of your time this week. So take a look at the entries, read the entry notes, check out the photos, read reviews to learn more about their project and then vote for the entry which inspired you the most.
Before I give you the links to the contest gallery, I'd like to extend my thanks to PR member Annette1 for not only managing the Beginner contest, but also for motivating, organizing, helping, AND inspiring our budding sewers on the Contest Boards.
Vote in the Beginner Contest
Vote in the Advanced Beginner Contest
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