Mamma Rose and Margo Anderson present

The 2009 "Iron Dress" Competition!

My Lords, My Ladies, Sewers of all Stations! Your attention, please.

The masses have spoken and we have taken heed. And MamaRose productions is proud to announce,

* Iron Dress the Third! *

You asked for something that will take you out of your malaise, to beat back your feeling of ennui, and now you have it.

The rules are really very simple --
START DATE: July 1
END DATE: Sept. 15
WINNER ANNOUNCED: Oct. 1

1. The outfit must be made from fabric that you have in your stash at the moment you sign up. You are honor bound, as a Lord or Lady of the Court, not to run out, buy $300.00 worth of fabric, and then sign up. Just what you have on hand, please.
2. You have an additional $25.00 for anything that is not in your stash -- the perfect trim, extra velvet for the sleeves, lining fabric, boning, whatever. Anything extra that you need to complete your outfit comes out of that $25.00 -- or 15.55 British Pounds -- or 31.57 Aussie Dollars -- or 17.95 Euros -- or 2462 Japanese Yen -- or 200 Chuck E. Cheese pizza gameroom tokens. I'll do the currency exchange again on the start date, and that will be the official amount you have. Little things like thread, hooks and eyes, grommets, etc. are not under this $25.00 and are considered "Freebies".
3. Outfit must be made using Margo's pattern. That's why we are all on this list in the first place. If you already have, say an underskirt from another dress and all you want to make is the over dress, let the judges know what pieces are in competition and we will adjust our scoring accordingly.
4. Underpinnings such as a smock, corset, farthengale, and bumroll are not in the competition. But you need them to make the dress look right. So please wear them. NOTE: If you enter a full set of undergarments as an entry, this is permissable for the competition.
5. You can modify the pattern for another country, such as Italy or Germany, or even try to make it an earlier or later period. Just let the judges know what you did.
6. Sign up is from now until July 1st. Simply email your intention to join the competition on the Yahoogroups mailling list. No additional info, plans, drawings or anything else is required to sign up. The Contest runs from July 1st until Sept. 15th. The judges of our fair competition are me (YAY!) and the most admired Chris Catalfamo, who actually surprised herself by winning last year.
7. The winner will be announced October 1st. Prizes shall include a $100 certificate to the Fabric Store of your choice, as well as bragging rights for the next year.

Other information that has been added from the mailing list:

1. Men's garments are greatly welcomed! After all, Margo has a great Men's Gentleman's Outfit!
2. You may sew for someone else as long as you sew it from items in your stash.
3. Childrens garments scaled down from the original Margos patterns are acceptable, but it depends. If you are making a full Princess Elizabeth dress, with all the trim and froo-froos, then yes that is acceptable. If you are going to make a simple outfit, then no. That wouldn't seem quite fair.
4. The $25 is extra, in case you run out of trim, or need extra fabric, or you screw something up and need to disguise it.
5. The idea isn't to make an outfit as flashy as possible, it's to make what you want to wear from what you have on hand. Of course, the fancier it is, and the faster you have to sew to get it done, and the amount of stuff you had in your closet to choose from will definitely influence the judges. But you can still impress yourself by making something that you like in an amazingly short period of time.
6. If you completely hand sew at least one item that is a part of the the Iron Dress ensemble, yes it will qualilfy for Iron Hand!
7. No bartering to get items. The idea is to use what is in your stash, not what is in someone else's. So you've either got to get creative with what you've got, or use that extra $25.
8. Only ONE outfit submitted per person, please.
9. The (upcoming) Tudor patterns will not be allowed this time. Because they are not in your stash when the contest begins, they are disqualified. Which is fine, as we'll have a chance to play with them first, and then have another ID later.
10. At the end of the contest you will submit photos of the dress and an account of how you made it. When the contest is over, you send your entry to myself and Chris Catalfamo, and I will post our email addy's at that time. You can send a Power Point, or video, or just pictures, along with an accounting of any of the extra $25 you spent.We will go over the submissions, evaluate them (and any bribes) and declare a winner.

So let me know if you are up to the challenge, and may one and all enjoy THE IRON DRESS!

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