Lazies, Amy Barickman of Indygo Junction joins us this week to tell us about her latest endeavor, the Vintage-Inspired Modern Style Design Challenge. Amy is always on the cutting edge of trends, or she is setting them. With this in mind, I cannot wait to see what comes from this challenge.

Here’s Amy
Hi, this is Amy from Indygo Junction ^[1] and The Vintage Workshop ^[2]! If you love to sew and create (and win big prizes!), then you need to check out my Vintage-Inspired Modern Style Design Challenge ^[3].

When I discovered the work of entrepreneur and fashion sewing authority, Mary Brooks Picken a few years ago, I knew I had found a treasure. As a teacher, author, and business owner, Mary’s remarkable career spanned from very early in the 20th century, and on. She founded The Woman’s Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences in 1916, which taught women —through correspondence courses— to sharpen their home arts skills and how to turn a profit from them.

The Institute’s courses were so popular across the country that it became the largest, women-only institute of higher education in history. If that weren’t enough, Mary was also highly engaged in the New York fashion scene — helping to create the first NYC Fashion Week and teaching sewing workshops to professionals in her studio. Later in her career, she even worked with both SINGER ^[4] and Coats & Clark ^[5] to write books, develop sewing products, and market their brands.

From this wealth of inspiration that I discovered came my book, Vintage Notions ^[6]. With patterns, projects, recipes, and editorials, the book is a collection of my favorite Woman’s Institute content, reintroduced for the modern woman. With an overwhelmingly positive reception and 9 literary awards, I haven’t stopped finding encouragement to share Vintage Notions content in new ways (i.e. my Vintage Notions Fabric line, The Dressmaking Collection ^[7] and free Vintage Notions book guides ^[8] for clubs and small groups!) For that reason, and in celebration of milestone anniversaries for the SINGER brand and Coats & Clark, I created The Vintage-Inspired Modern Style Design Challenge ^[9], hosted on BurdaStyle.com ^[10]

Enter the challenge and make a wearable fashion project with your unique style! Start with an existing pattern from Vintage Notions, from IndygoJunction.com ^[1], or from this collection ^[3] of free vintage e-patterns, and change it into a new look.

Prizes for the challenge include a Limited Edition SINGER 160 sewing machine ^[11], sewing goodies from Coats & Clark, books and patterns from Indygo Junction, and the chance for your pattern design to be published internationally!

^[9]

The deadline for project submissions is Monday, March 12th at 11:59 pm (EST), and the winners will be announced Monday, March 26th, so get busy!! As an extra incentive, Indygo Junction is offering a one-time 20% coupon on your entire purchase. Just enter the code VMCLG at checkout.

Good luck!

Keep up with Amy:

www.indygojunction.com ^[12]
www.amybarickman.com ^[13]

Amy’s blog:
https://amybarickman.com/blog/ ^[14]

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/amybarickmanstudio ^[15]
http://www.facebook.com/indygojunction ^[16]