Sew Crafy

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Not your Grandma’s Gothic!

Susan Grindstaff
Her pink & black takes a Gothic track

Didn’t you get the feeling you had stepped into a new wave of Gothic fashion designers when you opened the Challenge One Entries page?  Well, good; I wasn’t alone!! If these beginning challenge entries are building up to better and better eye candy in the future, will we be able to stand it? I certainly intend to try – and I’ll bet you do too! 


More on the overall competition in a minute, but first let me introduce the official winners!!  Susan Grindstaff ended up taking dual wins – she achieved Overall Winner from the judges, and People’s Choice for Creative Photography.  Susan’s design spoke to characters such as those I had seen in the Book of Eli; characters living in a world not of their choosing who were looking for something more to fulfill their lives than what fate had dealt them. 

Susan comes to sewing and design work naturally through the influence of her talented mother who worked as a seamstress to help support the family.  In fact Susan says “… it is from her that my passion for creating something unique and original was derived.”  She spent 15 years designing for real people before she discovered how versatile and rewarding it could be designing for our diminutive divas – and she loves it.  Naturally Susan designs all her creations, and makes patterns for each one, too. 

Congratulations to Susan for a job well done!


 Vikki Stevenson captured the People’s Choice for Favorite Designer this round.  Having only discovered fashion dolls two years ago, it looks like Vikki lost no time catching up! She now collects and sews for Silkstones, Ellowyne, Evangeline, Tyler, AvantGards and Sybarites in a little town that doesn’t even have a fabric store! Congratulations, Vikki, you’ve obviously used your ingenuity to make both  wonderful  doll fashions as well as doll friends. 

The People’s Choice polls have always been popular, and not only do we have them for the CDDC designers, we also have them for a new competition just added!   The newest feature at CDDC is our At Home version.  In this competition you only need be a member of CDDC’s Yahoo Group to play.  You take the challenges right along with the official entrants, and enter them in the photo albums of the group on designated dates, and then wait for the results of another People’s Choice poll to find out if you have won enough votes to win a prize.  

This week's winners are Durelle Brown, Sue Townson, and Vicky Lujan - congrats to each of you.  Remember,  you cannot win if you don't play - so scurry on over, my lovelies; it's fun to enter as well as watch!

And what about those judges??  This year I’m getting more than I hoped for, and it makes me VERY happy.  To have people I look up to give some overall insight into how the entries measured up and some tips for improvement, makes for even more insightful – and perhaps beneficial – reading for both the audience and the designers doing this challenge.  Be sure you check out all the notes and final scores on the Official CDDC Scores Page.


And what about those returning sponsors?  I think it speaks highly of this competition that so many of our sponsors from last year have pitched their hat back in the ring to do it again!  

Two such sponsors are Lyn Waring’s Dress Forms for Fashion Dolls  and Tamara Casey’s Designs by Jude. Lyn Waring designs patterns for slopers for your dolls that actually fit – how great not to have to mess up our dolls with fittings anymore.  She offers most styles, so you’ll be delighted checking out what Lyn offers!

And one only needs to cruise through all the wonderful patterns and notions Tamara has to offer to realize they are in a sewing wonderland.  Check it out today and then go back often – new things are always coming into this site. I’m sure the contestants who won offerings from these great companies can tell you how beneficial both companies are to designers!  Thanks once again for your participation, Lyn and Tamara, by providing prizes for each of the winning contestants!

Well, kiddos, that’s it for this time.  I hope you are getting some inspiration to sew or to buy some new duds for your dollies!   Tune in next week for information on the next challenge….you never know what juicy tidbits I’ll dig up…er find out for your reading pleasure.  And, be sure to watch for big doings over at our sister site’s blog on Friday 9/10!!


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