Category Archives: Ginger Freebies

Second Blogiversary Giveaway!

May 22, 2013 By in Ginger Freebies, Uncategorized Tags: , 242 Comments

*****THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED*****

Hey, guys!  Happy Wednesday!  May is one of my favorite months– the weather really starts to get nice here in the northeast, and there are so many things to celebrate!  Last week was my seventh wedding anniversary, next week is Man Friend’s 30th birthday, and we’re just a few days away from celebrating our first Peggy-versary (one year since we adopted our cheerful girl dog from Animal Haven)!  But amidst all the hubbub, I missed my second blogiversary on May 11th!  But don’t worry– I didn’t forget about you guys!

I picked out some amazing fabric for you guys on my trip to Mood over the weekend!  It’s two yards of a gorgeous silk charmeuse, with one matte and one shiny side.  My (grainy due to the crappy, dark weather) photo doesn’t really do it justice, but it’s a lovely gray with a hint of lavender in it.  Suzanne at Beau Baby made an awesome blouse with a different colorway of this print in chiffon (Mood often carries silk prints that are offered in both chiffon and charmeuse, which is fun)– check it out here!

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment!  If you already know what you would make with it, let me know in the comments, too– I always love to snoop!  I’ll ship it anywhere.  Just enter by 11:59PM next Wednesday, May 29th, one week from today.  Hooray!

Thanks so much for reading my blog over the past two years!  It’s been so much fun getting to know you guys through your comments and blogs (and in person, whenever I get the chance!)!  Thanks to you, sewing is a fun, communal activity for me and not just solitary time spent hunching over my machine, cursing and seam ripping!

Drape Drape 3: Review + Giveaway!

April 10, 2013 By in Ginger Freebies Tags: , , 103 Comments

****THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED****

Hi, guys!  I have a giveaway for you today– exciting, right?  Laurence King Publishing sent me a copy of their brand new book, Drape Drape 3.  I reviewed and gave away a copy of Drape Drape 2 late last year, and this book is the next in the series.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Drape Drape books, they’re stylish Japanese pattern books translated into English.  The designs aren’t draped, though– there patterns are included in the book.

The instructions are fairly minimal, so these are probably better suited to advanced beginner or intermediate sewists, but the diagrams are really interesting and informative.  Also, fit is pretty forgiving in these designs, and most of them only require two or three pattern pieces– score!

As with Drape Drape 2, the patterns are geared more towards knits, but there are some styles that are suitable for wovens, too.

I love the photographs in these books!  The modern, unusual styles are eye candy for a curious sewist like me!

If you’d like to be entered in the giveaway, let me know in a comment below!  I’ll ship it worldwide.  🙂  Let’s close the giveaway a week from today, Wednesday, April 17th, at 11:59PM EST.

Which of these designs is your favorite?  Have you sewed from any of the Drape Drape books?

Drape Drape 2: Review & Giveaway!

November 17, 2012 By in Ginger Freebies Tags: , 69 Comments

****THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED****

Hi, guys!  I’m back with another giveaway!  I was lucky enough to receive a review copy of Drape Drape 2 from Laurence King Publishing, and I can give a copy to you, too!  But first– let’s have a little book club discussion, alright?

Is it weird that this book has only white models?

I’ll start off by saying that I know NOTHING about draping and have never tried it, so I was interested to learn more about the process.  However, the book isn’t actually about draping!  The author, Hisako Sato, describes “drape drape” as the process of combining tucks, gathering, twists, and slack fabric to create a look.  There are full-size patterns included for the 14 garments pictured in the book, which is nice, although they aren’t all multi-sized.

These relaxed styles favor knits, although there are a few patterns for wovens, including the skirt with the draped flounce pictured above.  The pieces are all really unique and interesting, although they may not be for you if you don’t like to have lots of fabric drawing attention to some parts of your body (for example, in the skirt above, you can see all the gathering around the waist and high hip– might not be everyone’s favorite place to emphasize).

There’s a nice tension between simplicity and detail in these designs.  Some of the garments are surprisingly easy to execute, like the skirt on the right, which is constructed with one pattern piece and a rectangular, elasticized waistband.  Yet it’s a delicate, feminine skirt, and way cuter than you would imagine a knit, elastic-waist mini would be!

One drawback of the book is that the sizing is really limited.  An XL in this book is for measurements 35″/30″/38″!  I’ve heard this can be an issue with Japanese pattern books, but I was still pretty surprised.  However, the patterns seem really easy to grade up a bit if you wear a larger size, and there is quite a bit of ease built into most of these styles.

I really liked seeing the diagrams and flat patterns transformed into garments (Amy put her own spin on the pattern shown above– check it out!).  Sometimes it’s hard for me to visualize how a garment is constructed, so it’s really fun to see how the designer achieved some of these fascinating styles.  I’ve earmarked a few patterns to make down the road, but even if I never get around to making them, I still feel like I’ve learned something from this book.  I could see myself referring to it from time to time when drafting my own patterns.

What do you think?  Are these styles for you?  Have you used any kind of Japanese pattern books before?

Alright, let’s get back to the giveaway!  If you’d like to be entered in the giveaway, let me know in the comments below!  I’ll send it anywhere in the world.  🙂  Let’s keep the giveaway open until Tuesday the 20th at 11:59PM EST, then I’ll draw a winner!  Good luck!

Native Clutter Giveaway Winner!

November 14, 2012 By in Ginger Freebies Tags: 6 Comments

Hi, guys!  Thanks for patiently waiting for me to post the winner of my birthday giveaway (and thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your lovely birthday wishes!)!  It’s…

Katy of Denim Skirts and Other Stuff!  Have you seen her blog?  She makes lovely garments and her posts are deeply informative– she single-handedly saved me when I was stuck in the bridesmaid dress nightmare and couldn’t figure out how to do a full lining!  Thanks, Katy!  I’m sure you’re nosy like me and want to know what her favorite piece was– it’s the geometric bib necklace:

Loooooooove this!

Didn’t win?  Well, you can always mosey on over to Native Clutter and plunk down some cash money for jewels.  Just sayin’.  😉

Alright, hopefully I’ll be back soon!  I’m finishing up another lunatic week, but I’m hoping to get some sewing in this weekend (and catch up with your blogs– 300+ unread posts!!  EEK!!).

Happy Birthday to Me (and You)!

November 10, 2012 By in Ginger Freebies Tags: , 70 Comments

****THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED****

Guuuuuuyyyys!  Look!  My internets are back today, just in time for my [deep breath] 30th birthday!  It’s been a craaaaaaazy week at work (I got home today at 8:00am!  Eek!), but I’m determined to celebrate even if I’m a little sleepy today!

I had grand plans to unveil a brand-new party dress today, but with the crazy week that I’ve had, I just couldn’t get it done.  There was a late night earlier in the week when I was frantically working on it even though I knew I’d never finish before the weekend, and I caught myself thinking up compromises and shortcuts to make it work and realized that I wouldn’t be happy with any dress I slapped together shoddily.  So, we’re pumping the brakes on that operation and I’ll be back eventually with a dress that I’m proud of (hopefully).

Brass Tribal Necklace

In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to do a little birthday giveaway!  I couldn’t decide what to give you guys, but this morning I received my necklace from Stephanie‘s Etsy shop, Native Clutter, and loved it so much that I thought I’d offer you a piece from her new collection!  Hop on over to Native Clutter and pick out your favorite piece, then leave a comment below for a chance to win.  I’d love to know what your favorites are!  I’ll accept entries until Tuesday, November 13th at 11:59pm, then I’ll pick a winner at random!

Grey Smooth Quartz Briolette Earrings

* I’m not sponsored by Stephanie or anything like that.  🙂  I’ve just been a fan of her blog for a long time and I’m so excited to support her new venture!

** That said, if I was a celebrity, I’d line up ridiculous endorsement deals with shameless abandon!  I’d shill for exercise machines (hopefully while wearing some kind of goofy warm-up suit), my own brand of hot sauce, President’s Day sales at local mattress stores, you name it!  7-Eleven, are you listening?  I’ll be your international Slurpee spokesperson!

Ginger Freebie: Victory Patterns!

August 1, 2012 By in Ginger Freebies Tags: , 122 Comments

****THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED****

Remember how I promised a giveaway that would be open to everyone?  Well, here it is!  I’m a big fan of indie pattern  companies, and Victory Patterns has some of the cutest designs around (not to mention an owner that is INCREDIBLY nice!)!  I so enjoyed the Chloe dress pattern that I want to offer you guys the chance to make your own (or any other of Kristiann’s adorable patterns)!

Somebody make this one!! It’s ADORBS!!

To enter, just leave a comment below telling me which pattern is your favorite by 11:59PM EST on Wednesday, August 8th, and I’ll draw a winner!  Anyone can enter, no matter where you live, and you don’t need to follow my blog or have a blog of your own.  Yay!  Good luck, everybody!

I think I’m gonna make this one in the fall. Cute, huh?!

Shabby Apple Giveaway Winner!

July 19, 2012 By in Ginger Freebies Tags: , 3 Comments

Here it is at last… the moment we’ve all been waiting for!  Out of 107 entries, there were two extra comments (beyond the two allowed) and one non-entry comment, so the winner is out of 104.  According to random.org, our winner is:

Skipping the two extra comments, #65 is Samantha!  Congrats!  Her favorite dress is this one:

I love those pleats!  Congrats to Samantha, and for the rest of you guys, I wish I could give away a dress to each one of you!  But if there’s something you’ve got your eye on, the discount code is good for three more weeks (“gingermakes10off”).

Thanks for playing, everybody, and stay tuned in for another giveaway in the very near future!

Winner: Colette Patterns Spring 2012 Giveaway!

April 14, 2012 By in Colette Patterns, Ginger Freebies, Uncategorized Tags: , , 4 Comments

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Hooray!  I’m so excited to announce the winner of the Colette Patterns Spring 2012 Giveaway!  I counted 97 comments total (one being mine, one a duplicate, and two from gals who didn’t want to enter), so out of 93 comments, the winner was #28, Jennifer of The Musings of a Dedicated Housefiancee!  Her makes are all so darling– be sure to check out her blog and stay tuned for her finished Iris shorts!  Yay!!

Ginger Freebie: Colette Patterns Spring 2012 Giveaway!

April 11, 2012 By in Colette Patterns, Ginger Freebies Tags: , , 98 Comments

OK.  Take a deep breath.  Imagine yourself on a beach somewhere, breathing in the fresh, salty, ocean air… and not hyperventilating about HOW CUTE THE NEW SPRING COLETTE PATTERNS ARE!!!

It’s official– I’m in love!  I gave up buying anything sewy/knitty/etc for Lent (which, surprisingly, was AMAZING– I felt so free and easy and de-cluttered!), but when I saw that the launch of the new spring patterns was set for April 10th… after Easter… I knew I was doomed.

First up– the Hazel dress!  This is beyond cute, and I particularly like the striped version.  “Wait, Ginger”, I said to myself.  “You’ve already got the somewhat similarly-shaped Simplicity 2209.  Stay cool and don’t buy another pattern!”.  I fought the urge and forged ahead.

The Hazel dress (photo by Colette)

However… the gorgeous Lily dress— holy cow, it was love at first sight!  I can’t even be cool about it– it’s absolutely smashing, and I would feel like a seductive screen siren in this thing.  I feel like it might even make li’l ol’ rectangular me feel like a saucy hourglass-figured vixen!  Somehow I stayed strong and avoided temptation, but I think eventually I’ll have to cave and make this dress.  It’s just way too fab!

The Lily dress (photo by Colette)

But when I saw the Iris shorts, I was overtaken by a force outside of my body that willed me to click away.  Digital PDF?!?!  Before I knew what was happening to me, I had bought and downloaded the pattern.  Luckily, this is a super practical piece, and I was looking for a nice shorts pattern just this week!  I’ll confess– I hate shorts.  HATE them.  Shorts are a sure-fire way for my legs to look weird and they’re either way too skimpy or way too frumpy (I don’t get it!).  But I work outside in all weather, and it just gets too hot to wear jeans on 90+ degree days, so I figure I could use a few pairs of cute shorts.  I gave up on my no-shorts vow last year and cut off my favorite pair of jeans in a fit of passion (what was I thinking?!  I must’ve been in the middle of a heat stroke), THEN I had a slip ‘o’ the scissors that resulted in what can only be described as khaki hot pants (don’t worry– they were never worn).

The Iris shorts (photo by Colette)

I have to say, I’m in love with the digital format!  It’s total instant gratification!  I bought it yesterday, printed it out, cut it out, and started cutting out muslin last night!  Also… the best part… I don’t have to bother with tracing the pattern (I feel too guilty just cutting out my lovely Colette patterns, and tracing is such a thoroughly joyless process for me that I often put off starting a project just because I’m dreading the tracing process so much!).  Plus, they’re a few bucks cheaper, so it’s win-win for me!  What are your thoughts on downloadable patterns?  Love ’em?  Hate ’em?  Ambivalent?

OK, so let’s get down to business.  Just because I’m behaving and not buying every single one of these doesn’t mean I don’t wanna share the love!  I’d like to give away your choice of the three patterns in either paper or PDF format.  Just leave a comment and let me know which pattern you’d like (and which format).  You can enter until, let’s say, Saturday, April 14th at noon EST.  I’ll pick a winner Saturday!  Yay!