If you were reading this blog last year, you’ll remember the four crazy weeks that I participated in the Sew-vivor online sewing competition hosted by Rachel at Family Ever After. It was a completely unexpected experience, since I had never heard of it before the night I somehow stumbled upon the audition page, spotted the awesome prize packages for the winners, and decided to enter with the wedding dress I had made a couple months before.

The time for Sew-vivor Season 2 has rolled around, and I am thrilled to be participating again this year, but as a judge instead of a contestant. Whew. You can head over to Family Ever After and link up your entry until Monday, March 12th. It can be anything you have made yourself and posted about on your blog (you don’t have to make something new to enter!)

I loved participating last year, and really stretching myself with the projects I completed. I learned a lot about myself (competitions stress me out to the max), developed some great new skills (I made my first clutch out of leather!), and most of all enjoyed getting to interact with other sewing bloggers from around the country. My four projects were all a good reflection of my skills, and I was honored to Sew-vive all the way until the end!

It’s also been fun to look back at the work I created  for Sew-vivor and see how I’ve changed and what I’ve learned over the last year. So, bear with me as I do a little reflecting:

The Summer Chevron Dress was a big hit, and I thought it was cute, but truth be told, it’s really not my style at all! I don’t know if if maybe was my style back when I made it and I’m just sort of over the chevron trend, or if I was trying to make something that was totally on-trend even though it wasn’t me. I had intended it to be a maxi dress, but the knit ended up being too heavy weight for that, so I cut it off to knee-length. I love the cut and shape, and even the detail of the seam down the front, but if I did it again today, I would either use a more neutral stripe (maybe grey and cream?) or go with a solid instead. Even not being totally in love with it, I hung onto it for a while, but I think I finally gave it away in my last closet de-clutter. I do still have the pattern I made for it, so I will probably make a new one for the summer using fabric that feels more like my style.

My Sweater Sleeve Puppets were a fun exercise in creative sewing. I really loved the way I way I gave each animal some personality and details and it was so fun to sew something totally random. I need to do that more. And I probably should take these out of the box in the closet so we can actually play with them!

Emmy’s Maternity Outfit turned out just as I had planned, but I’d change a couple things these days. Although I totally dug the top, the material I used wasn’t super high quality, and the silky texture totally isn’t Emmy’s style. I would do it these days in a lightweight linen, or a cotton double gauze, for a softer feel. And, after making the Archer Button Up, I think I’d actually like the tunic even better as a button up. So, that’s totally different! The leggings were awesome, though, and I’m happy to know that even post-baby Emmy wears them a lot. There’s just something about leggings, right? Those were the first pair I had ever drafted from measurements, and I do it all the time now, so I’m glad I took that first step.

My Pleated, Striped Dress is still a favorite. I think I was really being true to my style, and actually this is the only one of my project that I had thought about making prior to the competition. That extra planning time helped the dress concept settle into existence in my head, which made a big difference.  I would love to go back and tweak the pattern a little bit. But when I made this dress, I draped the fabric itself, rather than using  muslin. If I wanted to make another one, I’d have to start from scratch again! That’s one big thing that has changed this year, I am a lot more meticulous about making patterns and keeping track of them. Before I would just bust out projects but have no way to recreate them. That’s a crazy way to sew, and I’ve sure wasted a lot of time re-making things! I guess I’ve learned a lot along the journey, too.

So, if YOU are up for the challenge of Sew-viving this season, link up your entry for a chance at the craziness!

Aaand, if you’re local and want to learn to improve your sewing skills, come Sew a Bow with me on March 23rd!