Indie Pattern Month – announcing the sewing contests!

When we announced the June challenge as being Indie Pattern Month (for the second year – woo hoo! It’s officially an annual event now!) we mentioned there were gonna be some sewing contests.

Since here at The Monthly Stitch we’re all about giving you plenty of time to plan and prepare what you’re going to make for the following month’s challenge, we thought it only fair to tell you all about the sewing contests a month ahead of time as well. So, now’s the time to find out what they’re all about!

(If sewing contests aren’t your thing, don’t worry – there will be the usual challenge theme (indie pattern!) running for the whole month as well. The sewing contests are just something a little bit extra for anyone who wants to take part in them!)

There are going to be four sewing contests during Indie Pattern Month – one each week. Each one has a theme, sponsors, and some amazing prizes.

Contest one, June 1-7

Theme: Dresses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We’re starting with a nice, easy one. Just make a dress, using an indie pattern! Simple, right? 😉

Sponsors:

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Contest two, June 8-14

Theme: New To Me Indie Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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For this one, make a garment using an indie company that you’ve never used before. (This also includes muslins and UFOs – if you’ve sewn with the company before at all, even if you didn’t finish the garment you were making, it doesn’t count. Go on, choose another one to try instead!)

Sponsors:

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Contest three, June 15-21

Theme: Franken-Indie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Combine more than one indie pattern to make a garment. You can mix and match patterns from the same indie company, or mix it up and use patterns from two or more indies. As long as you use at least two indie patterns (and only indie patterns!) to make your garment, you can include it in this week’s theme.

Sponsors:

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Contest four, June 22-28

Theme: Indie Fan-Girl, Level: Ultimate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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To finish Indie Pattern Month with a bang, make an entire outfit using one indie pattern company. Unsure what makes an outfit? Two or more garments. Got a favourite indie pattern company? Show the world how much you love them and dress head-to-toe in their designs for this week’s contest!

Sponsors:

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How will it all work?

Each contest runs over the course of a week during June. During that week, anyone who wants to enter can by writing a post about their entry on The Monthly Stitch and selecting the contest category for that week. At the end of the week, we’ll do a round-up post of all the entries, and open it up for a community vote to choose the winners.

Winners will be chosen by a combination of community votes, and votes from the judging panel (the Monthly Stitch editors, and the sponsors for that contest category).

Voting will be up for five days, and after that we’ll announce the winners on The Monthly Stitch (and email them as well, of course!)

There are multiple prizes in each contest category. We’ll tell you a bit more about them a bit closer to the time (after all, we can’t give away all the details all at once, now can we? 😉 ), but we can say they’re pretty awesome! Each of our amazing sponsors has donated a prize for the category they’re sponsoring, so if you’re curious about some of the things that may be up for grabs, go check out their websites (just click on their logos above) and have a look.

The rules

Like any good contest, there are a few rules for these ones as well.

Firstly, we need your entry post to be of a good quality. The more photos and details you include, the more people will learn about what you’ve made, and the better chance you have of being a winner! Posts must include the following:

• A minimum of three photos (that have been inserted using URLs, not uploaded to the blog directly please – we’ve got a tutorial here for how to do that)
• A feature image (here’s a tutorial for how to add a feature image)
• The contest category selected (so that we know it’s a competition entry post!) We’ll tell you the categories at the start of each contest week so you don’t forget which one to use.
• Information about the pattern/s you used: the brand, the name/number of the pattern (you might also like to include a description, image, and link to the pattern page)
• What fabric and notions you used
• Any pattern alterations/design changes you made, and what (if any) you’d make next time
• How you found the instructions. Were they easy to follow?

We’ll make a template for posts so you don’t have to remember all of this – it’ll come out nearer the start of June. (Also, since this is all the sort of information people are interested in anyway, feel free to use the template for any other Monthly Stitch posts you make! 🙂 )

All entries need to be made for the sewing contests. While you can start planning and making now, anything blogged about or made before the sewing contest can’t be entered. We’re looking for new creations – this is all about encouraging people to sew with indie patterns. 🙂

Any indie pattern will count, from any indie label. If you’re unsure of what’s out there, here’s a list of indie pattern companies. There’s a few to choose from!

And finally, your sewing contest entry must be blogged about on The Monthly Stitch during the week the contest is running. For example, if you’re entering the Dresses contest, you need to get your post up on The Monthly Stitch between 1 and 7 June. (Note: this means you need to be set up as a contributor so you can write posts. This is super easy to do – just fill out the form at the bottom of this page and we’ll get you a login.)

You can enter as many of the contests as you like, and enter as many times as you like. As long as each entry follows the rules and is a new garment/outfit, go on and submit it!

Time to sew!

So, are you excited? We are! 😀

We’d like to give a big shout-out to Sew Independent who organised sponsorship from Salme, Teach Me Fashion, and Stitch 56.

Keen to get sewing but unsure what to make? Well, we’ve got another treat for you! Dresses and Me have given us a 15% discount code, especially for Indie Pattern Month. Dresses and Me is an online boutique store dedicated to indie pattern brands. They stock such gorgeous designs as Simple Sew patterns, Victory, Cake, Sewaholic, and the new Colette designs. Want to buy something to make for Indie Pattern Month? Use the code IPM2014 and get your 15% off.

Diane Ericson Design is also offering 15% off patterns to get you going on the challenges. The code is MSJUN14 and is good now through 15th of June 2014. Just add items to the basket and enter the code in the bottom left box before you checkout.

Do you think you’ll enter any of the contests? Which one are you most excited about?