Yessir, I entered a few competitions recently and have been lucky enough to win some amazing prizes!!

For my Brigitte headscarf, I won £50 from Tilly to spend at Fabric Rehab. I agonised for a long time over how to spend this as there are just soooo many lovely choices. In the end I went with a sensible (but gorgeous) red Scandiavian cotton and a not-so-sensible (but awesome) Michael Miller bird print.

For my Zinnia skirt, I won two Janome feet and four Colette patterns from The Stitchery. This was another hard choice, with several rounds of shortlisting on my part. In the end, having read lots of other sewist advice on feet, I went with the clearview quilting foot and the ultraguide foot. The clearview quilting foot has handy 1/8″ and 1/4″ markings, useful for sewing accurate seams. The ultraglide foot meanwhile is made from a special teflon-like resin that helps you glide over fabrics that would normally get stuck. I’ve found this to be a particular issue when trying to insert waterproof linings, or sewing with leather/faux leather, so I’m excited to see the difference the foot makes. For my four Colette patterns I went with Hawthorne, Juniper, Clover and Negroni. That’s right readers, TWO trouser patterns and a MAN PATTERN!! Those are some a scary new challenges right there.

Lastly, for my Peplum top, I won a bundle of prizes in the Sewing Indie Month pattern hacking challenge. This one was particularly exciting as there were so many excellent entries. A huge thank you to everyone who voted!! The prizes are brilliant: a 1 year subscription to Sew News magazine; a Craftsy class of my choice; a £20 voucher for Minerva Crafts; a transfer pack from Kate & Rose; and pack of patterns from Seamster Sewing Patterns, Sinbad & Sailor, Dixie DIY and Skinny Bitch Curvy Chick – ahhhhhh!!

As incredible as all of these prizes are (believe me there has been much whooping and dancing around), by far the nicest part is feeling like a legitimate part of this crazy talented online community. Big big smiles all round.

Siobhan xx