Anyone else going to join me on the Sewing Bee watch?

[flubba]

A bit excited about it

:o

thats lovely I make keepsakes of all kinds :) do you sell your products?

nipersvest, Wow! I love your animals and the fox is gorgeous! I am going to order your book for dcs.

I like making and working with felt but rarely get the time just to sit and create, most of my sewing is mending clothes or taking up hems.

Nipers!
Those are beautiful.. I wish I could find the time for non-necessary crafting.

And thankyou whoever posted the lovely link to the V&A pattern! Sorry this thread has sped onwards and I can't keep up!

[useless at threads emoticon]

Bad news! Hobby craft have a sale on fabrics at the mo, I just bought 11m of cotton, all at £3/m

DD has some of it ear marked for summer dresses, some is for shorts for DS, haven't decided about the rest yet

lalalalalalalalala

I had a vile home ecc teacher who bellowed loudly all the time at the people she didn't like which needless to say included meI lost count of the number of times she reduced me to tears

Did do a cushion and curtains course a few years ago with some success but just find knitting is easier to pick up and put down. Feeling a bit inspired now though

Nipers I just want to say I have your book out of the library at the moment and am going to get my own copy this week . Charity shops have been raided, jumpers shrunk...

I did hardly any needlework at school in the 1980s as our school was all about getting the girls to do tech drawing and woodwork in a PC way. I then gave up all craft classes at 13 to do an extra language instead. It was a mixed blessing becuase although I was already good at needlework by then I didn't miss much, but my cooking suffered badly as the only thing I learnt to make properly was chocolate crispy cakes

Just been teaching my 2 daughters to knit today, they actually asked to learn!!! They have really caught the sewing/ knitting/ craft bug.
By the way, oldest has just started secondary school and says she loves her technology teachers.
We're looking forward to Tuesday, the 3 of us plan to huddle together on the sofa to watch the great british sewing bee, should be fun.

Effie, we have a dunelm mill near(ish) to us, so I'll have to check it out.

Feeling really envious of all the people with Hobbycraft shops , decent fabric shops with affordable fabric and equipment are difficult around here .

Lots of lovely yarn shops but craft much more difficult

Downloaded the programme to watch again yesterday. DS1 had seen par of it on Tuesday and, whilst looking for something to watch, asked if he could out it on. He was totally engrossed in it and is looking forward to the next episode. He's had a go at knitting and did a scarf with help when he got bored for DS2's birthday last year but I'm wondering if he'd be better suited IYSWIM to sewing. He has a very mathematical, science-y brain.

Does anyone think that's an advantage or am I talking rubbish?

watched part of it
asked if he could put it on

I think it's the shock of just sewing name tapes into some new school uniform for DS2.

DS2 is 5 and very interested in my sewing. On Sunday he sat with me and asked lots of questions. He's another mathematical kid.
I gave him a needle and thread and some spare material and he practised stitching in a straight line and shapes.
It was so lovely.

I'd love to nurture that interest but fear I'll get too enthusiastic and frighten him off. So we'll see.

oh, forgot to say, today i wore one of my own creations.
one of my team came into my office and said, 'oh i like your dress, where did you buy it?'

on the downside my a line skirt got accidentally narrowed by me being pernickity and insisting on matching the pattern on the fabric perfectly. I now have a front and back but i just know if i sew them together they won't fit. I'm now planning to put a panel on each side of a different fabric and will call it a design feature.

Haha google my mum's mantra is always "if it's a mistake, make it a feature" :o

exactly! who's going to know?

thank you for the nice comments about the book, fossil if i can get more people sewing then that's always a good thing.

before i went freelance i worked for coats crafts uk for 12 years designing all kinds of craft kits, so for me it's always been about getting more people into some type of hobby. i think it's good for the mind and soul to have an interest whatever it may be.

I found this!
tessuti.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/side-invisible-zipper-tutorial.html

I am ridiculously excited about trying it out.

Oooooh, and I found a free pattern for a 50's halter "swing dress" downloadable from here:
assets.burdastyle.com/patterns/print_at_homes/000/000/627/Katjusha_Homeedition_original.pdf?1281696375

It might ask you to register and log in before it lets you download.

Ooh this thread is moving along soo quickly. I wore my new shirt dress at work today - had to contain squeal when I was asked where it was from
(sorry but smug )

don't worry, you're in smug company here.

Chocolate that must be a lovely feeling! :) Have you got pics so I can have a good old nosey please ?

Am on my own at home with my chicken pox 2 yr old and the rain today - somehow I don't think I'll get any sewing done. But I can plan! :)

The only sewing I've done is a lining for a bag I crocheted and then felted. :)

I think sewing is more instantly satisfying than crochet/knitting.

agreed soupdragon - on the sewing bee programme they are putting things together within a few (6 or 7??) hours (though of course they are working on it solidly without interruptions/distractions/irritating obligations like going to work!)

quickest i've managed with knitting (in terms of clothing rather than accessories) is a jumper in three weeks, with bulky weight wool, which was probably about 12 hours' work. but of course i can take knitting on the train and it takes up less space in terms of equipment once i've put my swift and ballwinder away

though as someone said above it is a little odd having the time restrictions, as we would never work like that in real life, unless we're talking about the run-up to christmas when i'm trying to churn out 6 pairs of socks!

i love hearing your compliments received - hopefully that will be me in a few weeks' time once my dressmaking course gets going!

Tonight at 8pm!

I think they are sewing a fitted silk blouse in this episode.