The Cottage Mama Sewing Contest

I’m pleased to announce the first ever The Cottage Mama Sewing Contest!

I have been blown away by all of the incredibly talented women who sew from my patterns. I thought it would be fun to have a friendly competition with a big grand prize to honor all of your hard work and creativity. So I’m announcing the contest today, however, I wanted to give you plenty of time to get creative and have time to sew so the entries aren’t due until September 12, 2014. Check out the Contest Celebrity Judges further down the post…….I’m so excited to have both of these ladies as the judges for the contest!

• Select an independent The Cottage Mama Sewing Pattern and create a one-of-a-kind look. Free patterns and book patterns are NOT eligible for this contest. You can use a Cottage Mama pattern you already own or purchase one of the ten patterns available here on the website or in The Cottage Mama Etsy shop. Each pattern contains 3 – 4 different variations, so there will be plenty of ways to get creative!

• Join The Cottage Mama Patterns Group on Facebook and upload one photo of your sewn creation (please include the name of the Cottage Mama pattern that was used) to the album labeled The Cottage Mama Sewing Contest. Please only upload ONE photo. Additional photos will be removed. You may make a photo collage, if you prefer. All photos uploaded to the contest album are eligible to be shared on The Cottage Mama blog, so please only enter the contest if you are comfortable with your photo being shared online. All entries must be received by September 12, 2014 at Midnight (CST).

• The group of 10 – 15 finalists will be selected from the album in The Cottage Mama Patterns Group on Facebook and the finalists photos will be revealed on the blog on September 15, 2014.

• Judging: The garments will be judged by our celebrity judges, Nancy Zieman and Martha Pullen, and that will count for 75% of the score. Then we will allow the general public online to vote and that will be 25% of the total score. Judging is based on originality, style, details, photography and garment construction. Once those scores have been calculated, the winner will be announced on the blog on September 22, 2014!

• If you have additional questions about contest rules, please post them in The Cottage Mama Patterns Group on Facebook and they will be answered over in that group.

• Contest is open internationally.

So here is what you are competing for during The Cottage Mama Sewing Contest! The winner will receive this Grand Prize Package (valued at $2000) that includes the following:

• Baby Lock Imagine Serger: If you’ve never sewn on a Baby Lock serger, I can assure you that it will be love at first stitch. Can you imagine how much easier your life would be if you didn’t have to thread your serger? Well, look no further than Baby Lock’s most popular serger! This serger includes the incredible jet-air threading technology and is a dream machine.

• Three Fat Quarter Bundles from Dear Stella Fabrics: Includes a fat quarter bundle of Nutmeg, Woodwinked and Oh Happy Day!

• Spring Couture Fat Quarter Bundle from Michael Miller Fabrics: Includes 30 Fat Quarters of solids in an array of beautiful spring colors.

• Two Full Yard Bundles from Riley Blake Designs: Includes a 7 yard bundle of Girl Crazy in Cream and a 6 yard bundle of Fancy Free in Pink for a total of 13 yards of fabric!

There will also be a large giveaway from our Contest Giveaway Sponsors (Crafter’s Vision, Spice Berry Cottage, Pink Door Fabrics, The Palmetto Baby and Fabricworm) during the week of September 15 – 19, 2014 that I think you all will really enjoy. Some of these sponsors have decided to offer you a discount code for purchasing from their shop starting today through September 20, 2014.  I encourage you to check out their shops……..they all carry a wonderful selection of fabric, trims and notions! Here are the discount codes:

Crafter’s Vision: 20% off with code GOODLUCK

Pink Door Fabrics: 10% off with code COTTAGEMAMA

The Palmetto Baby: 10% off with code PALMETTO10

Spice Berry Cottage: 10% off with code CM814

All the discount codes will be live today, August 11, 2014 but if you have any difficulty, please contact the shops directly.

And I am SO pleased to have Nancy Zieman and Martha Pullen joining us for this contest as our celebrity judges! I look up to and admire both of these women greatly and they are truly legends in the sewing industry. As I’m sure many of you know, Nancy Zieman, is the host of the PBS show ‘Sewing with Nancy’, has written countless top-selling sewing books, has a fantastic line of sewing tools and notions and so much more! Martha Pullen is responsible for bringing children’s heirloom sewing into the mainstream with the creation of her company, The Martha Pullen Company. She also was the host of the PBS show, ‘Martha’s Sewing Room’, creator of the Martha Pullen School of Art Fashion and Liscensing events and has just recently released a top-notch business book under her new venture, Pullen Business. I feel so blessed and honored to know both of these incredibly talented women and am thrilled for all of you that they will be the ones judging your beautiful creations during this contest!

So I think that I’ve covered everything here. Again, if you have any further questions, please feel free to ask them over in The Cottage Mama Patterns Group on Facebook. I hope you all will enter and I cannot wait to see your beautiful sewn creations!

Good luck!