Sewing Bee week 4 - Corsets & Kilts!

How are we at the quarter finals already?! There definitely aren’t enough rounds of the Sewing Bee, it needs to be at least 12 weeks so that we really get to know more about the contestants, I feel as though we’re only just starting to figure them out. Plus, more weeks would give us more wonderful clothes to look at and dream of making ourselves.

So, this week’s challenges: A 12-panelled boned corset, then 80s power suits for the alteration, followed by a six and a half hour kilt. Goodness! Talk about tough! But as usual, the sewers did themselves proud.

Apparently the trick with the corset pattern was precision (according to May) and a fairly firm fabric. Neil’s and Lorna’s were absolutely gorgeous – brocade and jacquard in glorious deep reds. Deborah and Matt picked the same blue cotton which turned out to be not quite the right move, resulting in a ‘ripple effect’ and Ryan braved pattern matching with vertical stripes. I loved  Paul's fabric and binding combination, it was as pretty on the wrong side as the outside, and Amanda went all out to impress with own-made bias binding. Sadly this back-fired as she ran out of time to finish. First win to Neil with Matt and Paul rounding out the top three – come on girls, don’t let them trample all over you! The pattern for the corset is in the new book, but I think I probably need a lot more experience and practice before trying that one!

Neil's corset via Great British Sewing Bee

Next up, the alteration challenge and a mind-warping array of 1980s power suits – think double breasted, shoulder pads, insane colours galore! There were some interesting ideas this week – Lorna designed a maternity top and skirt, Deborah re-worked a jacket, Matt made a strapless dress out of a skirt, Amanda also made a jacket, Paul a sleeveless top, and Ryan and Neil both went for dresses. Poor Ryan really struggled with this one but the other sewers all helped encourage him. Neil triumphed again with a beautifully shaped cerise pink sheath dress. He really is a very good sewer, if becoming a little jokingly predictable – Matt’s aside of “this is getting boring now” after Neil’s latest challenge win made in good humour. Ryan came second but poor Amanda was last again.

Finally for one of the most fabric and labour-intensive challenges ever – a kilt. Wonderfully modelled by Patrick throughout the show! Most of the sewers picked traditional tartans, with Amanda and Matt choosing to make a woman’s version which required more shaping at the waist and hips. All the contestants had acres of pleats to work in precisely, with military discipline needed in the pattern matching. Paul however went for a more modern approach with glittery denim (who knew such a thing existed!!!) and a studded hem. Lorna struggled with the timing and didn’t manage to put in the stabilising waist lining for her kilt, and Ryan’s turned out a bit long (for Patrick) and with a riskily small amount of coverage at the front wrap (for May). Matt’s darts at the front of his kilt-skirt didn’t quite fit right, and Amanda struggled to get her waist lining to sit neatly on the inside. That just left Deborah and Neil to battle it out with very similar looking men’s kilts, both of which were absolutely brilliant. Neil just swung it again with Patrick’s praise that he would wear it himself, and Neil got himself another Garment of the Week. Again, the pattern is in the book, but probably not one I’ll be attempting any time soon!

Deborah's kilt via Great British Sewing Bee

The cruel twist this week was a DOUBLE ELIMINATION! Two people had to leave and in the end it was Amanda and Ryan. Amanda really hadn’t had a good week coming last in all the challenges, and Ryan had been up and down. I think they are both really good sewers but in the heat of the competition timing or precision had let them down – Amanda vowed at the end of the show never to make anything under time pressure ever again!

via Great British Sewing Bee

So next week’s semi final will feature Neil, Matt, Paul, Lorna and Deborah – the first time ever there’s more men than women still in the competition! I’m rooting for the girls, but I think Neil will definitely be there in the final. The subtitle for next week is ‘Leather and Lace’ (jackets and skirts) and I can’t wait to see what happens!

Oh, you might have seen on Twitter I got my copy of the new Sewing Bee book this week and have been flicking through and planning what I’d like to make. I’ve got some leftover printed cotton that will just about make a sleeveless top, I really fancy having a go at the Capri trousers, and I’m definitely hunting for some gorgeous fabric to make a Walkaway dress when I got to the Knitting & Stitching Show next week! I’m really looking forward to it, and have booked to do a workshop learning how to work with jersey knits and make a t-shirt. Helpfully it’s pay day this week so I’ll have plenty of pennies to spend on pretty things! Is anyone else going? Maybe I’ll see you there!

Sewing Bee week 3 - 1950s Week

1950s week! How amazing were those vintage Singer machines? I’d love to have a go with one, but I don’t think I could use it all the time; I’m too used to my electronic multi-stitch modern machine now.

Anyway, this week’s three challenges were to make a ‘Walkaway’ dress in four hours, make a new garment out of some vintage curtains in 90 minutes, and finally to make a sheer blouse based on a 1950s pattern in six hours. Some tricky things for the sewers to get their teeth into, and on the whole they all did really well with the difficulty of the old sewing machines and slippery fabrics.

www.butterick.mccall.com

The Walkaway dress pattern was a huge trend in the 1950s, apparently easy enough to be cut out after breakfast and made up ready to wear out for lunch the same day. The dress is sort of like a big front and back apron style – it goes on over your head then the front part fastens behind the waist, then the back with the full skirt piece wraps round to button up at the front. So there are no zips or major fastenings, but there is miles and miles of bias binding around all the edges. The sewers were given a binding foot to fit on their sewing machines as the merest hint of a gadget, although not everyone decided to use it, preferring to sew their binding in two stages.

Everyone’s dresses turned out pretty well, Amanda had some binding that wasn’t properly attached, Matt hadn’t had time to finish his hem, Lorna’s buttons and loops were a bit big out of proportion, Deborah’s had some untidy loose threads, Neil had managed to snip a hole in his at the last minute, but Ryan came first, although some of his bound edges had been stretched a tiny bit out of shape. Paul’s dress was my favourite though, the big bright floral fabric he chose was gorgeous, and he bound the edges with the most incredible rainbow bias binding that I intend to hunt down, buy miles of and use on everything! On a side note, Deborah was wearing a top this week made of map print fabric which looked really cool!

The alteration challenge this week was accompanied by a soundtrack of The Sound of Music while the sewers tried to make new garments out of vintage curtain material. In some ways I think this was an easier challenge than others have been as the curtains are basically enormous sheets of flat fabric so you don’t have to re-structure an existing garment, but on the other hand the lack of a starting point for inspiration could prove tricky. There were several gathered and circle skirts making use of the voluminous fabric, Ryan did amazingly well to make a collared shirt, Matt made a little girl’s dress and Neil a halter-neck maxi dress. Neela came last in this challenge with a simple bandeau top, and Lorna was top with a deep waisted circle skirt.

On to the made to measure challenge and the horrors of silky slippery runaway sheer fabrics. There were a variety of patterns chosen, I liked Amanda’s long sleeved tie-neck blouse (not sure about the lime green colour though), and Deborah’s button-back shell top, this was beautiful fabric too. Ryan also had an amazing fabric with images of Japanese women and geisha’s all over it, Matt struggled to finish his zip neatly at the last minute, and Neil’s pale blue chiffon was so fine he might as well have been trying to sew thin air! Lorna got garment of the week with her black and white wrap fronted blouse which was beautifully done, but sadly it was Neela’s turn to leave as she didn’t manage to finish her blouse (no buttons, buttonholes or hem) despite tackling some very fiddly pintucking. It’s horrible seeing people go each week, even though we’ve only seen them on screen for an hour a week, although the wonders of social media means I’ve been in conversation with several of them over the past few weeks, and reading their blogs.

I love the sneaky peeks at next week’s episode – I can’t believe they’ve got to tackle corsetry!

I ordered my copy of the new book last night (let’s hope Amazon’s delivery is nice and quick!) and found out via Twitter that it includes the pattern for the Walkaway dress which I’m really happy about – I love 1950s shapes and find they tend to suit me, so I can see myself making some cotton dresses for the summer. I’m building up quite a shopping list of fabrics to look out for that the sewers have used on the show (Fiona at The SewingDirectory posts a list of links to the patterns and fabrics used every week) so my trip to the Knitting & Stitching Show in a couple of weeks could end up being quite expensive!

www.amazon.co.uk

www.amazon.co.uk

Still working on my knitting this week, and also planning to sew some presents for a few birthdays coming up – I’m thinking scented hanging hearts and decorative cushions, I’ll keep you posted with what I decide. I also managed to snap a couple of photos in the garden this morning now that things are starting to come back to life again.

What are you all making at the moment? Is anyone else going to the Knitting & Stitching Show?

Have a good weekend everyone!

The Great British Sewing Bee weeks 1 + 2

So two weeks in and who else is loving this year’s GreatBritish Sewing Bee?!

**Spoiler alert – do not read further if you intend to but have not yet watched the new series**

I watched the first series on the off chance and really enjoyed it, so I looked forward to the second series last year, and got more involved in the conversation by reading the contestants’ blogs and following on Twitter. So you can imagine how excited I was when the trailers started appearing on BBC for this year’s series!

I love this year’s bunch of sewers, it’s great to see a few more men in the group, and they’ve certainly shown their talent over the last couple of weeks. If you’re interested to find out more about them Alex, Deborah, Neela, Amanda, Ryan, Matt, Neil and Paul are all on Twitter (Lorna and Annie sadly aren’t) and most have their own blogs too.

The week 1 challenges were based around using cotton, with slim trousers as the following-a-pattern challenge, a denim shirt as the starting point for the alteration challenge, and finally a made-to-measure cotton summer dress in a printed fabric.

The trouser challenge sounded like a fairly basic start, but with slim legs, an invisible side zip and bias binding on the waistband there were plenty of techniques to master. Several of the sewers struggled with having to work under time pressure, where I’m sure most of us would rather take our time over a pattern we’ve not made before. Most turned out pretty well with a few wonky seams, partially exposed zips and stretched out waists, but certainly much better than I’d have done! Apparently this pattern is included in the new book so I might give them a go at some point. 

The alteration challenges are always fun, seeing how each person envisions something creative and goes about making it. There were a lot of denim skirts made out of the shirts, but Paul and Ryan made dresses, Annie made a woman’s blouse, and Lorna a child’s skirt. I really liked Matt’s fitted shape with the fun cotton frill round the hem.

The made-to-measure challenge gives the sewers the chance to show off something they’ve been able to practise, but with the added pressure of fitting it perfectly for their model, and all within the time limit. There were some absolutely gorgeous fabric choices – Deborah’s was glorious with bold colours (it’s an Alexander Henry print called La Paloma if you’re interested), and Paul and Lorna both chose poppies. The patterns they all used were lovely too, working for a variety of body shapes – and poor Ryan really went all out having to gather 2m of fabric into the waist of his dress! Neil won this challenge with his waist-cut-out fitted dress with perfectly matched polka dots – he’s definitely one to watch.

Sadly Annie was the first sewer to leave – May and Patrick thought the fitting of her dress wasn’t great, and she’d struggled with the alteration challenge. There were a couple of other people it could have been, but someone has to go first.

Week 2 was children’s week with a boy’s waistcoat, cotton dress + jersey t-shirt combo for the alteration, and made to measure 3D fancy dress costumes. I’ve not made any children’s clothes before but can see the logic of both schools of thought: smaller means less fabric to get tangled up with vs. Smaller means more fiddly and obvious if it’s not perfect.

We saw both of these extremes with the waistcoats. Poor Neela got in a real muddle with her welt pockets (not that I have a clue having never tried one before!) and several of the sewers not completing all the buttons and buttonholes. Again there were some great fabric choices to combine the wool fronts with silk linings – Ryan’s tartan and paisley combo particularly caught my eye.

For the alteration challenge this week the contestants were asked to make something combining the stretchy jersey of a t-shirt with the less flexible woven of a cotton dress. Lorna made a beautiful little dress with frilled sleeves and a bow at the neck, Deborah made a little bolero/shrug with a ruffled collar and front edge that May liked, but Neil won again with his boxing shorts and boxing gloves which Patrick thought were genius – or even ‘Knockout!’ as he punned!

The best challenge this week though was the made-to-measure with the brief to make a child’s fancy dress costume incorporating 3D elements. Wow! The sewers really stepped up to the mark with this one with a veritable zoo appearing in the sewing room. Deborah and Matt went head to head with peacocks with stand up tails, Ryan a fox hooded coat with ears and tail, Neil a mobile phone, Lorna’s blue-footed booby was brilliant, but the real star of the show was Paul’s elephant with flapping ears, a trunk tie, and pink tutu (obviously!). This won garment of the week, deservedly so, and it was lovely that everyone else was so pleased for him. 

Unfortunately this was not Alex’s week, she didn’t manage to finish her cupcake dress, and she’d struggled with her waistcoat, so sadly it was her turn to go. I really like Alex, I think her approach to sewing is great, but she's definitely a precise, perfectionist sewer so working under time pressure clearly didn't suit her. Reading her blog though shows that she's definitely capable of making some absolutely gorgeous clothes!

There we have it, two weeks and two sewers down, and next week is 1950s week! Vintage sewing machines and patterns, I can't wait to see what they come up with! 

In the real world, no sewing this week, been doing some knitting in the evenings but I'm working up to preparing a pattern and fabric to make a dress, I'll keep you posted!

Delphine no.2 #LoveatFirstStitch

Here's a quick make I finished at the weekend, my second Delphine skirt from Tilly's book Love at First Stitch. There's not really a great deal to say about this one that I haven't already said. The pattern and instructions are very clear, and it doesn't take long to come together.

I used the black based floral that I got at the beginning of the year, so this will be a good skirt to wear for work - it'll look really smart with boots or heels and a plain top or jumper. There's a little bit of stretch in the cotton twill too so it's super comfy.

I've lost a bit of weight since Christmas (summer holiday I will be ready for you!) so I actually ended up grading down a size on the waist from the one I made before and it's come out perfectly. I've kept the longer length that I added too, I just feel more comfortable with things below the knee.

The invisible zip is a particular triumph this time I feel - can you spot it?!

I've zigzagged and pinked the seams to finish them, and used black thread throughout. I was trying to try a twin-needled hem but chickened out - maybe next time!

I love the colours in this print, and because it's quite big I didn't need to bother about matching anything, and I'm quite pleased with the placement on the front. I can see this becoming a real go-to pattern for wardrobe basics.

What else has been going on... well I knitted a blanket for a friend who's expecting a baby next month, and yet again I forgot to take a photo before I wrapped it up! It used up some 4ply that Mum had left over from another project and is striped with pale blue, green, yellow and peach with white between each stripe. I also crocheted a border to neaten the edges, and considering I haven't done any crochet for years it turned out a success.

Another quick make in the last couple of weeks was this little felt and cotton needle case from a free kit with Mollie Makes magazine which was nice and quick to do, although a bit fiddly with the tiny patchwork hexies!

I'm making progress knitting another jumper for myself now, with this Rowan Summerspun. I was a little dubious about the colours, but knitted up it looks a lot better. The pattern is a basic round necked  jumper, but the welt and cuffs are an interesting rib and garter stitch band.

Did you watch the first episode of the new series of The Great British Sewing Bee last week?! I was so excited waiting for it every time I saw the trailer, and I really enjoyed the show, I think I'll probably review a couple of episodes at a time so look out for my thoughts in my next post. I've also been watching The Big Allotment Challenge which finished last week and really enjoyed watching the gardeners growing veg and flowers and then making things with them. I'm looking forward to getting out in my garden again soon, only a few more weeks hopefully - it was certainly nice to wake up to sunshine this weekend!