On April 18th 2013 I put my first pattern on Etsy (this one) because we all loved our Monster High dolls, but there were close to zero clothes options for them. I was a hobby dolly doctor and customizer, so I figured it would be another fun thing for the few people who needed patterns the same way my repair tutorials and customizing tutorials had been. 10 years later this is my full time gig.
I wore out my drafting ruler. My scissors are covered with scratches from being sharpened and re-sharpened. I've replaced 2 brand-new sewing machines. And I'm still enjoying the heck out of it!
You really never know where life is going to take you! And that's what makes life so fun :)
Anyhoo, let's have some more fun! To celebrate, I want to have a contest that anyone can enter that everyone will win.
Phase 1: THE CONTEST!
This is going to be really easy. You don't have to design, you don't have to be able to draw (though you totally can) you just have to send me something you really, really want to be able to sew. It can be your favorite dress from your favorite costume drama, or something nostalgic from your life.
There are three conditions:
1) 1 entry per person.
2) No existing doll clothes. So like, don't send me pictures of Haunt Couture clothes and ask me to make a pattern of that. Not cool.
3) It has to be sew-able by most people. Because I know someone is going to want to send me something like this:
What also pops up a lot is that clothes sketches don't have to follow the laws of fabric. Like, there's a lot of anime designs that only work without gravity. Plus there's a lot of stuff that can't be miniaturized. A lot of that I can get around with slight style adjustments and fakery, but not everything.
Don't worry, if you send me a design that isn't work-able I will let you know. As long as you don't send it to me just before the deadline, that should give you time to send in another entry!
Phase 2: THE JUDGING
The final judge is going to be me, but I will be putting the designs up for popular vote on Facebook and Instagram. I want to see what you all like the best, and I'll pick from the top contenders something that I think will work best as a pattern.
There have been issues in the past with fun contests like this being ruined by people using bots, so being the final judge will I hope dissuade anyone from trying to stack the odds.
Phase 3: THE WINNING!
So what's all this for? A free anniversary pattern! I'm not 100% sure how this is going to work logistically, but there are a couple of options. The biggest complication is Etsy.
See, Etsy has a very limited amount of sales types/things you can do there. You can't give away free stuff. Best I can do there is bundle a pattern with an existing pattern. I've tried making a listing with the picture and the description having "DON'T BUY THIS, GO HERE AND GET IT FREE" and you'd think that would work, but hahaha, it did not.
The plan is bundling the free pattern with the associated doll size patterns on Etsy (Ex adding the free MH pattern to all MH doll pattern listings) and something similar here. That way people can get the anniversary pattern in the manner they want and not have to go to a second website, which I get can seem shady if you don't know how Etsy works in the not-allowing-free-stuff.
But what size will the pattern be in?
Most of the popular doll sizes. PS, PC, M Girl, 1/3 definitely, maybe others if I can swing it.
...And when do we get them?
This is going to take me a bit of time, and depending on how complicated the pattern is (some patterns take more than a week to do, some take less) I may have to weave the anniversary patterns in with other patterns so that I can keep on a weekly release schedule.
The first Anniversary pattern will be out mid-May, but the second one may be the week after or two weeks after. You will know as soon as I figure it out!
Festivities will end a couple of weeks after the last pattern size. Then the anniversary patterns will be retired.
Possible complications:
I don't talk about personal stuff much, but I had some long-covid related brainfog back in 2021. I was getting better, and then I got covid again. And then I was getting better and then I got covid again. I get better, but it takes a few months to go from the attention span of a golden retriever in a room full of tennis balls and needing a calculator to figure basic math like 2x4=? and functional most days.
If I have a relapse, I will let you know and adjust the release schedule when I am able.
Contest TLDR & Timetable
Send your design to RequiemArtDesigns@Gmail.com by Sunday April 30, 2023
Voting will start 5/1 on Facebook and Instagram and end on Sunday, May 7th 2023.
Winning design will be announced on Saturday, May 13th
First Anniversary Pattern is scheduled for Friday, May 19th