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And the winner is....





The internet is filled with sewing competitions. Some are sponsored by sewing discussion groups, others are sponsored by textile trade groups and others by fabric retailers. I have until now not entered sewing competitions. Most of them are focused on the kinds of sewing I just don't do.

I am not going to enter a competition where everyone is sewing the same garment pattern- that just isn't my thing. I am not going to bother making a tailored jacket. I am also not going to spend time sewing something that I have zero interest in making quilted postcards.

However, my favorite online fabric retailer Fabric Mart recently ran a contest that was exactly right up my alley.

The contest was to turn this fabric panel into a garment. let me explain what exactly you are looking it. This is a length of white knit fabric printed with three nearly complete dress fronts and three sleeves. you should be aware that the dress front aside from being incomplete, are not symmetrical. They are also printed slightly skewed. Ideally, you want the most stretch in a piece of fabric to go around the body so you can do things like breathe or bend over. Adding to the complication is that the stripes are on a slight diagonal.

I realized that this was a competition that was made for me. It's all about out of the box thinking.


After a whole bunch of head-scratching I made this,




A dress using  2 and 1/3 of the dress fronts 


a bit of red knit from my stash and one of the sleeves split in two lengthwise as the godets at the hem. 

I discovered in the making, that the basic dress pattern shape itself was hugely unflattering so I made a whole series of darts. The fact that the pattern was printed with those off-kilter stripes worked in my favor because the darts perfect mismatched the stripes creating a cool pattern.


Well, the powers that be at Fabric Mart judged the contest. I didn't win. I do get a coupon for free shipping and I also have a dress that makes me really happy.



 

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Comments

  1. Lisa LareeAugust 7, 2020 at 8:32 PM

    I remember seeing the contest announcement....looking at the panel and scratching my head. I finally decided it was a clever way for FM to ditch otherwise unsaleable goods, lol. I need to go over and see if they have a gallery of entries; I would like to see what everyone did with it. Your dress looks great and very you. :-)

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  2. Sarah JacobsAugust 9, 2020 at 9:38 PM

    One of the things that I appreciate about Fabric Mart is that they were very clear that they thought that the contest would be a good way to get rid of the fabric. You can see some of the other entries by either Googleing #fmpanelchallenge or entering that into the search box on FB---Some entries are visible in one place and others in the other.

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