It was a tough choice, but the Threads editors put their heads together and poured over the 90 entries we received in our Summer Sewing Challenge–Express Yourself in Linen. But, one entrant in particular stood out from the crowd with not one, but a few, standout garments made in linen. We had to choose just one winning garment so with that, we’re proud to announce that the winner is Trishapat with her Mother of the groom dress. We were wowed by the foliage inspired embellishment along the neckline made from bias tubes of linen. There’s an architectural, yet subtle, graceful quality to the dress that we all agreed was perfect for the occasion in which it was designed. Congratulations, Trishapat! We hope you enjoy your new 1100D serger from Janome.
Check out her beautiful dress below, along with some of her other stunning creations. In addition, we’ve chosen a few of our other favorite submissions to share with you. There were so many great garments and beautiful designs it’s always hard to pick just one. We hope you are as inspired as we were in looking at all of these amazing linen garments!
WINNER:
The winner of the Express Yourself in Linen Challenge: Mother of the groom dress by trishapat.
Another beautiful creation from our winner: Pinkish heirloom with flounce collar by trishapat.
RUNNER UP:
Although there isn’t a runner up “prize” we felt compelled to don this Cherry Blossom Dress by Couturegirl as our official runner up. We love beautiful neckline with hand-sewn bias trim detail in contrasting red fabric and the juxtaposition of the adorable cherry trim with the taupe linen. Kudos to this fun and beautifully constructed design.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
In this seemingly simple Great White Shirt by Sewista, handkerchief linen was embellished with smocked, beaded, and embroidered inserts at the waistline and on the collar adding an exquisite detail.
The elaborate cutwork on this ensemble, aptly titled On the Cutting Edge by evek, deserves a special nod.
It warmed our hearts to see our inspiration in action in this Tailored Linen Suit and Shoes by Shoofly. The shoes were inspired by Threads article “Custom Covered Shoes” in issue 144.
We had to give props to this Linen Jacket by SewMath, which was inspired by our Bias Topper article in Threads issue 143.
We loved the handpainted asymmetrical detail of this bias cut dress by Ixchel Amor by ixchel.
This Safari-style suit by Sew1_knit2 looks like a professionally made designer garment–perfect pressing and tailored details.
Check out the beautiful pinstitching in this Heirloom Linen Blouse by Sewista.
Thank you to all of the entrants! Look for more Threads challenges to enter soon.
It was wonderful to see all the different linen creations in this contest. What fun!
Hey, that winning dress already won a big contest last year over at patternreview.com (the create your own pattern contest).
It's a nice dress, but I thought the rules stated that any entry must be previously unpublished. I would think that winning a major contest at the biggest sewing site on the web counts as "published."
Hi flowerfeathers,
We consider previously published content to be materials paid for by a website or magazine. Our intention is to keep the contest competitive by excluding professional works in the contest. Hope this answers your question.
-Vicky
First of all, thank you to the editors at Threads and to all of you for the kind comments.
There were so many great entries, so much inspiration and so much talent. It was a great contest. In this context, I am truly honored.
Patricia ( trishapat)
Dear Flowerfeathers,
I can certainly understand your concerns. It does sort of seem like "double-dipping".
I wondered about entering things that have been shown on pattern review also – so much so that I wrote to the editors to ask about it before putting this into the contest.
I'm glad you brought it up since there may be others who frequent both sites and who might wonder about the same thing.
Patricia ( trishapat)
I wanted to give a heartfelt thank you to the Editors for placing my garment as "Runner Up". I was pleasantly surprised and am honored. Thank you, as well, to the kind comments. This challenge was fun and very inspiring. There is great talent out there. Pamela (Couturegirl)
Congratulations to all on your wonderful creations. So many lovely projects to peruse. :o)
Congratulations to all the contestants and winners - such great works and inspirations - I must learn to think "off pattern" or "out of the box"! I must take exception to this comment by the site, tho: "This Safari-style suit by Sew1_knit2 looks like a professionally made designer garment--perfect pressing and tailored details."
LOOKS like??? I'd say it most certainly is a professional job - not LOOKS like it IS!!! Us home sewists are just as professional as the ones who work for the big names! Sometimes even more so... I have picked up pricey, high end and designer garments at the big dept stores and have been very disappointed in the quality of the construction and materials! Having someone ask, "Did you make that yourself?" should be a compliment, not an insult!
That being said - I again congratulate all the contestants for their bravery to put themselves on a public forum and look forward to the next contest!
Happy Sewing, Laura
Laura--you are absolutely right. It IS a professional job. I would also agree that most often, garments made by home sewists are better than store-bought because of the attention to detail and overall contstruction. We didn't mean to imply otherwise. The point we were trying to make here is that this garment in particular was so perfect in its execution, that it actually looked like a commercial garment in the most positive way.
Love the first one, it rocks, i think anyone can try doing it. Thank you so much.
This is a great year for engaged couples to set a date for getting married... I think the mother of groom dress has a pretty embellishment on the neck line!!