Winners of the 2023–2024 Make It With Wool (MIWW) competition brought superior sewing skills, style, and color to their garment entries. Their ensembles, which reveal complex construction, fine sewing, and meticulous finishing, were recognized on the state level in 2023 and then chosen by a six-judge panel on the national level in January 2024.

Check out some of the winning garments by sewists of all ages. The competition’s junior category is for ages 13 to 16; seniors are 17 to 24; and adults are 25 and older. There were 358 entries in the MIWW competition. They were judged on quality of construction, appropriate use of materials, and usefulness of the garments in the maker’s life.

MIWW National Director Karen Weight was impressed by the quality of the garments sewn by senior winner Katie Buhler and junior winner Madi Dunning. “They put colors together well that fit their personalities and style,” she says. “Both outfits are highly marketable and very striking, which takes a good eye to pull all together.”

The ensemble by Jaynie Fader, the adult first runner-up is “fashion-forward, yet beautiful and classy,” the director notes. And Rachel Siegel, the adult winner, “has an eye for giving us the total look . . . and her attention to detail is marvelous.”

The national competition now includes a social media award, which recognizes the entry with the most votes on Facebook and Instagram. A Rhinebeck Sweater Contest also has been created for the 2024–2025 MIWW competition. To find out more about these contests and the at-large award for contestants who do not have a MIWW competition in their state, go to MakeItWithWool.com.

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Winner | Exemplary Construction

Senior division

Katie Buhler of  Manhattan, Kansas

 

A veteran Make it With Wool competitor and a student at Kansas State University, Katie created a versatile ensemble to wear as a graduate assistant.

Katie chose Jalie 2680 for the coat. She shortened the sleeves, drafted a lining, and hand-sewed the buttonholes because the coating was thick.

“I learned how to make four-cord, wax my thread, and sew a secure buttonhole stitch for each keyhole buttonhole,” she says.

The jacket, Vogue 1643, meanwhile, features bound buttonholes. She says she practiced precise cutting and stitching before making them.

Her plaid pants, from Vogue 9189, required significant alterations in the crotch seam to reduce excess fabric in the front waist and hip area. Katie also adjusted the grainline, made a bias-cut waistband, and drafted a lining.

For the top, she tried Mettler Seraflex thread and a stretch stitch, with satisfactory results.

A simple scarf from the plaid pants fabric completed the ensemble.

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First Runner-up

Junior division

Madison Copenhaver of Lebanon, Pennsylvania

 

The search for a cute, yet appropriate, dress for her high school homecoming dance inspired Madison to make her own. The teen based her dress on an image she found online, just as she did for the white coat.

The single-shoulder knit dress features asymmetrical tucks and a flounce. Madison started by combining Simplicity 8870 for the bodice and Marfy 6519 for the skirt. She added tucks and altered the flounce.

“So many people were surprised to find out that my dress was made of wool,” she says. “I think sometimes wool gets a negative stereotype, when really it is breathable and very comfortable.”

Madison altered the neckline of Vogue 9274 for her coat. To prevent the lining’s colorful print from showing through the white wool, she added two layers of cotton interlining. She repeated the cotton layers to conceal the covered buttons’ shiny hardware.

Madison installed contrasting folded bias strips at the lining/facing seams, as a finishing trim. This technique is detailed in “Precise Interior Finish,” Threads #201 Feb./March 2019, by Rachel Siegel, who is Madison’s sewing instructor.

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Winner

Adult division

Rachel Siegel of Lebanon, Pennsylvania

 

MIWW’s 2018 National Adult winner secured a second victory in this competition with a versatile and functional three-piece ensemble.

Rachel, who is a 4-H sewing leader, was inspired to make the lightweight coat by a dotted suiting-weight wool from her stash. The zipper placket, vented cuffs, and gusseted pockets of her chosen pattern, Closet Core Patterns’ Kelly Anorak Jacket, required precise sewing.

Applying the snaps and eyelets was a new challenge,  involving a lot of hammering, Rachel recalls.

Rachel made sure edges/seams along the cuffs, back flap, and front were on grain, as the dotted fabric made deviations distracting.

For the cotton lining, she sewed French, flat-felled, and turned-and-edgestitched seams. “The jacket slips easily on and off, because the lining is attached into the seams and at the waistline casing.” she explains.

Multiple alterations to the jacket and top, including a full-bust adjustment, were needed for a proper fit.

Also to the top, McCall’s 6964, Rachel inserted a single shoulder detail with nailhead embellishment.

For the pants, she carefully copied a store-bought pair from her closet, “which I managed to do without taking the original apart,” she says.

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First Runner-up

Adult division

Jaynie Fader of Gatesville, Texas

Viva Magenta, Pantone’s 2023 color of the year, inspired Jaynie to sew her vibrant outfit. She created the belted shirtdress, felt vest, and heated coat from a set of slopers using Gerber AccuMark pattern design software.

The coat was made with magenta mohair yardage that was in Jaynie’s stash for years. It is finished with leather-bound buttonholes, 3D-printed buttons, quilting, sequins, beading, and pompoms. The coat’s most complex element is hidden: a built-in heater. A USB battery bank powers the heater (a waterproof heating pad), and the wiring goes across the back, down the side seam, and into the pocket, where it can be regulated by a control switch.

The vest is made of laser-cut felt squares, which Jaynie topstitched and embellished with rhinestones, beads, jump rings, and chain.

Jaynie finished the simple shirtdress with a metallic belt to coordinate with the coat’s closure.

The project includes over 1,400 beads, 1,400 jump rings, 400 chains, 1,000 sequins, and 100 rhinestones that were hand sewn.

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Winner | Exemplary Construction | First Runner-up Creative Machine Embroidery

Junior division

Madi Dunning of Encampment, Wyoming

The green Pendleton wool coating that Madi won in a previous Make It With Wool competition inspired her winning ensemble.

“There were only two and a half yards, which was not enough for the coat pattern (Vogue 1752, out of print), so I had to be creative,” the teen says. “I found the black wool and decided to use it for the collar and lapels.”

Madi also used the black wool to create the coat’s three bound buttonholes.

She machine-embroidered floral motifs to accent the coat lapels and back collar.

The coordinating dress, Vogue 8146 (out of print), which Madi plans to wear for school events and debates, underwent some alterations. Madi designed a square neckline, added short sleeves, and lined the garment.

 

Madi has competed in MIWW on the national level for three years and even longer on the local level. She’s been sewing since age 8 and been taking sewing lessons for seven years from former MIWW national director Lynda Johnson.

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Compiled by Jeannine Clegg, Threads managing editor, production.