With her second contest submission ever, zephyree managed to win her second contest in a row – and she was miles ahead of the competition, too. Her very feminine pleated dress was a crowd pleaser from the very beginning. If you would like to find out more about the girl behind the design, just read the previous blog entry with the interview we did with her after she won last month’s contest!

As much as we love zephyree‘s winning entry, this doesn’t seem to have been our most popular contest so far. With the lowest number of submissions since the “Sew your song!” challenge a year ago, we cannot help but think that our “Pure Elegance” subject was a bit too hard. And we do need your help here, everybody – did we set the bar too high this time? Or was the theme just not inspiring enough? Do let us know! We’d really like to make this as much fun as possible for all our members, so we need to hear what you’d like to see more of in the future and what just doesn’t work for you guys.

For the current contest we decided to go for a subject that has come up in the forum and e-mails to us a couple of times. This time we’d like you to send in designs based on characters from your favourite books. This should be something that a lot of people can relate to, so we really, really hope that we get lots and lots of beautiful and original submissions. Do you feel inspired already? Then join the fun now!

In the meantime we are catching up with the patterns. Up next is Eva’s dress from our shoes contest – from what I’ve seen so far this one is going to be a stunner and definitely something to look forward to!

Kisses,

Kim

We always look forward to getting the interview answers from our contest winners. On one hand it is great to see how different the people are who come here to download our patterns and – if we are lucky! – join our contests. Reading their stories and slowly, one by one, finding out who our community members are is just so exciting! On the other hand we often see ourselves in these answers. The reasons why people start sewing, the love for beautiful fabrics, the little problems with our body shapes…

We hope you like these little interviews as much as we do. Today we’ll get to know the winner of our “Top Priority” contest: Style Rockstar zephyree. Enjoy!

I’m a 27 years old french girl, working in a research institute. My job is to organise symposiums and workshops, welcome visitors, present our research domains… I’m always on the front line and need to be lovely, nice and elegant every day (which is not always easy, we all have bad days – well, i do!). I live in a little apartment in the east of France, in a very small village with nothing to do when you’re not 80 years old or don’t have children. Bus rides through the countryside with “Granny Tours” or summer camp with your child’s class, that’s your choice.
I love sketching, SF movies, writing some stupid novels and cooking. When i was younger I enjoyed creating pearl necklaces and bracelets.

I was always attracted by the dark, artistic side of life. I also do sports regularly and go to the spa with “partners in crime”, we then spend the whole afternoon lying on our bellies waiting for massages.

And two years ago I started learning how to sew. One day, just like when you say “I’m going to eat an apple”, I thought: “I’m going to take sewing lessons!” (That’s when my husband told me I should stop taking up granny hobbies – but it was the beginning of what I plan to be a long story!)

My main reason to start sewing was to get some special clothes that would also fit me. I’m more like Joan Holloway from Mad Men rather than Kate Moss, and I always had troubles finding pants or dresses that really suited me. I really can’t say I sew to save money, because when I look at the fabrics I choose and how much they cost… ooops!

I still have a lot to learn, especially in the pattern area, I can take a pattern (Burda, Simplicity…), follow instructions and make some minor modifications but I can’t create a pattern from scratch. I bought books about this, and I’m trying to make some simple tops alone. What is really frustrating is that I have a notebook full of sketches of dresses, skirts and tops, but I don’t know how to make them. I see exactly the kind of fabric I want, the way the fabric will fall, the shine, the movement, but I don’t have the skills to draw the pattern and make this dream comes true. But maybe in a few years…

I’m also building a little blog (I’m still working on the design now) because I want to share what I learn, what inspires me, some cool online shops, tutorials I saw… I’m planning to write step by step articles about creating clothes, a kind of “let’s learn together” approach: what I am doing and why, where I encountered problems and how I solved them…

The address is http://www.ouipatrons.com – in French “patrons” means “patterns” but also “boss” so it loosely translates to “obey the pattern”, because the patterns are always right!

To everyone on Your Style Rocks!, thank you for your entries on the different contests, I really enjoy browsing the sketches and seeing all the different interpretations we have of the same few words!

We have a winner for our “Top Priority” contest and again it’s a Your Style Rocks! member from France!

zephyree‘s submission was the last to enter the competition and yet she managed to get the most votes for her “very feminine cowl neck top“. And a beautiful design it is: inspired by the fabrics surrounding her in her sewing room, zephyree created a simple yet sophisticated layered top.

We particularly like the way she gives us some insight on the story behind her entry as well as a selection of accessories that would go well with the finished piece and a pretty good idea of the fabrics she would use, so we can really see why you guys voted her submission the winner of this contest.

Having said that, there is one thing that we don’t quite understand: considering the number of visitors we have on our website each day (hundreds), there is a relatively low number of people casting their votes (87 in two months). We would really like to understand why most of you guys out there (over 4.000) don’t use the opportunity to co-determine which patterns we should publish next. Of course we are always open for your ideas and suggestions, be it via e-mail, in our forum or as a comment in the news section, so if there’s anything you would like us to improve, please talk to us!

Anyway, zephyree‘s simple and elegant piece inspired us for the next contest, which is titled “Pure Elegance”. The name says it all – this time we would like to see your ideas for elegant pieces reflecting purity, simplicity and minimalism (in shape, colour or construction). We are aware that this might be a tough challenge for some of you, because it is quite open yet it doesn’t leave much space for frills or overly intricate details. But, as always, rules are made to be bent (not broken ), so we’re very, very excited to see what you make of this theme!

Kisses,
Kim

We couldn’t believe our luck today when we stumbled upon the perfect fabric for the skirt portion of rma‘s “50s fashion” entry to our “Past Perfect” contest!

Just look at it – what a fluke!

Kisses,

Kim

We are almost ready to publish the pattern for Everywear Tails, lila_‘s winning design for our “We Love the Cold” contest, so here is a little preview – an early prototype of the waistcoat:

What do you think?

Kisses,

Kim

PS: Don’t forget you only have a couple of days left to vote for your favourite entry in our current contest. There are some fantastic designs to choose from, so make sure you cast your vote before the end of the month!

It took a while to get all the info together on our latest Style Rockstar cherryplum. But we finally made it, so please read on to find out everything about the girl who won our “Join the Dots” contest with her super cute Rockabilly Minnie Mouse Dress:

My name is Natalia, I’m 35 years old, french and I live in Paris. I’m a graphic designer and also a painter (I studied arts at university for four years). I love art, photography, fashion and design.

I recently created a website together with my sister and my boyfriend, you can find it at http://cherry-plum.com. On our site we talk about all the things we like: crafts, DIY, sewing, customisation, papercraft….

Paris is a city that inspires me a lot. Right now, the “retro” style is still very edgy on the streets and I admit I like it very much. Regarding the contest, my project was to create a dress with a 60s style, a dress which I wanted not too short but also with a bit of “Rockabilly” in it and a Lolita touch as well… that’s why I chose this very graphical fabric with the red dots. Movies are a source of inspiration for me as well. I have some very different influences: Brigitte Bardot at St. Tropez back in the sixties with her famous dresses made from gingham fabrics. I really like the universe that John Waters created, for example in Cry Baby, but also Minnie Mouse or Kubrick’s Lolita (which is ageless) and the babydoll style.

In fact it is surprisingly hard to find fashionable clothes in Paris which I really like, made from good fabrics and with a perfectly tailored cut, especially when you have curves like a pin-up girl. The trendy french clothes are made for very skinny girls with top-model shapes and it’s difficult to find the perfect clothes for a curvier figure. That is why I like sewing my own clothes: so I can wear exactly what i want but also because i enjoy sewing a lot!

I would like to sew very different styles of clothes but i don’t always know how to do it. Your site is very cool to help girls like me by letting us propose designs for the patterns of our dreams. It’s a wonderful idea, thanks for that and bonne chance for the future of Your Style Rocks!

Thank you so much, Natalia!

Wow, what a contest this was!

You guys submitted so many fantastic designs over the last eight weeks, making this our most successful contest since the very first one last summer. Thank you all, you’re awesome!

We are particularly happy to see that even late entries have a chance to make it to the top: cherryplum posted her design only five days before the deadline. But her winning retro babydoll dress quickly found its fans – closely followed by the Easy and Breezy dress submitted by rma, who won our last contest already.

Our next challenge is very simple… or is it? We’d like you to design a top. There are no restrictions – just show us that essential piece your wardrobe is missing. Can’t wait to see the amazing things you’ll come up with this time!

Kisses,

Kim

Hello Stylerockers!

I did a bit of web research yesterday, looking for members who used our patterns for their sewing projects, and guess what? I discovered two versions of our Paperbag Ensemble Dress!

The first is by punzel, who used a gingham fabric for the lining to create a really beautiful effect:

You can find more pictures (and a description in German) on her website Pepita.

The second is by frauknopf. She added vintage glass buttons and a belt in a floral pattern to make her dress very unique:

Visit her blog for more pictures (description in German as well): Frau Knopf

Have you sewn a piece based on one of our patterns? Please, do let us know (and show pictures if you can!)! It’s always so great to see what you guys are making out of them!

Kisses,

Kim

Here’s the interview with our last contest winner Ricardo – aka rma – which I conducted with him per e-mail:

Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself, who you are and what you do? And, since you are the first male member winning our contest, what’s your connection with fashion?

I’m a full time worker at “Coral Way Animal Clinic”, a place that I own together with my friend. I take care of animals, they are my way to do what I love, but also I found fashion running in my veins, so fashion is the way to introduce my alter ego.

My connection with fashion started when I entered Miami International University of Art and Design to study fashion design in 2005 and four years later I got my BFD. Since then I’m a dreamer and my designs reflect my love of art, history and travel. They are a collage of techniques, fabrics and construction details giving the clothes a unique and always feminine look.

I love to work and create with my hands. I have a strong skill in fashion design, technical illustration, fashion illustration, mood board making, conceptual design and good coloring.

So, your fashion design studies explain your very professional sketches. Do you have any tips for our members who don’t have your skills and experience but would still like to take part in our contests? Any tools or techniques you can recommend? Tricks of the trade?

When I first started, I used to do a collage with my illustrations. I then improved the collages with Photoshop. This is a good technique I used back in juniors years at school.

I recommend to get some nice background pictures from magazines, cut your illustrations and glue them to the pictures before you scan and upload them.

Since you studied fashion design, I assume you can sew? Do you sew clothes for yourself? Or for (female) friends?

I love the creative part of fashion as well as the production itself and I enjoy sewing a lot. Unfortunately I don’t have too much time for it, but I do manage to create some projects. I like to design for both genders, but I am more directed towards females. My creations are posted on Burdastyle under my name Ricardo Abreu.

Thank you, Ricardo!

Kim

Yay, we have our first male contest winner! rma made it to the top position in our Past Perfect contest with his very 1950s summer outfit. As always I’ll try to do a little e-mail interview with him so we can all find out more about him soon.

For the next contest we received a couple of ideas again in the forum and the one we particularly liked came from lila_ who suggested to base it on a particular type of fabric or a certain print. Laralee then added that we could have the whole contest based on dots, so this is what we’re doing. Can’t wait to see lots and lots of dotty goodness from you guys!

Since we’re still frantically working to catch up with the backlog of unfinished patterns from our last contests we’re going to let this one run over two months. Plenty of time for you to come up with something awesome – or even post more than one idea this time!

Kisses,

Kim