This is it, folks — Season 9 of Project Runway is over! The show’s finale aired a few days ago, and the top four designers took their collections to Fashion Week in New York. After showed them to an adoring audience and facing the judges, one of the finalists was chosen as the winner. The end of the season also means the end of my series of at-home recreations of the show’s weekly challenges. Are you ready to see my final mini collection?

I decided to go with a simple color palette of just two fabrics so that I could focus on the overall look. I also wanted to use some of my favorite design elements from throughout the season, and focus on something that I thought was very wearable but also chic and elegant. I created three looks, and tried my best to show a good range of pieces so that many different occasions would be covered.

First, I created a day-to-night outfit that consists of a tight black dress and tailored jacket. This is a perfect office ensemble that can turn into a party look in an instant by shedding the jacket. I added a pleated detail on the front of the skirt, which I think gives it a very nice twist.

My second look is for the young and fun girl who wants to be casual and flirty and the same time. I paired some super-short shorts with a one-shoulder stretch top. And just for fun, I threw in some hot pink shoes!

Last but not least is the evening look. I made a broad neckline with a high waist and a flowing skirt. I would love to have this dress in my size!

Had I gone before the judges, Nina might have fussed about my dark color palette, but I think Heidi would have loved all these pieces. I hope you guys enjoy these final looks and have enjoyed going through this series with me. I’ve sure had a lot of fun making these creations. I developed quite a portfolio!

It is always fascinating to see the final collections that the designers create, and there are always surprises. When they arrived back in New York a few days before the final show, a few things seemed painfully obvious to me:

• Kimberly forgot how to make clothes.
• Anya forgot she was supposed to make clothes.
• Joshua forgot how to edit.
• This thing was Viktor’s to lose.

I was so sure that Viktor had it in the bag, because his pieces were so gorgeous and well made. If you’ve seen the episode, though, you know he didn’t win. I’ve got a theory about how that happened…

Somewhere in that final week, I think the producers of the show decided that they really wanted Anya to win, and that she wasn’t anywhere close to making that possible. She hardly had anything done, and most of what she did have done was not good. I liked Anya all along, and she showed us in several of her wins that she had a very sell-able style. However, she had just as much time as everyone else did to put something together, and she didn’t use that time wisely. Anyway, it seems that the producers wanted to help her out, because they did three things that I’ve never seen done on the show.

First, they did not throw in any extra challenge at the end like they usually do. They usually require an additional garment that had to be created at the last minute or have some other challenge that the designers must rally for to meet the newly set goals for the show. The result — Anya didn’t get even deeper into the hole she was in when she arrived.

Second, the producers gave the designers a surprise Mood budget of $500 and let them go shopping for fabric. Since there was no extra challenge, there should not have been any need for more fabric, so this was clearly an attempt to help at least one designer fill a gap in his or her collection. The result — Anya got to fix some ghastly mistakes in her previous choices.

Third, the designers had several extra days to work on their new pieces with the new fabric. They’ve had a day or two in the past, but it seemed like they had 3 to 5 days this time! Obviously they wanted better results from everybody, so they gave them plenty of time to do it. The result — Anya recreated half of her pieces, vastly improving her collection.

The unfortunate side effect of these twists was that Viktor lost his way. He took out some of the pieces that the judges had already told him they loved, and replaced them with new, sheer pieces that didn’t meld well at all. From the sheer top with odd cups to the similar sheer banded top with striped skirt, he seemed to just be creating new looks for no good reason. I was not at all a fan of the simple sheer dress or the cheetah-print one that took the place of the incredibly awesome full blue dress that the judges loved so much in the preliminary showing. Why would he remove something he knew the judges loved? Ugh, Viktor!! The black mirrored top and shorts were the least objectionable in the batch of sheerness, and he did even better with the same top paired later with pink print pants. On the good side of the Viktor coin was his perfectly tailored pink print dress which had those square cap sleeves that he has used several times before. His white jacket really got the attention it deserved on a pair of simple black pants. My favorites from his collection were the cute blue print dress with the full skirt and the longer blue dress that was so perfect in its symmetry. Overall, he was typical Viktor — sharp, tailored, and fashion-forward. For some reason, though, the judges didn’t seem to care for it anymore, and he ranked third in the group.

Joshua’s collection was definitely full of ideas, and he did manage to improve upon many pieces in his extra time, but I still wasn’t personally impressed. Maybe it’s the child-of-the-80s in me that is just averse to all that neon, but I didn’t really like his looks. He made a blue draped dress that was pretty much the same as the one he made in Episode 11, so I wasn’t really impressed. I hated his vest and print dress combo and the green skirt with a top made of the same print. The green shorts were awful, but the top was okay, as was his striped tank and pants outfit, although neither were very fashion-forward. The same thing goes for his black cocktail dress. I will give him credit for being innovative with his materials in his neoprene jacket and plastic vest, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t want to wear those materials. He definitely improved upon his black jumpsuit and made a similar black draped dress that were definitely pretty when they walked. Like I said before, he is full of ideas and I think he will be a great designer one day, but I don’t think this collection was his best work. I was actually quite surprised to see him come in ahead of Viktor in the final judging.

Kimberly’s collection is one that gets better each time I look at it. I really liked the look of her open-back square top, and it flowed wonderfully. Her teal mini dress simultaneously showed two things Kimberly has become known for — oddly metallic fabric and amazing folds and cuts. Her blue tank and black pants were totally boring until you saw the back, and then it was amazing. I really liked the little blue dress but wish she had listened to the judges earlier and ditched the giant handbag. The hot pink number would’ve been better served without the frumpy jacket, and I really wish she hadn’t kept that weird pink bubble skirt. The sparkly top and pink pants were not very memorable, but the same fabric in a long, black dress was outstanding. I absolutely loved the grand look of her blue and teal swirled dress, and I think it shared the title as best of her collection with the ivory pants and blouse that were just so perfect and so elegant. Even with a few missteps, I just don’t see how she came in last from this bunch!

Then there’s Anya. I’ve always liked Anya and her style, and she did create some beautiful clothes in her collection. For example, the gold, cowl-necked dress was sharp and clean, and a little bit sassy. Her second attempt at a swimsuit was much nicer than the one she had shown in the preliminary viewing, so that extra design time was well spent there. I completely do not understand the tan and gold tent dress that didn’t really have any fit, style, or tailoring to it. The similar longer belted dress with gold hotpants didn’t make much sense either, especially next to a swimsuit. I couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be a dress or a cover-up! I absolutely hated the blue top with green shorts that looked more like silk pajama shorts and a bath towel wrapped around the model’s neck. The real problem I had with Anya’s designs was that she relied too much on the super-easy deep V neckline. While she did have fantastic fabrics, there’s just not much construction skill required to create things like her black and white vertical stripe dress, the blue and gold jumper, and the quite luscious blue, green, and white flowing marvel of a dress. They were gorgeous, but were they fashion? She pretty much made them all in 2 days, so were they hard? Does that even matter? The judges clearly didn’t think it did. She kept the flowiness but lost the neckline for her long black-and-white dress with the pretty back, but went right back to the deep V for her gold striped dress that was really well done. In all, there were some nice pieces but there was little “fashion”. The judges certainly vary greatly from year to year with what they are looking for, and this time it was clearly flowy prints that made the dollar signs light up in their eyes. I think Michael Kors summed it up best when he said he could totally see an “Anya bag”, an “Anya dress”, or “Anya shoes”. She’s incredibly marketable, likable, and creates sexy and visually appealing clothes. Maybe that’s all it takes in the fashion world after all.

Whatever the reasoning behind it, I congratulate Anya for her win, and I wish the very best to the other talented designers from this season who I know have bright futures. I’d love to hear what you all thought of this season’s final collections, and I hope you enjoyed watching me try my hand at fashion design over the last couple of months!