Monday 1 February 2021: What is the #BHMpatterndesigners challenge? The Black History Month Pattern Designer Challenge (#BHMPatternDesigners) was established in February 2019 by Nateida of SewNaturalDane.

Nateida decided to created this challenge due to the lack of representation she saw in the sewing community that highlighted Black Pattern Designers, as well as black owned fabric companies and knitting designers. February is Black History Month in the United States and it’s also Nateida’s birthday 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. Here’s last year’s podcast.

This year, Myra has passed the baton over to Keira and she is Nateida’s co-host for 2021! Myra, thank you for all you’ve done for the challenge and for trusting Keira to take on your role!

While this challenge is dedicated to black pattern designers and fabric companies during the month of February, 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!) As we all know Black History Month here in the United States is the entire month of February and many already celebrate this month and highlight many milestones that have taken place in African American history and culture. As part of the sewing community we want to celebrate and highlight pattern designers (sewing, knitting, bag designers etc.) and fabric companies throughout the month.

Of course these are not all inclusive lists and if you know of any other designers Nateida and Keira should add, feel free to shoot Keira 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. The participation rules are really easy to follow:

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

Black History Month podcast replays: Sewover50 are replaying previous podcasts featuring black sewing community sewists that keep the over50s sewists in our community visible. They give their time to sewists everyday and in so many ways in during Black History Month and they deserve to be played one more time. Carol Crocker-Ware, Carrie Cunningham, Cennetta Burwell, CeeSews and Laineemakes.

#BHMpatterndesigner prize sponsors: They have some pretty amazing prizes to give away at the end of the month! All prizes will be drawn randomly by Nateida and Keira (so no pressure!) and they will announce the winners on their Social Media outlets by the first week of March 2021. Here are our awesome Sponsors to whom we are all ever so grateful for all of their lovely contributions to the success of this challenge!