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Second Challenge: Who Made it Best?

If you thought the first challenge was awesome, they knocked it out of the park with this one!
We gave them a difficult challenge this week. We select a pattern that for them to use. We challenge them to make it appropriate for them. We allowed them to alter the pattern to fit their body and personality.
Make sure you take a few minutes to vote for your favorite design!

Here is what they made:
The words I used from my personality that inspired my dress are 'Feminine,' Polite' and 'Flirty.'
I love being a woman and being feminine.  Nothing screams femininity to me more than a delicate floral dress. I love classic silhouettes because they are timeless and because the can be so polite and proper.  Theses are qualities that have become quite rare.  Finally, this dress represents my flirty quality!  Who doesn't love a flirtatious exchange from a stranger every once in a while?
I used cotton swiss dot (from you guys!!) and fully lined the dress with a cotton/linen blend.  I used a dotted nylon netting and for the yoke.  I added a cotton eyelet lace to the hem for some extra girliness!





This challenge was the perfect opportunity for me to make a "cocktail-type dress that I need to wear to a dressy function I will be attending next month.  The name "ELEGANTLY FUNKY" came to me immediately for the look I wanted. 




Audrey from Sew Tawdrey
The two words I am submitting that describe me  to inspire my  look are “classic” and “confident”.
The Salme dress pattern was used as a starting point to make a fitted dress in the classic fall colors of burgundy and gray. The fabrics include a pinstripe wool worsted and a lt wt challis.  They were combined with a stretch lace in the same colors. The dress is fully lined in rayon.





Shannon from Shanni Loves
My dress represents my retro fun side.  I've always had a love for vintage and I'd like for more of my clothing to reflect that side of my personality.  To imitate a vintage style dress I switched out the pleated short skirt with a full gathered skirt .  I also altered the sweetheart yoke to fit more of my personal taste.  I made the bow belt as a fun addition to the dress.  The main fabric of my dress is a retro cotton print.  The yoke is a slightly sheer white solid embr & eyelet.  Check out my blog post for more pictures and details of the dress construction.  http://shanniloves.blogspot.com/2013/09/fabricista-challenge-2-retro-fun.html     





My words are ARTSY CASUAL. I made the dress as a denim duster and I slightly reshaped the front yoke to be more flattering for my busty, 50+ silhouette. I made the denim lace for the front and back yokes, and for the tops of the pockets. I also made the earrings. I clean finished the inside. 





Diane from Gatorbunny Sews
 
CHEERFUL AND STRONG are the two words I use to describe myself.  I don't consider myself a particularly moody person (please don't ask my husband if he agrees) and most of the time I try to be cheerful.  And strong…..well, I think everyone should use that word to describe themselves.
After choosing my words it was easy to come up with the idea for the dress.  I went to the fabric store to buy black and white ponte knit and came home with the very last piece of turquoise baby wale corduroy.  I don't know how it happened but it did.  This is the story of my life.
I loved working with this pattern because it was so versatile.  I made quite a few changes including:  changing both the front and the back yokes of the dress,  removing the back button opening, making a square neckline, narrowing the  shoulder, lengthening it 2" and lining the bodice.  The alterations took it from a party dress to a jumper I can wear all winter with a black t-shirt underneath.  I stitched out a Jacobean embroidery design on the center front for my CHEERFUL and added charcoal studs at the yokes for my STRONG.
When I was finished I said to my son "Look at this dress with the embroidery and studs and tell me what you think the two words are that I used to describe myself."  He said, "Happy and you're a stud?"  Well, it's close I guess.





Meghan from Made by Meg
Like any girl, I lust over a number of pretty little dresses like the Salme Yoke Dress. But in the foggy Bay Area, I've learned that the days to wear sundresses are few and far between. So to make this pretty little thing my own, I switched up the fabric for fall, which really is the best time of year around here. And never one to leave a pattern exactly how it is, I updated the yoke with my own little twist: appliqueing the raised velvet pattern to the silk organza yoke in order to show off the organic shapes in the fabric. The sheer yoke is bound with matching bias tape and finished with french seams at the shoulders, and the dress closes with an invisible zip. I lengthened the bodice to fit and the skirt for more formal occasions. The result is pretty, but with my own little twist. 




Tina from Glamspoon
My two words to describe my style are "bohemian" and "romantic" ...  I sewed up the pattern as is to see what I was working with...  I decided to use a neutral cotton base for the main part of the dress, and use a chiffon print on the yoke. I then added the same chiffon print to lengthen the dress with a peplum ruffle. As for changes to the pattern, I lowered the neckline into more of a boatneck, moved the zipper to the center back, adjusted the hemline to be slightly hi-lo, and instead of a button closure I used jewelry findings.




Kathy from Kathy Sews
My words that describe what inspired my look: Comfortable & Contemporary.  I converted this simple, special occasion party dress pattern intended for woven material to a design for an everyday knit garment.  My goal here was to make a good fitting, comfy, wearable, (an almost) everyday, cold weather dress.  I sew and wear knits constantly-- it was inevitable that I re-work this for knits to make it my own!   I used a printed poly/spandex sweater knit (it's so soft and a little fuzzy!) and a cotton/spandex black knit.  After re-drafting both the bodice and skirt to exclude the zipper, keyhole on back, the sweetheart neckline and very full skirt,  I added long sleeves, pockets, wristbands, a new neckline finish and moved the darts to echo the new front yoke.  For lots more on how I made this dress go to my blog Kathy Sews.




It's time to vote for your favorite design!
Voting ends on Wednesday, the 25th, at Midnight.

( We will be judging here too on a more technical level, paying attention to craftsmanship, fit, appropriateness, how they represented their two words, etc. )

VOTING IS NOW CLOSED

Comments

  1. I have a question... How come the first entry on your blog post shows so many pictures of the garment but the other contestants only have three each? I would like to see more photos of all the garments.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is the way they submitted their photos, they collaged them as one image. Therefore they have the same amount of photos, just some choose to collage their images and others did not. We do not mean to under-represent anyone.

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    2. They are all so wonderful it would be great to see multiple pictures of all of them.

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  2. This was a tough one, but Shannon's is cute. But Meghan was a close contender. One for day and one for night. Wish we could vote for 2.

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  3. I think it would have helped if you had showed us what pattern was used for the challenge !! Great job everyone. It was a tough choice.

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    Replies
    1. You can see the original pattern on the previous post of the actual challenge: http://blog.fabricmartfabrics.com/2013/09/second-challenge-announced.html

      Delete
  4. Almost IMPOSSIBLE to choose! In my opinion, there are three that are equally beautiful... in very different ways!

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  5. I am enjoying these challenges Love seeing how different people use the pattern, the changes they made and the fabric they choose. ''Thanks for letting us see the results.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The contest and the contestants are a lot more fun to follow than I was expecting.
    I think these contestants are more talented than most of those chosen for the Great British Sewing Bee.
    Great idea, Fabric Mart!!

    (and I agree with Patsy - including the picure of the pattern in this post would be easier for readers, comparing to scrolling back to the previous post.
    Also, I agree with those making comments about the photos - best to keep it as fair as possible and show the same number of photos for each contestant - after all, we can click to their blogs for more of the nitty gritty)

    I hope this becomes a recurring contest - I love it!

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  7. Tough competition. Congratulations to all the ladies who entered the contest. The dresses look great.

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  8. This is a really fun competition! I can't believe how different everyone's garments are! :)

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  9. I love following your challenge and I am in awe of the creations the contestants come up with. I have one problem with the contestant that doesn't model her dress. How can I tell if it fits. Maybe it doesn't and that is why shots were posted of her dressform instead? I cannot vote for a dressform fit.

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  10. I, too, thought 3 of these were outstanding, and all the rest were well done. I might have responded differently of I had know what pattern they were working from.

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  11. I LOVE Shams look, so different and well made. Keep up the good work gals!

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  12. Such a pity that we can only vote for one instead of our favourite three. they are all so beautiful and I love they ways the sewists have interpreted and altered the pattern; it is inspiring. I am thrilled to see such a young style given a bit of maturity.

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  13. So hard to choose. All of the entries show imagination, skill, and knowledge of personal style!

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  14. I thought when I first saw that pattern that this would be a particularly difficult challenge and the results bear out that impression. It just doesn't seem to be a pattern that is well suited to many women.

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  15. Really tough choice - all beautiful dresses! I plan to go check out the original pattern, and make one myself - sot of a cross between Audrey's classic and Meghan's pretty creations!

    ReplyDelete

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