More about Spring Top Week.
What is Spring Top Week?It's a week-long showcase of tops here on my blog and a contest for Best Top. It started last year as my own "selfish-sewing" challenge that I invited others to join, and again my challenge this year is to make five new tops for myself for spring (I will not compete). So, I invite you to challenge yourself to sew something new for yourself that you've never done before. Then enter it in the Spring Top Week 2010 pool between March 30 and April 30, 2010 to be entered in the challenge. There will be voting during top week (voting will be held May 3-7) to help us narrow down the finalists, and a final vote to determine a winner. *UPDATE: Judges scores will also determine a second winner, so we will have two winning tops* And although winning is pretty cool, I think what's even cooler is seeing all the new ideas, patterns, and fabrics that everyone has to contribute to this project.
When is it?Top Week is May 1-7, 2010, but that's just the week that tops get posted here on my blog. The first day to ENTER a top is March 30, and the last day to enter is April 30, 2010.Can non-US crafters enter their tops?Anyone in any nation of the world who has an email address and the ability to put pictures on Flickr may participate.Are there any restrictions on the tops that can be entered?All tops must be made after March 1, 2010 and must be sewn for oneself (ie it must be "selfish-sewing"). They may be from patterns or self-designed. Your top may not be sold or used to advertise for a shop or business. You can submit up to FIVE tops total.What counts as a "top"?A top is defined as anything that would normally be worn with shorts, pants or a skirt. YES: shirts, blouses, tunics, sweaters, jackets. NO: Dresses, bathing suits, underwear, coats. Use your own judgment here or enlist the opinion of others; I'm not too concerned with what qualifies as a top, except I don't really want to see anything inappropriate. And dresses, well that should be its OWN week, no?Can I make a top out of another older top (upcycle or refashion)? It's fine for you to recycle/upcycle/refashion, but it's very important that you provide a "before" picture link to it when you enter your photo of your top so that everyone, including judges, can see how much of the original top carried over. You will must also explicitly state that the top was made from another top in your design description.When and how can I enter my top(s)?You can submit your top(s) by putting one and only one picture of each in The Spring Top Week Flickr Pool. The pool will be open for submissions beginning March 30 and closing April 30, 2010 (NOTE: this has changed from last year, all tops must be submitted BEFORE top week begins this year).UPDATE: If you are ready to enter you top, please read this post first What is the prize please? Um, the glory and pride that comes with knowing that you created this years BEST TOP? Hello??? Oh and also we'll try to have some other cool stuff. So I need some sponsors to help out. See below.
How will voting work?So far this is my plan (which may change, you know): Each day of top week a batch of tops will be featured on my blog along with a poll that will stay open for a mere 24 hours. Last year we had 100 tops featured. And I almost passed out from exhaustion at the end of the week. I can't imagine if we had, say, even 200 tops this year what it would take to make that happen, so I can't/won't promise each and every one will make it onto the blog. I will find some way to keep voting to a reasonable number. At the end of the week the winners from each day will be either voted on or scored by the judges.Another thought:I'm toying with the idea of having a separate competition for the people who submit FIVE UNIQUE TOPS. Because that's extra-hard. Let me know what you think about that. *UPDATE: We will not have a separate competition for five tops*Any other questions? I'll try to add them to this post if you'll leave them in the comments section.Oh, and one more thing:
I need to be completely honest here: I love this challenge and this week is so much fun, but I really can't make it happen on my own. Although this blog has a small business component to it (um, patterns if you haven't noticed, feel free to purchase one!), my real (and favorite) job is taking care of and entertaining two really adorable kids. I'd really like to take them to the park, to friends houses and the library even if I'm hosting this challenge in my virtual world in the meantime. I've really been encouraged by those of you who've participated in the past and enjoyed it too. So, I'm shamelessly going to ask for a lot of help:Needed: COMPILERS (UPDATED: THANK YOU! All set here!!!)If you have a little experience with mosaics and think you would be able to help me out by putting together a Flickr mosaic for one batch of tops just ONE day of Spring Top Week, email me an example (see left sidebar) with the subject "I can make a mosaic!" If you aren't sure you can but want to give it a try, dink around with this mosaic maker for awhile.Needed: MODERATORS (UPDATED: THANK YOU! All set here!!!)If you think you would be able to moderate the entries in the Flickr pool, email me with the subject "I can be a photo moderator!" This would mean making sure the tops in the pool are actually meant to be there (you'd be amazed), properly labeled, and that the creator leaves proper contact information.Needed: SPONSORS (UPDATED: THANK YOU! All set here!!! click here to see the prizes for our winners)Even though Astrid (last year's winner) was really gracious and seemed really happy with her prize package (a couple of patterns and a few other things I made and let's face it, I think her Spring Top Crown is really responsible for the fame and fortune she enjoys today...hee), I think it would be pretty cool if we could round up a sweet prize package. So I'm going to offer sponsorships for Spring Top Week. Each sponsor would be able to place a banner advertisement on my blog (until Spring Top Week is over) in addition to providing a prize for the winner. Ideally the prizes would be related to top sewing (fabric? patterns? books? sewing machines? dare I dream?). Please email me if you are interested in rates with the subject "Please send sponsor info" and I will get back to you as soon as I can.That's all. If you read all that, picture me throwing free fabrics like confetti into the air for all of you (pretend, will you?). Now get sewing. I've got one top almost finished and another almost cut. How about you?
