Wednesday 3 April 2013

Great British Sewing Bee. BBC 2

The Great British Sewing Bee started tonight at 8pm and I was going to apply for this.  Even downloaded the application form and then the rules stated that teachers (among others) could not apply as I make a living and had training in this field.  So in the bin it went.  Never mind.

Anyway, if you would like to see the first episode then you can find it here
The first episode was interesting and making an A line skirt was the first challenge.  Crikey I can remember making pattern after pattern draft of variations of this skirt at college....with pleats, without, waistbands, facings etc etc.
I still have most of them too!
The choice of fabric is the key to this skirt and any skirt for that matter.  I also hate lining with lining fabric but actually prefer lining with a same weight cotton.  More on that another time as I have an idea along those lines.  I shall leave the rest for you to view and not spoil the shows content.  If you like sewing or if garment making is a mystery then this may help or put you right off forever, but a simple shop bought pattern for a skirt is easy to make and can be adjusted to fit at the darts and side seams if needed.  Always make a mock up first, an old sheet would do for this, before cutting into any decent much loved fabric.

I am going to dig my skirts out that I have made over the past three years....I hope that the weather is better this year so that I can actually wear them.  I have made simple skirts with 15 year old students and they all turned out really well and we did fit them too.

A quick (and I mean quick) tutorial was given for a viewer challenge to make a large drawstring bag which could be used for a laundry bag.  So I had a look for the instructions, thinking that I would like my students to follow this programme.
image from Radiotimes/Google
 Not on the above website anywhere but eventually I did find it here
I have bookmarked and even though I might not actually make this as yet (I need to get my textiles exam piece out of the way first) it might be nice to tackle it at a later date.
Next Tuesday it is trousers, always a bit of a love hate garment for me so it will be interesting to see what happens.
Did you see this programme?
What did you think of it?
I am hoping that it will raise the profile of this skill and I want Mark to stay in as he is heading my crusade that sewing is for males too.
Take care all.
xx

8 comments:

dottycookie said...

I enjoyed it far more than I expected to. I didn't even consider applying but suspect that since I do work part time in a sewing workshop (though making very odd things!) I probably wouldn't be eligible anyway.

Ali said...

That's disappointing that you couldn't enter but I guess they really wanted home sewers. Watching the programme I thought they'd picked very diverse people with a variety of experience. And it was great to see men sewing. Re your post about your hip. I really hope the injection is successful and the after effects are wearing off. Take care.
Ali x

Tatkis said...

The bag looks great, thank you for the link!
I sewed myself clothes only during craft lessons at school :) and it was soooo long ago!

Hugs,
Tatyana

Anonymous said...

I saw and enjoyed the programme but I am baffled as to why the Fringe Woman was there - she added nothing to it and looked pretty dim most of the time.

Wendy said...

The programe was entertaining, but I would have loved a proper demonstation on making professional darts or inserting an invisible zip. The drawstring bag make was a waste of time, in my opinion. But I will be watching it next week :)

Plain Jane said...

So good to find someone else who enjoyed the show. I loved it and was quite shocked to find it get such bad press the next day. I used to sew things for myself a lot when I was younger and this show is just what I need to get me interested again. Really enjoyed seeing the diverse range of people and with that their different approaches - I've even gone and bought the book! Jane x

Lynne said...

I didn't watch as I am sick and tired of the media taking a subject and making a competition out of it. Shades of Simon Cowell! I appreciate that any exposure might encourage people to have a go, but there are other ways of presenting textiles - admitedly I'm only going off the trailers.

Indigo Blue said...

Quite a diverse range of comments here. I like to see how a new show develops. Saw several big mistakes before the contestants did and found myself groaning a bit. I suppose deep down I was hoping for something a bit more modern in their tasks and Ihope it is not going to be just clothes all the time, but I shall see what happens next.
Many thanks for commenting.
x

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