Peanut Butter Macramé: Voting Begins for Sewcialists!

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Voting Begins for Sewcialists!

Welcome Everyone! We're here today to vote on the 6 Sewcialists emblem entries. Please consider the following before you cast your vote:

We asked each designer to design an emblem that...

Relates to sewing and the social nature of sewcialists
Is modern, simple, recognizable and memorable
Is useable in black & white as well as in color

You can read the rest of the requirements on the Sewcialists.org site. On this site, you can also find the rest of the Jury Blogs. You are allowed one vote per jury blog. The Jury itself will not be voting. The jury eliminated the short-list portion of this contest. The designs up for vote are the designs that were submitted.

When you vote on our blogs, please make your vote very clear, typing in the # of the entry and the designer's name.
Included before each design is a portion of the designer's cover letter to give you context.

**Special Technical Note** For those emblems that appear with a brown background, that is because they were made on a "clear" template, which is to say, they will show through whatever is the background color on your blog. In my case, its brown. I have unfortunately not figured out how to get blogger to not do that on specific images.

Voting closes on May 8th at midnight Eastern time in the United States.

Entry #1- Bev

I chose my designs as a globe representing the world wide sewing community, needle and threads to represent sewing, threads of different colours to represent our differences and a computer mouse to represent our mode of communication.

Entry #2- Gareth

I think that this design shows the close-knit (excuse the pun) nature of Sewcialists. It places them within the circle created by the threads coming from the needles. I think this nicely sums up the idea of a community brought together by the hobby that they love.

Entry #3- Sabina

I basically wanted to keep the logo very simple and recognisable. Every sewcialist will at some point use a computer to communicate about their creations or engage with other sewcialists. Although there are lots of different hardware options to enable us to do this (smart phones, desk tops, tablets etc etc) I thought the world at large would be able to immediately recognise a standard laptop to represent how the online community interacts.The sewing machine in the middle was the obvious choice to represent what sewcialists do at the very heart of our creativity. It’s actually based on my Janome 525S machine! The dot and dash circle enclosing the logo represents to me the cutting lines on patterns!

Entry #4- Joost

The design uses a button and bobbin to relate to sewing whereas the smiley face speech balloon relates to the social nature of sewcialists.

The button is slightly rotated. It makes it visually more pleasing and reminds us that sewcialists needn't adhere to the stereotype of off-the-peg garments. The bobbin is half-filled with thread, indicating it's being used. The friendly chatter that sewcialists engage in online is embodied in the form of a speech balloon/smiley face.

The emblem is simple in its design and its button and bobbin shapes breathe 'sewing'. The combination of three basic elements makes it memorable, yet distinctive.

The black and white version at the bottom and the color version at the top prove that the logo 'works' regardless of colors.

But I don't like the color!

You don't have to. You may like the same dress pattern as another sewcialist, but that doesn't mean you should make it in the same color, right?

The strength of the design is its shape. Only you can choose your prefect colors. So, pick your own colors and make this design your very own sewcialist emblem.

You can do so online at this address:: http://lab.decock.org/sewcialists/

Entry #5- Dylan

Entry #6- Anne

My design is a patchwork globe revolving on an axis which is represented by the dress form. The needle and thread which changes to a computer mouse representing the lines of communication going round the globe linking sewing and the social media.

My idea for this came from the inclusive and diverse nature of the sewcialist community represented by the patchwork pieces of the countries - linked by a common thread - our sewing and means of communication. My favourite author is Anne Tyler who wrote the book A Patchwork Planet so a bit of me. I also wanted to represent all sewers, the dress form for the garment sewers among us and the patchwork, yes you've guessed it! for the patchwork community.

The text around the outside gives a vintage feel - I think - to the design. I mention the word Sewcialist at the top and I felt we should aim high - with a bit of humour so a bit tongue in cheek with the proclamation that we will unite the world with our stitches.