The challenge will run Sunday, November 1, 2009 through Thursday, December 31, 2009. Get ready to ring in the New Year with a lighter stash and a slew of finished projects!
This is an opportunity for everyone to have fun sewing and engage in a little friendly competition to see who can sew up the most fabric from their stash. This year, I am adding a new twist - yardage entries must be accompanied by photos of the completed projects! The photos will be a great way to motivate and inspire your fellow participants.
What is stash? Stash is your "collection" of fabric that you might have accumulated for one reason or another. Maybe you planned out a project but haven't quite gotten around to it yet. Or maybe you've bought fabric because you liked it but had no particular purpose in mind. Perhaps you have "inherited" fabric from friends or family members. One way or another, it seems to be easy for sewists to accumulate a fabric stash, large or small. The purpose of this contest is to motivate you to get sewing and put some of that fabric to good use!
Winners
There will be 4 winners of this year's challenge, one in each of the following categories:
- Top overall yardage
- Top garment yardage
- Most inspiring - determined by SWU member vote at the end of the contest
- Oldest stash piece used
Rules
- For the purposes of this contest, stash is considered to be fabric that was in your possession before the start of the contest, Sunday, November 1, 2009. Any fabrics that came from your stash and are used to complete a project can be counted toward your yardage. If you need new fabric or lining to finish a project, that's totally ok, just only count the portion of the fabric that came from your stash. Interfacings, batting, and notions from stash do not count toward your total.
- Projects that count toward your yardage must be finished and ready to serve their intended purpose. For garments, they should be hemmed, buttoned, etc. Garments for the purposes of fitting are ok and do not need to be hemmed, lined, etc, as long as they have served that purpose. Quilts should be batted, backed, bound, and quilted (or whatever is necessary for the project to be "finished").
- Reconstructed garments from old clothing (yours, or thrifted) will be allowed, as long you have significantly changed the piece. For example, hemming a pair of pants does not qualify, but remaking a men's sweater into a women's cardigan would count. All entered yardage should involve a significant amount of sewing. Sorry, no-sew projects are not allowed.
- Unfinished projects also count toward your yardage, provided they were started before November 1.
- How do you figure out your yardage? If you used a pattern, you can just use the number of yards on the back of the envelope. Or you can actually measure the linear yards of fabric that you cut into. If you're doing quilting or crafts that use small pieces, just give your best guess based on the size of the finished project. For simplicity (since there will probably be a lot of guessing involved!), round your yardage to the nearest 1/4 yard. Round up if you are over the 1/8 yard mark, round down if you are below 1/8 yard.
- The new twist for this year - photos! In order for your yardage to count, you must post a photo of each item you make. If you are making something in quantity -- for example, 100 duffel bags -- you need not post a picture of each item individually. You could post a close-up shot of one bag, then another image of the stack of 100.
Ready to get started? Post your plans, progress, and yardage here: 2009 Stash Challenge Discussion and Yardage
Any fabric that you sew from your stash counts.
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