The national Make It With Wool competition (MIWW) promotes wool’s beauty and versatility and recognizes excellence and creativity in garment sewing and knitting. Garments must be made from fashion fabrics and yarns that are at least 60 percent wool-including specialty fibers, such as mohair, alpaca, camel, and llama. Contestants compete in skill categories and age groups: 13- to 16-year-olds compete as juniors; those 17 to 24 compete as seniors; and 25 and over compete as adults. State winners advance to the national judging round, which is in January. The Adult and Fashion/Apparel Design winners are preselected and receive all-expenses-paid trips to the national competition to model their creations. Here, Threads highlights seven individuals who won awards in the January 2016 national judging round.

National Fashion/Apparel Design Winner

Erica Medrano
Houston, Texas

After seeing the dramatic work of last year’s Fashion/Apparel Design winner (see Threads no. 182, Dec. 2015/Jan. 2016), Erica says she felt her 2016 entry needed to wow the contest judges. Her distinctive design, creative use of embroidery and three-dimensional appliqué, and her bold color choices achieved her goal. Erica says she was inspired by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo’s love for colorfully embroidered, traditional Tehuantepec women’s clothing. “I wanted to capture her [Kahlo’s] essence by creating a vibrant, free-spirited garment for the modern woman,” Erica says. Erica drafted the coat pattern, designing it with six full-circle hem godets, a wrap front, princess seams, and a notched collar and lapel. The coat is made from black Melton wool, which gives weight, body, and movement to the voluminous godets. She used machine and hand embroidery to create the colorful wool-felt flower appliqués, some of which are layered for a three-dimensional effect. Erica hand-cut each appliqué and hand-stitched each in place; the placement is symmetrical on the coat front.
-Stephani L. Miller

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