Welcome to the Black History Month Pattern Designers Challenge 2021!
What is the #BHMpatterndesigners challenge? Nateida of Sew Natural Dane created this challenge in February 2019. February is Black History Month in the US and also Nateida’s birth month. The driving force behind it all? A lack of representation in the sewing community – black pattern designers were not being highlighted and the same goes for black owned fabric companies. So as we celebrate Black History Month in February, we would like to also celebrate black pattern designers who offer so much to our sewing community! For the last two years, the lovely Myra of One Sew Sweet played the role of Nateida’s co-host for the challenge. I am happy to announce that this year, Myra has passed the baton over to me and I am your co-host for 2021! Myra, thank you for all you’ve done for the challenge and for trusting me to take on your role!
2019 
2020 
2021
While this challenge is dedicated to black pattern designers and fabric companies, it is open to the entire sewing community no matter your race, gender, or where you live in the world. (Yes, it is open internationally!) Throughout the month of February, we will be highlighting black pattern designers for garment sewing, knitting, crochet, quilting, and bag making and we would love for you to join us on this journey! To help you out just a bit, we’ve compiled some lists of black pattern designers and fabric companies in our sewing community. Of course these are not all inclusive lists and if you know of any other designers we should add, feel free to shoot me a quick email at islandsewcialist@gmail.com.
In this Google Document you will find links to all of these pattern designers and fabric shops, as well as pattern suggestions for each designer.
Now the rules are pretty simple:
If you are looking for inspiration or need assistance in any way, we have a group of fantastic ladies we call Ambassadors who are willing and ready to help answer any questions you may have. Make sure to stop by their social media pages during the challenge for all the fire inspo! Thank you ladies for all your hard work! We appreciate you!
Teameaka: Instagram, Youtube, Blog
Crystal: Instagram, Youtube, Blog
Nandita: Instagram
We also have some pretty amazing prizes to give away at the end of the month! All prizes will be drawn randomly by Nateida and myself (so no pressure!) and we will announce the winners on our Social Media outlets by the first week of March 2021. Here are our awesome Sponsors to whom we are ever so grateful for all of their lovely contributions to the success of this challenge!
Some of our sponsors have special coupon codes you can use throughout the duration of the challenge and Nateida has launched a Shop with Limited Edition items this year! Go to this post for all those details!
I highly recommend you subscribe to both of our websites so you can keep up to date with all of our exciting news!
