Over 200 people made bags to enter in my Sew Sweetness 2017 Bag Contest last month, and let me tell you, it was incredibly hard choosing winners! So many bags looked so wonderful, and to everyone that entered – you are all winners in my eyes, not only for making the deadline but for putting your own original spin on one of my patterns by choosing fabric that meant something to you and pairing it with a bag pattern that would be useful to you in your everyday life! I hope you will visit the linky and browse all of the entries!
As a reminder, these were the prizes:
- (Best Overall) – Janome DC2015 sewing machine from Pink Castle Fabrics MSRP $699
- (Most Creative Use of the Pattern) – $300 gift certificate to Sew Sweetness
- (New Bag Maker – less than 1 year of making bags) – $100 gift certificate to By Annie
- (Best Use of Cork or Glitter Vinyl) – $100 gift certificate to Sew Sweetness
- Random Drawing from all IG entries (use these two hashtags – #sewsweetnesscontest and #sewsweetnesspattern) – Amethyst Bag Supply Kit + $25 gift certificate to Sew Sweetness
- Random Drawing from all entries – Kismet Trinket Boxes Supply Kit
- Random Drawing from all entries – Aeroplane Bag Supply Kit
Thank you so much to the sponsors for making this contest possible! And thank you to my best friend Kim (who is very particular with her sewing projects) for helping me judge!
Best Overall – Theresa Phillips for her Sublime Bag
We had a huge list of bags that were up for Best Overall, it was so hard to choose just one. We chose Theresa’s Sublime Bag because of all of the attention to detail used in the bag – the combination of fabrics pulled everything together so well and really captured the flavor of the bag. It clearly has a southwest theme, and the middle fabric panel and the outer side panels (which remind me of a Western saddle) pair nicely with the aqua vinyl and brass hardware. The hardware also lends a feeling of uniqueness, from the added rivets, the custom strap tabs, the special zipper pull, and the tassel and added rivets.
Most Creative Use of the Pattern – Tie
Jordan Lyons for her Amethyst Project Bag
Michelle Tripp for her Hyacinth Bag
Jordan made her Amethyst Project Bag with purple glitter vinyl, which is brave enough, but she also added these beautiful paper-pieced paint tubes to the front of the case, showing off her quilty skills as well. I was really floored by Jordan’s additional of the second zippered compartment on the bottom (which I know takes some brain power to figure out, as it wasn’t part of the original pattern). All of the art supplies fit so perfectly!
Michelle made the Hyacinth Bag using an Alison Glass large-scale print for the front of the bag. This is one of my favorite bags to carry because it is a slim design, yet has so much storage space. Michelle created brilliant patchwork vertical strips using Alison Glass Sun Prints fabrics and accented them with peek-through grommets. How absolutely clever!
New Bag Maker – Gert for his Reisende Bag
Gert made the Reisende Bag as his entry, and as he has been sewing bags for less than a year, this was our unanimous pick for Best New Bag Maker as I know that this is certainly not a beginner level bag pattern. The piping looks absolutely beautiful and Gert has added a slider to make the bag straps adjustable. Just so well done!
Best Use of Cork or Glitter Vinyl – Lori Peoples for her Amethyst Bag
Lori made her bag using glitter vinyl and combined it with the Tumbling Block weaving tutorial from Mr. Domestic. Fabric weaving is commonly done with the Wefty Tool, but Lori noted that she did not need to use the tool for fabric weaving with vinyl because the vinyl is a firm material. So beautiful!
Random Winner Instagram – Aeroplane Bag by larafed12
Random Winner – #72 Kismet Trinket Boxes by Michelle
Random Winner – #169 Hey Mercedes Bag sewn by Dresden Lane
Congratulations to all of the winners!!
Don’t forget that Pink Castle Fabrics is pleased to offer the Janome DC2015 sewing machine at a sale price of $599. Looking for a different Janome machine? They have a ton of others in stock also, including this embroidery machine that I’ve been thinking about.
I am amazed at that Hyacinth bag- I LOVE the grommets especially. Congratulations to everyone!
Great to see the results of your competition, congrats to all the winners! Thanks also to you Sara and the lovely sponsors for such a great contest. I really enjoyed seeing all the awesome bags!
Dear Sara, thank you very much for this great contest, and a huge thank you for picking my bag as 1 of the winners! I really didn’t expect to win, I’m thrilled about it! Making this bag certainly was a pleasure to do, I’m sure I will make some more bags in the future. Thanks again, to you and all the sponsors. And all the other winners: congratulations 🙂
those were some pretty amazing bags!! I think everyone did a beautiful job!! Congrats to all you winners!
Congratulations to all of the winners! Very well done. And thank you to Sarah and the other sponsors for such a fun contest.
Amazing entries and very worthy winners! Congratulations to all!
They r truly winners
All those bags are awesome!! Congratulations to the winners!
I am beyond excited that my bag made the Best Overall in this contest! I really only wanted to challenge myself to see how I would do, and get some feedback. I have been sewing bags for 2 years and am absolutely addicted! And the patterns designed by Sara are so above board, with such great attention to detail, that can be the only reason I did so well on this Bag! Thank you Sar for your awesome patterns, and a great big thank you to Pink Castle fabrics for such an amazing prize!
WOW!!! So much talent represented in the winning bags! Was so much fun to participate! Thanks Sara!
Congratulations to all of the winners!!! It was fun and we all have great bags to enjoy!
Congratulations to all the winners! Such beautiful bags no wonder it was hard to choose winners!