Tuesday, May 21, 2013

I am a Laurel contest prize winner!

Hi everyone!

If you surf around the sewing blogosphere, you must have come across Colette's Laurel pattern contest. The results came in and I won the 2nd prize in the "Best use of fabric" category!


Let's have a little flashback. Back in March, Sarai launched what is the biggest sewing contest I have ever seen, to go with Colette's new spring pattern: Laurel. I decided to take part in it! I started with thinking about which fabric I wanted to use. I have sketched at least 15 versions, all crazier than the other. But my mind kept on coming back to the fabric I bought in Indonesia.



During our honeymoon, I fell in love with the process of painting Batik fabric: it is a cloth that is traditionally made using a manual wax-resist dyeing technique (for more info, please visit this page).
I purchased two different silk Batiks, and I decided to use one of them for the Laurel. It has a beautiful print, changing gradually to a beautiful edge print and I knew it would look great along the hem of the dress and also of the sleeves.

I chose to try for the first time the downloaded version, Living in Europe, I found it much easier and our cats had a lot of fun with the puzzle making process! Evidence below!



I had to upgrade the pattern, I went for the size 20 from the shoulders to the waist and for the size 22 from the waist down. I was a little afraid at first because I usually wear dresses that have a clearly marked waist but the quick muslin proved to be a great surprise. All I had to work on was the sleeves. They were a little bit too small. I also prepared my own bias to encase the neckline and the sleeves.



And here is the result! A few photos outside, and a few indoors too! It was really fun taking the photos. It was still quite cold out and there was static electricity, making the dress very clingy! I shook it off a few times, and I hope that my neighbors did not see it :)





I was so happy to see the results this morning! I have watched with a lot of distress all the wonderful versions of your pattern and I was somehow sure that I would not win anything because so many ladies made such a great job! I also thought that the fact that I am a plus size misses was not going to help out.

The results appeared in the morning and I bashed my colleagues ears in! Completely unable to focus on the stuff I was supposed to deal with! This prize made me feel so great about my sewing skills and ideas and also about myself. 







And this is not the only Laurel I made, I will post about the second next time! So tune in!







8 comments:

  1. Congrats on your win!
    It's a really fab make - totally love the fabric, it's gorgeous.

    As another plus-sized sewist, I am glad to read you were able to grade up easily - I've not ventured towards Colette before because of this, but one might just be winging its way to me soon...

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  2. Congrats!
    I saw your Laurel on the Colette site and thought it looked wonderful. I've really enjoyed seeing everyone's take on this pattern, and I like your lovely Batik!

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  3. This is a really cute dress. You made an excellent choice for your beautiful fabric.

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  4. I was so excited when I saw your entry on the colette blog - I recognized you right away! *I* thought you should have won first, but maybe I am biased... :) Congratulations!

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  5. Gorgeous!!! You did an amazing job with the material, so happy to see you won (and to see a new post!)

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  6. Totally in love with this!!!

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  7. This is really cute on you! I love the fabric you choose and how it fits you. This definitely proves that this pattern is flattering to a plus size woman. You did a great job on this!

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