Welcome to Week 3 of Project Run and Play Season 29!
Since we have narrowed it down to six designers, the scoring will return to our original format. For the last two weeks of competition, the scores will be 1/3 public voting, 1/3 weekly celebrity judge scores, and 1/3 past designer panel scores. Let’s go ahead and meet the judges!
Week 3 Celebrity Judge: Cornelius Quiring
When I was 3 years old, I was in a farm accident that has left my body asymmetrical. I learned how to draft patterns and sew clothes to uniquely fit me. A way of embracing who I am. Today, I share my skills with those looking to do the same and empower themselves.
We love learning from Cornelius’ informative Instagram reels! You can visit his website to learn more about his sewing courses :
https://cornelius.ooo
Past Designer Panel
Jenn competed in Season 8 and also owns the pattern shop Jennuine Design. She also contributed to several Project Run and Play pattern collaborations and has patterns available in our shop.
Rachel competed in Season 26 and designs for Wild Seeds Patterns. We currently host her Lavender and Lilac patterns in the PRP shop as well. Oh, and she has an awesome new sewing room that you should probably check out!
Susana competed in Season 20 and owns the Suco by Susana pattern shop. She has also contributed to several Project Run and Play pattern collaborations, hosts patterns in our shop, and is currently continuing her formal sewing education.
Public voting will end Thursday at 8pm EST. This week we are narrowing it down to the three designers who will compete in the final round! Your vote is still very important!
Our six remaining designers have created amazing kids’ looks to share with you today! Everyone put in a ton of effort into creating these fancy seams – sooooo many seams!!! As a reminder, here is this week’s theme.
FANCY SEAMS
Add piping, color block it, finish it with couture techniques, just let the seams shine!
Take a careful look at all six designs and read all about the construction and inspiration behind each look. Then, try to choose one favorite to cast your vote at the end of the post.
Candice – Country Chic
Fancy seams kind of stumped me for a bit, but I couldn’t shake the thought of patchwork and foundation paper piecing. The biggest challenge for me with sewing through different themes is narrowing down ideas. However, discovering what you end up creating at the end is the fun part! I am absolutely smitten with our fancy seams outfit. Inspired by our new home, Arizona, I bring you “Country Chic.”
My overall vision for this outfit was a light, twirly dress paired with a vest featuring paper piecing. For the dress, I used the Danica pattern from Vintage Little Lady as a base. I added insertion lace sleeve caps to complement the pintucks on the lower part of the sleeve. I also removed the full back button placket and made a simple button and loop closure at the base of the neck. I wanted to jazz up the neckline a tad more, so I added a small ruffle to it. This pattern comes with a dress and a top option, but I opted to change the skirt to feature three tiers that make it slightly above tea length. The patchwork hem was an unexpected idea after cleaning up my scrap pile from piecing. Each seam is finished with crochet lace – I’m not the biggest fan of piping but love a delicate lace touch!
For the vest, I used Madison from Little Lizard King as a base, adding on square pockets and adorable labels from Shine Bright Label Co.. I also quilted the top of the front of the vest with vertical 1” lines to add a tad bit more texture. I’ve always wanted to make a sweet vest with paper piecing and was so excited when Miss 8 said yes! The foundation paper piecing on the vest truly ties everything together, giving the outfit a charming country chic vibe.
Nikki Scott – Puppy Love
When I heard the theme for this week was fancy seams, my mind immediately went to paper piecing, contrasting topstitching, moto pants and color blocking! While I was trying to decide what to paper piece, I asked my kiddo what her favorite animal is and she piped up with “Cooper!” So, meet our doodle butt – Coop! Have I ever tried paper piecing before? No. Did I jump in way over my head with this 514 shape doodle pattern? Probably. But to be honest, I actually really loved this project and learned something new in the process. The precision of all the lines made my engineering heart happy. Detail work like this is probably one of my favorite things to do.
For the jacket, I started with the Little Lizard King Maverick. I wanted the look of raglan sleeves, so I color blocked the upper part of the bodice with the denim sleeve fabric. I wanted the bodice to have some texture, so I topstitched with batting. The doodle quilted piece was a little short for the jacket pattern, so I just shortened the jacket about an inch which I think looks perfect for her body proportions. I love the heart details on the pockets and elbow patches, so I pieced some scraps together for those to match the doodle.
For the shirt, I used Sew a Little Seam Brynn like I did the first week. It is definitely our go to for a not-so-basic tee. This time I added ties to the sleeves and binding for the neckline for a little pop of black. The hearts from Blended Thread Fabrics were perfect to match our puppy love theme. The moto pants were hodge podged together from multiple patterns and free handed for the moto portion. The athletic fabric for the pants came from The Styled Magnolia. I’ve really enjoyed this competition and challenging myself by thinking about my sewing differently. I love seeing all the unique looks the designers have come up with. Thank you so much for having me!
Bonnie – Patch & Play
Hi sewing friends! I was intrigued by the theme this week, “fancy seams.” What stood out to me wasn’t the word “fancy,” but “seams.” I wanted the seams of my design to be the focus and stand out! I didn’t want a fancy design this week, I wanted my seams to be elaborate and intricate.
Also for this look, I leaned into something I’ve been doing more of lately, upcycling! I love the idea of making something old, new again. We have an old quilt that we received when my husband and I were married 20+ years ago. I still loved the colors of the quilt, but some of the pieces have faded and were well worn. The difficulty of the patchwork was already done for me, so I decided to upcycle the quilt into a new vest for my daughter. Quilted vests are becoming quite popular and the feminine colors of the quilt were exactly what I was looking for. I used a darker green bias tape around the edges, armholes and pockets, to help those seams pop!
I used the Lowland Kid’s Ellie Dress and Top for the shirt. A soft ribbed fabric was the right choice for my pink loving girl and to add a different texture from the soft, quilted vest. I topped it off with a lettuce hem on the bottom of the shirt and sleeves.
I knew I wanted wide leg pants. I decided to strategically cut my pants pattern to make them more “patchwork,” while keeping the fabric the same color. To add more design and emphasize the seams, I was smart with my topstitching. I upcycled some ready-to-wear sweatpants for my fabric and drafted little heart back pockets for a sweet surprise. The pants turned out exactly how I wanted and are definitely modern and fun.
Last is the cute little purse from Boo and Lu’s free Chesnut Purse. It’s made from a faux patchwork denim. The little pop of blue was the right choice. A leather handle that I also upcycled was a perfect touch. Normally in sewing, we want our seams to blend in, but this week it was exciting to make them the star of the show using different techniques. You can read more about my design over on my Instagram.
Sara Jean – Piped Perfection
I was excited about this week’s theme. I love to create unique touches using different seam techniques on the things I make, and I love to use piping! I drew inspiration for her outfit from vintage 70’s fashion and added a modern touch. I love how the big sleeves are so soft and contrast with the bold piping and contrast stitching of the wide leg jeans. It creates a juxtaposition that is both relaxed and refined, making it perfect for my wild child!
This week, I created 3 pieces: a billowy peasant top, contrast stitch jeans, and a quilted purse. For the top, I mashed 2 patterns together from Little Lizard King. I used gorgeous sleeves from Aberdeen and the bodice from Mavora. I split the bodice to create the v shapes using piping and enlarged the back keyhole. For the pants, I started with Violette Field Threads Presley Pants and drew them to be straight, wide leg. I added a flat-felled seam to the front and used contrast top stitching and piping to add detail. I created a bow outlined in piping for the rear pockets complete with the perfect little tag from Shine Bright Label Co. The purse was self-drafted using quilting techniques with a cute little boxed bottom to hold all her treasures.
My fancy seams outfit is perfectly piped for a day at play or those times she needs to be a little more dressed up.
Katie – Drip
I may have taken this week’s theme, Fancy Seams, quite literal – make the seams… Fancy. I wanted to play and build on week one’s Grayscale theme. Make it look like we poured a vibrant combination of colours to saturate the neutral grey quilt from the first outfit. Introducing DRIP… an oversized outfit, with splashes of colour, that won’t stop dripping. Swagger, confidence + style.
This week’s outfit is another pre-teen approved comfortable, fashionable, unisex outfit. For the top I started with Lowland Kids Oversized Sweater to create, just as the name implies, an oversized hoodie. I heavily hacked (literally cut up) this pattern with free form drips and swirls of colours. Colour dripping down the front, the back, the hood and the arms – with one patch of grayscale quilt left unsaturated, popping out in the middle of the back. Sweater fleece combined with brushed French Terry and ribbing from Shear Perfection, create topstitched layers with exposed edge seams to create dimension – and of course FANCY SEAMS.
Pair the hoodie with a low rise, relaxed fit pair of sweats with pockets. The sweats started with the Dash pattern from Petite Stitchery. I pulled through the colours from the hoodie and once again hacked the pattern apart to create grids of colour-blocking. Then reused the cast-off drips from the sleeves to create a flame-like climb of red on the one leg. Finish the bottom of the sweats with a hacked elastic hem so the sweats can pool (just like cast off paint once poured on a canvas) above a fun pair of sneakers. Finish off the look with a beanie using Apple Tree Patterns’ free beanie pattern. Hop over to www.instagram.com/custom_by_kate if you want to learn more.
Amy Gilane – Intricacies of a Floral Frolic
This week I dove deep into hacking and detailing, as our theme is Fancy Seams. I started my vision with a Linden dress from Boo and Lu, and knew I had to make a statement. Instead of the heart-shaped double scallop neckline, I used a literal spool of thread as my tool to make 3 scallops, which turned out so lovely! I then decided I needed the scallops elsewhere, which led me to some more thread-spool scallops- on the top double circle skirt. Yes- its two double circle skirts, making this dress a complete twirling dream come true!
The details of my seams this week also include some tucks, and pleats! The sides of the bodice were pintucked with added piping for a pop of color amidst the fall floral colors I chose. I then added a thin mustard gold shade of finely braided trim to blend back back to the bodice main. I took the pleated sleeves a step further as well, adding that thin mustard-gold trim, and puffing the shoulder seam some more with width added to make gathers more full! I used a long piece of the contrasting mauve pink dots to make a long trailing bow for her bun.
My only little details aside from this showstopper of a dress is a long, ribbon like bow, which she wanted in her bun, and a dainty little heart tag. The shimmery pink heart tag from Shine Bright Label Company was a perfectly sparkly, dainty detail. As you look through the photos, you will see that we made our way around quite a bit of land, stopping on a swing set, greeting our horses, and ending with a trip up to a lake. She was overjoyed and enthusiastic throughout the whole process- especially when I told her to “go frolic” into the lake, where I captured some amazing shots. I hope you enjoy the frolic through my third week submission! It was truly one of my most challenging sews.
Aren’t they ALL amazing?!?!? Choose just one to cast your vote. The poll closes Thursday, 9/19, at 8pm EST.