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Round Up of the Folkear Summer Sewing Contest Entries

July 11, 2025

We were blown away by all the amazing entries we had for our Summer Sewing Contest (June 2025), and we just had to share these amazing garments. We could only pick 2 winners, but all these were really impressive, and beautiful, and practical -- garments that we loved seeing. And we hope they will inspire you as well! We are going to do two posts of entries because we had so many.

First I will start with one of the winners!

Woman standing in a romanian blouse and red skirt

close up of embroidery on romanian blouse

close up of white sleeve with crocheted embroidery

One of our winners is this 103 Romaninan Blouse by Cathy. She embroidered the sleeves and front, added crocheted lace to the drawstring sleeves and neckline. And she pieced the blouse by hand with faggoting stitches. This is such an impressive blouse! So much handwork and detailing and just a gorgeous garment. Perfect for summer.

purple egyptian shirt with embroidery laid out flat

First, this 104 Egyptian Shirt was made by Janis in a cool cotton. She pieced a double Irish chain for the yoke facing.

woman wearing a blue printed egyptian shirt dress

Another 104 Egyptian Shirt made into a beautiful dress. Jacke says, "I had this fabric that reminded me of angels and wanted that for the top yoke; I measured and cut then sewed a bunch of times before the front and back lined up! The pattern was easy compared to that. I had a 3rd fabric I used to make the edging of the top yoke and front seams. Also I made an eight-inch lining for the sleeves so they could be folded up to match the top yoke." So pretty!

Woman wearing a blue, teal, and purple Afghan Dress

Beth felt that she needed more color in her life so she made this 107 Afghan Dress for a maturnity dress. She got lots of compliments when wearing it!

Woman standing outside wearing a white shirt with embroidery

white shirt with red embroidery on a dress form

close up of red embroidery on yoke of white shirt

We had two entries using the 116 Shirts of Russia and Ukraine and I absolutely love the embroidery designs! These both look amazing!

boxer wearing a rainbow sleeveless robe from the back

boxer wearing a rainbow sleeveless robe from the back close up

This was a stunning version of the 118 Tibetan Panel Coat, a pride-themed boxing robe made for a transgender boxer (competes with men). Dafna says, "The armholes were already big enough for Jay's boxing gloves to pass through so no adjustments needed there. The back panel is my first attempt at patchwork. The shoulders are stiffened and quilted to accentuate Jay's shoulders. The robe is fully lined in black and I put the bottom facing on the outside because I like the way the black neck band and black facing frame the colours, accentuating their fire. I trimmed the black facing around the side split a little bit so it stayed within the black side panel without interrupting the coloured side panels beside it." Very impressive!

Man, Woman, and two girls wearing western style colorful broom skirts.

This cute family is wearing broom skirts made from the 120 Navajo Blouse pattern. We love the colors and patterns of the skirts!

The armholes were already big enough for Jay's boxing gloves to pass through so no adjustments needed there. The back panel is my first attempt at patchwork. The shoulders are stiffened and quilted (another first attempt) to accentuate Jay's shoulders haha. The robe is fully lined in black and I put the bottom facing on the outside because I like the way the black neck band and black facing frame the colours, accentuating their fire. I did need to trim the black facing around the side split a little bit so it stayed within the black side panel without interrupting the coloured side panels beside it.

These two versions of the 123 Austrain Dirndl were made by Emily who says they are largely handsewn. She altered the dresses to add a center front panel and center back zipper. She lengthened the blouse bodice and shorted the sleeves.

Woman wearing a teal colored dirndl on a stage

Another amazing 123 Austrain Dirndl! Regina made this one for her county fair’s fashion revue. She shorted the sleeves a tad, added Schwalm embroidery to them, and added more length on the apron ties so I could wear the bow in front, as well as adding ruching to the front dress trim. Really pretty!

Woman wearing a red velvet bolivian milkmaids jacket in her garden

Woman wearing a red velvet bolivian milkmaids jacket from the back

Sally made a beautiful 124 Bolivian Milkmaid's Jacket. She made the lined jacket with a textured poly velvet and decorated the back with thin cotton yarn and beads.

Woman under a tree in a blue floral 128 sarafan sundress

Woman standing in a blue floral sarafan sundress

Woman standing in a blue floral sarafan sundress back to camera

Woman standing in a blue floral sarafan sundress back to camera, close up

Amelia made this stunning sarafan sundress from the 128 Russian Settlers' Dress. Trimmed with ribbon and box pleats, this dress is really beautiful and perfect for summer! This was one of my favorites!

Woman standing outside wearing a green a floral old mexico dress

Woman wearing a black embroidered old mexico dress

Woman wearing a black and teal embroidered old mexico dress

We had some wonderful 142 Old Mexico Dress entries! Made with a coordinating yoke or with amazing machine embroidery, these dresses are so perfect for summer! And so fun!

Woman wearing a blue floral muumuu outside

Finally, this 160 Hawaiian Mu'umu'u is really lovely! It is a perfect summer dress, made in a cotton batik.

Stay tuned for the next round up of entries!

Round Up of the Folkear Summer Sewing Contest Entries

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