Sunday, July 6, 2014

Did someone say “Contest”?

If you have read my blog for any length of time you know that I participate in sewing contests.  Sewing with a Plan (SWAP) contests, internet fabric vendor sponsored contests, and the wide variety (Pantone color, accessory, vintage garment, etc.)  of contests found on  Pattern Review.   I participate more for the challenge than the prizes, which are usually minimal.  

 The American Sewing Guild  (ASG) announced an Anyone Can Win Contest in early June.


 Every ASG member who entered a garment had a chance to win, regardless of their sewing expertise or experience, because the winners were chosen at random.  The only requirement was that the entries had to be made with one of ASG's Simplicity patterns.  I had Simplicity 1621 in my stash, purchased for the jacket which has a interesting collar that can be adjusted by pulling a drawstring.




This contest was all the incentive I needed to sew the jacket.  In addition to the jacket, the pattern includes a sleeveless tunic/dress with a fitted top, with  flaring below the bust on  all seams; side, center front and back.  It also has a Hi (in front)  Lo ( in back) hem. I decided to sew the dress too, so I would have two garments to submit to the contest and have a complete outfit to wear.
  
The jacket is made out of very lightweight open weave linen with a dégradé from rusty orange to dusty purple.

 I should call this my” rusty, dusty” outfit.  The fabric was horribly ravely and shifty. I  used French seams, but instead of sewing the first 1/4 inch seam using a straight stitch, I used a 1/4 " wide serger stitch to stop the fraying and sew the seam in one operations .  While I wouldn’t use this technique on finer fabric, because of the weight the serger threads adds in the seam, it did not adversely  impact the side and sleeve seams of this jacket. I added 2 inches to the length of the jacket, because I thought it looked a bit too short on the real women in the review pictures on PR, and  I needed the extra length in the jacket to get the full range of colors in the fabric.



Simplicity 1621 Jacket
 
 
 The dress shown on the front of the envelope, which I think is made of a woven fabric, has a unattractive bell like silhouette. I decided to make it out of a knit, hoping the weight and drape of the knit would improve the appearance.  My dress is made out of an inexpensive  T-shirt type knit. The cut edge of this knit curled like a spring. It was sooo annoying to work with.  Rather than finish the neck and armhole edges with bias trim as the pattern instructs,  I cut  facing pieces using the dress pattern.  I cut the facings off at the under bust  elastic casing line (for the view B top).  I added elastic, cut to my under bust measurement, to the bottom of the facing piece which added a shelf bra to the dress. The finished dress was sort of boring. While I was trying it on DS2 passed through the room, en route to forage food in the kitchen, and he asked me "Are you going to bed?" I was really puzzled about his question until I realized I don't usually make or wear this style of dress, but I do wear straight hanging garments in T shirt knits as nightwear.   To liven up the dress,   I hand overcast the seams on the outside  in contrasting rust colored  embroidery floss.    I knew the overcasting  would  create a raised ridge, taking up about 1/8" of the fabric on each side of the seam.  So I sewed the seam allowance corresponding smaller,  at 1/2" so as not affect the fit. I also cover stitched the hem and around the neck and armholes in the same color thread.

Simplicity 1621 dress
 
overcast seams and cover stitch hem

 
 
Simplicity 1621 dress and jacket

 The contest entries were due on July 1st. No announcement of winners or pictures of the garments submitted are on the ASG website at the time of this post. I do like the jacket and was actually surprised to find I like the look of the jacket worn with the dress. I am not so sure I would wear the dress by itself. It echo's my body shape a little to closely, small on top, lots of volume below the waist. Maybe with a killer statement necklace to draw attention up.   I am also not sure this is a work outfit. The jacket with a coordinating tank top ( where did I toss those scraps?) and slacks would be great though.

























16 comments:

  1. I love the jacket and dress combo! The fabric choice is perfect. I own this pattern because I wanted to make the dress but your dress has shown me that maybe this is a pattern I should pass on. Good luck in the contest!

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  2. I like the dress on you. It looks so comfortable and breezy. I think it would look cute belted to with a thin belt. A statement necklace would look nice with it too.

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  3. I agree, not a fan of the dress on its own. Yet it looks great with the jacket! The jacket is fun and works really well with the fabric. Really nice outfit.

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  4. Well you should win. That jacket/dress combo is gorgeous!

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  5. I would totally vote for this outfit, the jacket adds shape and structure. I love the colors and fabrics together as well.

    For me contests are a curse, life gets in the way and TNT's turn into complete flops. Good luck to you, you handle them well.

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  6. I love this jacket! The dramatic collar and shifting-color fabric are so very beautiful!

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  7. I love this combo! That jacket is fabulous and honestly I never even noticed that drawstring detail on the cover. Can't wait to see if you win!

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  8. Love your choice of fabrics for this outfit. The degrade linen works so well for the jacket pattern. That collar is so nice. It's a great focal point in the ensemble. Looks great on you, too. Gorgeous!

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  9. Great combination. That hemline is just subtle enough to be on trend while still looking flattering.I like it on you.

    I have that jacket pattern calling to me as well. It's great to see your interpretation.

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  10. I don't think I've ever not come to your sight and not totally swooned at your latest make. This is fighting for equal position of loveliness with your previous pink and white striped top. They look wonderful on you!

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  11. Such a nice ensemble...I looked at the ASG patterns and never even noticed that jacket! I'm going to have to add the pattern to my collection.

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  12. I made both those same pieces from that pattern and have to say I like yours a lot better than mine! My daughter co-opted the dress for a nightgown. At least it's being worn!

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  13. I am really liking the dress! I think it's flattering. The heft of the knit gives it great drape. The jacket fabric is beautiful, too.

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  14. I love this! I've been tempted by that jacket for years now but only buy ensemble patterns where there are at least two pieces in them i want to sew. I love how you added color to the dress, it reminds me of an alabama chanin garment. Have you considered adding more embellishment similar to one of those, perhaps some knit appliques?

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  15. I love all things ombre and these two pieces work so well together.

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