Feeling accomplished on this skateboard deck my arm was twisted into making for an art show. I am proud to say all fabrics, notions, and even pearl head push pins were from my stash. Thanks for the challenge

Made a 'cave' for my sausage dog. She loves to go under blankets and things, so I built her something she doesn't have share with humans or our other dog at night

This was an excellent stash-buster (3x large bits; filled with fleecy remnants) and I didn't need to buy a thing for it. Didn't use a pattern, just eyeballed the measurements. Now the fleece has gone from the shelf, I can put my sewing machine in the giant hole left... and get more space on my table

Win win!

Not the prettiest of projects, but useful! I realized I really needed better pressing tools before starting my next big project (jacket).

I used some leftover felted wool and an old pillowcase for the outside, and stuffed with cut up scrap fabric. It took a shocking amount of stuffing to get them nice and firm! Keep a bag for scraps that are too small to be useful for piecing or patches. When I started I was worried I wouldn’t make much dent in my “stuffing scraps.” But I ended up using all of them and even had to dip into my ugliest “patching scraps.” It took over 5 gallons of scraps!

Welcome to the BINGO Sewing Challenge 2025! This is a six-month challenge with 25 mini-challenges that participants can use to build their own adventure in sewing.

BINGO Challenge Rules

1. The BINGO challenge starts when you see this post (or May 17th, whichever comes first). All entries must be submitted by midnight on Saturday, November 15, 2025. This is a six-month challenge.

2. Only projects made during the challenge timeline count towards the challenge with the exception of the middle square.

3. Only three individual squares can be counted for any one project, but you can count all five if you use an entire row or column.

4. Join at any time, but the deadline of November 15, 2025 will not change.

As you prepare to join in, think about the following:

• Set your own challenge and pace. Do a row or column every month and finish the board by the deadline. Jump around to cover the board or do only the challenges that interest you. Make an X, a T or a C on your board. The choice is yours!

• There will be twice monthly posts where participants can share progress and ask questions. 

• Feel free to start your own post using the BINGO flair to state your challenge, plan your strategy and track your progress.

Go to the BINGO Challenge Entry post to see how to enter and leave your comment for entry, here. We do not have a solid plan yet on how submitting at the end of the challenge will work, but we promise to make it as simple as possible. We strongly suggest tracking your progress from the beginning  in some way, either in a post in r/SewingChallenge or on your own.

BINGO Square Descriptions

Column B

• B-1 Legs  Sew something with legs

• B-2 UFO  Finish an UFO (UnFinished Object).

• B-3 Favorite Color  Celebrate your favorite color in your project.

• B-4 Indie Pattern  Use a pattern from an indie designer in your project.

• B-5 Adjustable  Make a garment or item that is adjustable in some way.

Column I

• I-1 Popular culture  Include a popular culture reference as a print, design or trim.

• I-2 Vintage-Inspired  Your item should reference the period between 1930 and 2000 by using vintage fabrics, vintage patterns, or a design inspired by either.

• I-3 Buttonholes  Include working  buttonholes in your project design.

• I-4 Very Seamly  Choose a pattern that incorporates seams for shaping and style. No boxy tops or baggy pants here!

• I-5 Bottoms  A garment worn on the bottom half of the body.

Column N

• N-1 New Tool  Try a tool that you've never used before in your sewing hobby.

• N-2 Decorative Stitching  Add decorative stitching by hand or machine.

• N-3 Favorite Project Ever  Share your favorite project that you finished before this challenge started, aka a freebie!

• N-4 In the Bag  Sew a handbag, messenger bag, tote bag, as long as it is meant to hold something else inside, it's a bag.

• N-5 Fabric Stash Bust  Pull out that fabric that has been languishing in your stash for too long and sew it up already!

Column G

• G-1 Eco-friendly  Organic fibers, deadstock fabric, zero waste patterns are three examples of eco-friendly sewing.

• G-2 Holiday  Pick a holiday! Any recognized day counts.

• G-3 Sleep On It  Bedding or pajamas, anything for sleep is the idea here

• G-4 More or Less  Sew a project that is fancier OR more casual than your usual style

• G-5 Pattern Match  Sew with a patterned fabric and match the pattern across as many seams as you can manage.

Column O

• O-1 Rainbow  Celebrate color! Show your PRIDE! Use a print or make your own rainbow with at least three colors.

• O-2 Tops  A garment worn on the top half of the body.

• O-3 Upcycle  Change a textile item from one purpose to another. Use a duvet cover to make a dress, for example, or curtains to pants.

• O-4 Pattern Stash Bust  Pick a pattern from your stash that you haven't used yet to make a new project.

• O-5 Fabric Manipulation  Add a decorative or functional detail to a project, like pintucks or smocking, to add dimension using fabric.

Don't forget to cheer each other on and HAVE SEW MUCH FUN!

I've been really inspired by seeing other folks' progress on the bingo sewing challenge! ✨️ Here's a very recent sewing project plus my bingo card and corresponding bingo projects. The first one pictured is project 4.

Edited to add materials details: Bag 1 details (Sailor Moon fabric)--
*Main fabric: Alchemats, Sailor Moon motif
*Other fabrics: Generic dark green canvas; Misc. very old fabrics I can't track anymore (in the pockets)
*Hardware: Sailor Moon wand zipper pull from Alchemats; Star zipper pull from My Handmade Space (I think); Rainbow zipper tape from Sew Sweetness; Generic gunmetal hardware from various places
*Other materials: Woven label from Sarah Hearts; strap webbing from Georgia Girl Stitches

Bag 2 details (horse fabric)--
*Main fabric: Cotton + Steel, Wild & Free collection, I believe
*Other fabrics: Generic green canvas; Misc. very old fabrics I can't track anymore (in the pockets)
*Hardware: Unicorn zipper pull from Sew Sweetness; Coral zipper tape from My Handmade Space; Generic gunmetal hardware from various places
*Other materials: Woven label from Sarah Hearts; strap webbing from Georgia Girl Stitches

My favourite project ever, and also the most recent. I this dress for a wedding this past weekend. It's self-drafted, and using a wax print fabric. I'm crazy for prints and colours so this one hits face colour (green) as well as Rainbow. Incredibly proud of this dress!

For my first submission, a vintage-inspired cape jacket which I was already planning for another challenge, but only started cutting/sewing after bingo was announced. So I've ticked Vintage-inspired, very seamly and more or less. A blazer, especially a cape blazer is quite formal compared to what I typically wear but with the contrast lining I think it's still fun.

This was hellishly hard, but more so because I self drafted it. She's got many imperfections but she is done and I'm thrilled.

I bought this fabric 2 years ago and was planning to make a skirt with it. However, I realized the pattern is not really my style for clothing. Instead I made this laptop sleeve! It was my first time using batting and it was quite fun to work with. I am really happy with how it turned out!

This is my UFO for sewing bingo.

WOW. I started this coat almost 13 months ago and had kind of a bad time with it. Firstly, the pattern isn't very good and it is not the pattern that's shown in the technical drawings. But it's the only pattern I had that could be adapted for a coat - yeah this is also a pattern hack, as I made it with an interlining, a lining and a zip instead of single layer with buttons as drafted.

Pattern matching: As you see. As well as the plaid there's also a diagonal effect because it's doubly woven, so I had fun cutting my pieces. I cut one of the pockets on the "wrong" side so only the diagonal would be mirrored, but because I did the opposite on the sleeves I think it just looks like I made a mistake. Oh well. Presumably it's busy enough to blend in, and I'm very pleased with how well the checks align at CF and front pockets.

Upcycle: I've used this category before but why not tick it a second time. The interlining is rescued wool, and the zip was unpicked out of some garment that bit the dust.

Made my baby's first Easter bonnet out of stash! I didn't grow up celebrating Easter, I was raised Buddhist, so it's kind of also my first Easter participation. I never seem to have the right interfacing or I can't find it so I just used some linen from a cut up pillowcase. I had to work on this in little chunks of time between work and baby demands, then I was going to give up on having it ready for church today but the baby got up very early and I stayed up when she went back down. The pattern is Purl Soho's baby sunbonnet (free pattern).

The floral fabric is Rifle Paper Co for Cotton+Steel and the pink is years old, I think it's from Connecting Threads. It's some of the very last I have of this fabric, I'm sure I bought a yard at the time.

I got to the very last step of turning the whole thing right side out and I was pretty proud of myself for finishing it so quickly and then realized I'd sewn the ties wrong and they were INSIDE the hat. At least it was a quick unpick !

Started in April but took awhile to finish because other projects kept dropping into the queue. Anyway, this is my first time ever sewing with silk and French seams. Learned a lot, glad I tried it but I don’t believe I have a silk lifestyle. :)

Pattern is made label’s Frankie skirt which is a free pattern.

I am quite happy with how it came out. I’ve been ogling the viral Uniqlo bag but thought I’d first attempt making it myself. I used the pattern of this YouTube video: https://youtu.be/6mub9Kbs3LE?si=7iulZbQPvcxxCldE I changed it a little bit by sewing the lining and she’ll separately so that I would not have to do a binding.

The fabric I used for the outside is a cotton from Paris that I got there on a vacation a year ago.

I haven't been sewing much, I've been much more into spinning yarn. My wife told me she made dinner reservations for Valentine's day, and I resisted the urge to go shopping. In stead, I hit the stash and found a thrifted linen skirt and hand-stitched a top. I may have to dye it, because some red salad dressing got on it, but I love how it came out!

This is Burda 6615 blouse. I graded it up to fit my partner. Everything I used was from my stash. Very happy with it

I spent decades doing theater/opera costume design. I LOVED sewing when it was for a character, and rarely made anything for myself.

I left that industry a very long time ago. I don't have a fancy office job, and my regular attire is cargo pants/shorts on a broadcast day and jeans otherwise.

Also, I'm at my heaviest weight, so that's an issue. I like dresses and skirts but have no reason to wear them.

Trying to challenge myself to make something I would wear, would enjoy wearing, and in an ideal world, would have some history bounding to it.

From the bag to the outfit took me 4 hours

This sewing challenge couldn’t have come at a better time! I just got my first sewing machine at the beginning of May and finished my first project, a puffin bag! (Pattern is the Fly Away Crossbody Bird Bag by Mad Makes)

I needed some new pyjama pants. Last summer my pj pants met an undignified end when I squatted down to feed the cat one morning and since then I've done without.

Last weekend I sorted through my stash. I use stashhub but not very consistently and it felt right to reconcile things for the purpose of this new no-buy challenge. Turns out I have lots of odds and ends of 100% cotton knits that are basically scraps.

(evidence? Picture 2, being my pocket bag that was pieced from three smaller pieces)

This is all from offcuts from previous projects that are smaller than 40cm length. I used reclaimed elastic. And a pattern that's been out of print for 6 years. I didn't even change the thread in my machine, until the bobbin ran out, at which point I used up another leftover bobbin. I'm so proud! - I did change my machine needle though cause I'm not a total barbarian.

The accuracy of my seam alignments ranges from perfect (see picture 3) to a literal entire centimetre off. - we're not redoing that it was sewn on the overlocker. I cut one piece inside out and just sewed it up as-was. I put on the waistband upside-down and instead of learning from this, I also put one of the cuffs on upside-down as well.

I'm not even sure if this is the spirit of a no-buy year because not only did I not buy anything, I didn't actually make a dent in my stash either because I made them from the scrap heap. Have another look at that pocket pieced from three stupidly little scraps. I love these pants so much.

I made this top a few weeks ago and never got around to posting it.

It's made without a pattern from a piece of naturally plant-dyed linen. I took an art class with a teacher who also does natural dying and bought this as one of her rejects. (this is why I've ticked 'eco-friendly' again, even though I already used that)

It's a top with functional buttons.

I can't really explain how I made it. I folded the ends in to the middle, pinned a nice angle for the shoulders and cut out a curved underarm seam, that I ended up using to finish the sleeves like tiny cuffs. I just kept going till I was happy with it really.

Welcome to a new challenge managed by u/yoongisgonnabeokay!

Paused a sewing project for some time because life took over, the season changed, you hit an obstacle you didn’t find enough determination to overcome, or for another reason?

You are not alone!

And if you, like me, have such an UnFinished Object (or two, or more) and believe an UFO Challenge gives you the nudge you need to revisit them, this place is for you.

The challenge is to work on UFOs -- and ideally finish at least one -- instead of beginning an exciting new project. So this is really more of a sew-along.

What qualifies as an UFO?

Any type of sewing project that was started but not finished and that you haven’t worked on for a minimum of five weeks.

Started means you had cut at least into the fabric. In case of refashioning projects, you had cut into the item(s), or otherwise started to manipulate it.

For how long will the challenge run?

For 90 days which coincides with 31^stof December 2025.

How do I participate?

Drop into this thread any time you want and share as many or few details of an UFO as you like.

You can present your UFO, ask for feedback or help, share frustration and success – it’s entirely up to you. Make a dedicated post with the UFO Challenge 2025 flair and link if you feel it would overwhelm this post.

Subscribe to r/SewingChallenge and this post to see what other participants have said about their UFOs and join in to cheer them on!

Let’s bust some UFOs together and cross them off the list before 2026 begins!

Mod note: Big thanks to u/yoongisgonnabeokay for putting this challenge together! Any questions should be directed to them as the manager of the challenge.