It’s been an amazing last month watching all of these incredibly talented women sewing their very best creations from The Cottage Mama Sewing Patterns. The talent and creativity within the online sewing community always astounds me and the women who’ve entered The Cottage Mama Sewing Contest are truly an extraordinary bunch. If you haven’t gotten a chance to take a look at all the entries, you must check them out over in The Cottage Mama Patterns Group on Facebook. They will definitely inspire you in many ways.
But, because this is a contest, the 200 entries have been narrowed down to 15 The Cottage Mama Sewing Contest Finalists. You can read the original post all about the contest by clicking HERE. And just to remind you what an amazing prize package these ladies are competing to win, here it is:
The grand prize package includes a Baby Lock Imagine Serger with amazing jet-air threading as well as incredible fabric bundles from Riley Blake Designs, Michael Miller Fabrics and Dear Stella Fabrics. A grand prize package worth over $2000!
The contest is open for public vote (see poll at the bottom of this post) which will be 25% of the finalists final score and the other 75% of the score will come from our celebrity judges Nancy Zieman and Martha Pullen:
So without further ado, here are the contest finalists (in no particular order):
1. ‘Cupcake Cutie Dress’
Sewn by Victoria Edwards
(read more about this creation HERE)
2. ‘Constellation-Class Dress’
Sewn by Andrea Rebholz
3. ‘Colorful Sweetheart Dress’
Sewn by Lydia Enticott
4. ‘Blue Flower Dream Dress’
Sewn by Laura Johnson
5. ‘Georgia Peach Vintage Dress’
Sewn by Frances Suzanne
(read more about their creation HERE)
6. ‘Witches Brew Dress’
Miss Matilda Dress and Top Pattern
Sewn by Angela Erickson
7. ‘Little Darling Dress’
Georgia Vintage Dress Pattern (with hand smocked sash inset)
Sewn by Chari Price
8. ‘Mr. Cruiser Romper’
Sewn by Suzy Sebastian
9. ‘Gold Carousel Dress’
Sewn by Linda Smith
10. ‘Little Lamb Dress’
Sewn by Amber Willis
11. ‘Dapper Fellow Romper‘
Run Around Romper Pattern
Sewn by Stacey Morales
12. ‘Halloween Night Dress’
Sewn by Crystal Dekker
13. ‘Country Chic Dress’
Sewn by Katie Leatherwood
14. ‘Pink Princess Dress’
Sewn by Rebecca Chapman
15. ‘Seven Dwarfs Dress’
Sewn by Lisa Ellefson
Aren’t these finalists incredible? Please vote for your favorite The Cottage Mama Finalist in the poll found below. The voting will be open through Thursday, September 18, 2014 10:00PM (CST). The winner will be announced on Friday, September 19, 2014.
Throughout this week we will have a HUGE fabric giveaway sponsored by The Cottage Mama blog sponsors as well as additional blog posts featuring many of The Cottage Mama Sewing Contest entries that didn’t make it into the finals. Since there were 200 entries, I really want to share more of this talent with you all. I also want to thank everyone who entered and made this contest such a fun experience. It gives me no greater pleasure than to see you all use The Cottage Mama Sewing Patterns. Again, if you would like to check out all the entries for yourself, please visit The Cottage Mama Patterns Group on Facebook.
I’m so glad I don’t have to pick the final winner! Good luck to all the finalists and happy sewing!!
VOTING HAS ENDED
(Winner will be announced on Friday, September 19, 2014 at 5:30AM (CST))
Lindsay Wilkes is the owner and designer behind The Cottage Mama. She creates timeless, vintage inspired sewing patterns for children’s clothes. She is also a fabric designer for Riley Black Designers / Penny Rose Fabrics, author of the book ‘Sew Classic Clothes for Girls’ and can be seen teaching nationwide and online in her video series ‘Lessons with Lindsay’ sponsored by Baby Lock Sewing and Embroidery machines.
Congratulations to all the finalists!! This was such a fun contest, I hope there will be more in the future. It’s so exciting to see what everyone comes up with! It gets the creative juices flowing in all of us. Thanks for the opportunity! I can imagine what a tough decision it will be for the judges, I had a hard time now just voting for my favorite of the 15 finalists!! Very difficult to choose! Thanks again, Lindsey, this was just LOADS of fun!
Hi Lisa,
This was so much fun!! I really enjoyed getting to see everyone’s creativity and their amazing use of these patterns. All 15 of these finalists are winners in my eyes, I don’t know how it’s possible to choose just one!!
Inspiring designs! I must say I love the little boy rompers as well. Good luck to all the contestants! I’m so glad I stumbled across this site from someone talking about the dresses up for the contest. New resource!
Thanks for stopping by……I really appreciate it!!
Beautiful!
Gosh, I don’t think I can pick just one! They are all so beautiful and I’m glad someone did a little dude! Looking at everything through the “gonna be a grandmother” eyes LOL. Congratulations on all the entries. Very talented. Hugs, Deb
Thanks so much, Deb!! Great to hear from you! xo, Lindsay
WOW so many beautiful outfits! That georgia vintage dress pattern is clearly a favourite foe a showstopper dress! Good luck to everyone.
That must have been so hard choosing only 15 out of 200!
The Georgia is probably my favorite pattern that I’ve ever created. There are so many ways to change it up and get creative, yet it’s incredibly classic. Thanks so much for stopping by! xo, Lindsay
The best part is that the pictures don’t even do the dresses justice. This pattern is amazing. I have a big box pattern I bought last year to make Elora a Christmas dress. It’s staying in it’s package… the silk and velvet is going to be another Georgia Vintage. I love it!
They are all so gorgeous! I really love the gold carousel dress. How do I get in touch with the creator of the dress? I want one! Thx 🙂
Hi Katie,
The dresses are not for sale, but you are welcome to join The Cottage Mama Patterns group on Facebook and try to reach her in there. Thanks so much and have a great day!
Thank you so much! I’m not in the business of selling any of my creations presently, but if I ever decide to in the future I’ll let you know!
Can’t vote as I like them all way to much, Great job to all they are absolutely beautiful. No favourite sorry:)
I know……they are all so amazing!!
My favorite is the Little Lamb dress.
It is precious.
Victoria Edwards has emerged to be one of the top creators of children’s clothes. She uses her knowledge and her heart to make the best choices of patterns and cloth. Milania is the perfect model for the wonderful dresses her mother creates.
Oh Grandma! Don’t make me blush. So nice of you to comment. Love you ♡
I was wondering if the choices for the finalist were all professionals. I see some have very fancy sewing machines with embroidery stitches and other specialty features for scalping, gathering and smocking.
Do you think you would consider having a contest for just non professionals?
It can be discouraging knowing that someone who is learning to sew does not have any chance at making the finales.
I see some who entered did allot of detail work by hand. How can someone with a basic sewing machine compete with pros who have all the best machines?
Maybe if you have a contest again you would consider having different entry levels (beginner, intermediate, professional ).
I am one if the finalists and a non professional sewer with a 2 year old and a part time job, only been dress making since February, so if I can get in the final anyone can Rad
I am a finalist as well (Pink Princess Dress), and I’m not a professional either. I work a full time job and sew as a hobby for my friends and family with kids. The reason why the finalists and everyone else who entered has amazing garments is due to the pattern. The pattern is easy yet looks professional. And other additions (gathering and such) are simple to add in once you mastered their technique.
For mine, I laid out each piece of ribbon over the white satin pattern piece I cut, pinned the ribbons and used a wavy stitch to stitch it with a very basic sewing machine. If you look closely you can see it, but it was just an idea out of the box that I had. That’s the amazing thing about sewing. Your imagination is your limit. And if you can pin it, you usually can sew it, shaping fabric to your will.
Try one of these patterns and you’ll be surprised how well it turns out. If not, join the Facebook group and ask for advice. Compared to commercial patterns (which I’ve had my share of) these patterns are simple and beautiful. Try it. I bet you’ll be surprised with your results. =D
I am also a finalist and non-professional. I work full time and have a three year old. It’s almost impossible to find time to sew. I did the hand-sewing and beading work at night in front of the TV when the little one was sleeping. That said, though, when I saw the entries people were posting the week leading up to the deadline, I almost decided not to enter. I felt like there was no hope for someone without a blog or a professional photographer. But my friends convinced me to do it anyway, and I’m so glad I did!
I am also a finalist and not a professional. This is only the 3rd piece of clothing I’ve ever sewn. I learned to sew by making bags and crafts through patterns, tutorials and videos. I learned a lot from reading other contestant descriptions and goggling the techniques. Lindsay’s patterns are wonderful and fit great!!
Wow! You’re an inspiration to us all 🙂
Also a finalist (constellation-class dress) and non-professional! I have a full-time job and two little kids at home, a <$150 Brother sewing machine, almost entirely self taught (barring some VERY helpful starter lessons from my mom!) and have only been sewing for a year! I sewed my entry over the course of the entire month available, but was able to spend only an hour or two at a time, a couple times a week. I made several drafts for fit and to check my alterations/details, and spent a good amount of time practicing the new skills I taught myself for this dress.
Sewing beautiful things even for us IS possible with the right patterns (thanks Lindsay!), practice, patience, more practice, more patience 🙂 and careful attention to detail. Give it a try!
Also a non-professional finalist here. I have a 2 year old and 5 year old and a pretty basic machine. This pattern is fantastic on it’s own. The details just add our personalities. The contest was announced a while ago so we had time to spend on working on our designs. I have only been sewing for 4 years, casually, as a hobby. It’s just fun to get creative and let it flow!
I too am a finalist, and I’m definitely not a professional. I have a 3 year old son and my daughter is 17 months (my model for the picture). I paid for the monogram on her bib and used a basic singer machine to sew my dress. The reason I entered the contest was to not only challenge myself but to hopefully win the serger! I want one so bad!
Yep, I’m not a pro either. I have some experience sewing basic stuff, but only started sewing clothing a bit over a year ago (well aside from some clumsy and frustrating attempts over the years… thank God I didn’t take pics of those!!). I sew on a 42 year old Viking sewing machine that was my grandma’s and a $199 serger. I really think the patterns make the garments look so good! It is pretty awesome that it could appear that the finalists were pros! I am convinced that a few of the finalists, as well as some of the other contestants, could TOTALLY hang their shingle as a sewing pro, though!
Another finalist here that is not a professional ;). I am a busy working mom and love it when I get the chance to sew. I learned the basics of sewing as a kid in 4-H with my mom as our leader. I didn’t start sewing again until my late 20s and have since spent time learning pouring over different techniques and ideas and through LOTS of trial and error. My seam ripper and I are tight! I borrowed my sister’s fancy camera and brought lots of skittles to make my pictures happen. It also helps to have great patterns that have loads of possibilities built right into them, your imagination is the only limit when it comes to sewing.
My sister and I are also finalist AND very non-professional {Georgia Peach Vintage Dress}. Basically, we took a gorgeous pattern and added details. We own two sewing machines – one is low-mid range and the other cost $100. This dress could have been created using either machine. We used 3 stitches – straight, zig-zag and button hole, and two needles (70/10 and a twin needle). All the embroidery work and fagoting was done by hand and is far from perfect. Truly, if we can do these techniques anyone can {it just takes patience and time}. . .and we still need practice to perfect them which was one of the reasons we decided to participate in this contest. We wanted to challenge ourselves to learn new techniques and improve those that needed practice {and we love Lindsay’s patterns, and it was an excuse to make an Easter dress for a niece and the list goes on and on. . .}! YOU CAN DO IT!!
I’m a Finalist with the #7 Little Darling and not a professional either. I sew only for my 3 kids and birthday gifts for my nieces & nephews. I also took my own photos of my daughter in the dress I made. There is definitely some amazing talent in this contest, no doubt. *Everyone* put a lot of detailed work and planning into their entries and should be proud of their creations.
Wow. These dresses are so beautiful. I think just about any little girl could find ‘the perfect dress’ out of this group. Nice job ladies.
So many lovely dresses! The cupcake cutie one stood out the most to me as one of a kind and makes me NEED that pattern now. But all the finalist did such amazing work. Good luck with choosing a winner Cottage Mama!
Congratulations to the finalists, and also to all who entered Lindsay’s contest. I was happy that I made a dress for my niece. I will make more of Cottage Mama’s patterns and by seeing all the gorgeous outfits, I have learned more about fabric coordination – you can use different prints and patterns in the same outfit and have it turn out beautifully!
Thanks, everyone!
Jaw dropping talent here!
Wow, I am so impressed with all of the finalists! I’m sure it was difficult to even narrow it down to 15. I haven’t sewn much in years but am heartened to see what is being sewn now with such wonderful patterns. The variety of creations from just the Georgia Vintage dress pattern alone is amazing. The Gold Carousel Dress brought a real smile to my face with happy memories of our town’s carousel that our family has ridden over the generations – from my great-grandparents down to my grandchildren.
Thank you Cottage Mamma for giving us a chance to view these wonderful creations.
I love how everyone is claiming to be “non-professional”…rrriiight. lol That said, there are some beautiful dresses in this competition. I personally love the “Witches Brew” dress, it was nice to see someone break away and try a different pattern. Not to mention the fact that I love Riley Blake fabric and it just gave me a great idea on how to use the Witch Hazel line… sooo cute!
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