Sewing Bee is back

[Cocolapew]

Wednesday 24th May at 9pm 🥳

You'd better be very, very good, then.

I think a lot of us have him on our Christmas list, so it's going to be a competitive Christmas season this year as we all fight to get on the "nice" list.

FGS, DH has just passed me on to Virgin Media and I am trying to watch Sewing Bee!!!

LTB

I saw the beginning of the trousers then crashed out (was woken up at the end to go to bed by Mr Viper) so can't comment, but I thought it looked a clever (and delightfully simple) idea.

Have you seen her series "A Stitch in Time"? It's brilliant - it may be on youtube or something. Well worth watching.

I've tried crotcheting but I just can't do it. I can knit well but I become a total cack-handed idiot.

Same - my MIL tried many times to teach me, but all I end up with is unevenly sized holes held together by unevenly sized knots. I've tried with youtube videos, too, but I'm rubbish

It should have, Pasta

It was the only one wearable - the winning garment was pretty, but you'd only wear it as fancy dress

I'm going to repeat that I don't have an issue with a man wearing a dress or indeed a woman presenting in a more masculine way. Wear the clothing you love! My issue is the exclusion of the word woman and people thinking that they can identify into the experience of being another sex. That's just offensive imo. A final word about Matthew , I think he went on this show for the wrong reasons , we want good sewing and learning. He seems to have applied for gbsb for validation. His obvious vulnerability and unresolved issues have no place on such a show. I'm sure he's a lovely guy in person , but he needs real life support , not tv exposure.

I agree @FriendsDrinkBook

Smashing sex stereotypes is what we need, and I know plenty of people who do - and don't feel the need to go on about it. I fact people have been doing it for decades, and no-one even notices any more most of the time - and surely that's what real acceptance and equality is like. Just being yourself, wearing what you wish, without anyone feeling the need to particularly notice you and point you out.

Unfortunately the current mania is reinforcing stereotypes - and giving the idea that apple can change sex, which of course, they can't. And it IS very offensive, and often very harmful both to women, and to vulnerable adults and children who become convinced that they can be something they aren't and never can be.

I think you could be right about him being vulnerable, too. I hope that he has enjoyed his experience, and that it helps him and gives him confidence. He does seem to have deep insecurities.

Anyway- that's my rant over and I'll get my train back on the rails. Toot toot!

🚂🚂🚂

I have actually really enjoyed the last 2 episodes, although seeing those sack-like trousers has somewhat put me off zero-waste sewing.

i think Lizzie is really one to watch, she has a great eye for colour and design. Loved her remake of the bags into a smock - it had Selina Sanders vibes (the American who makes tea towels into tops) but very fresh. Can’t imagine finding enough nice tote bags though.

Crochet - well, honestly remodelling doesn’t worry me, but why try to make them into unwearable dresses?

I think the right person went, but it was close. Matthew seemed nice enough but the bondage theme was exhausting. Maybe he’ll wake up in 5 years time and bin all the D rings.

I think that's part of the problem with zero waste sewing , adding shape. I've seen a pattern that is a gathered zero waste dress and that is certainly a step in the right direction as it's very flattering. I think in general though it lends itself more to things like floaty kimono style tops and jersey tube skirts.

There's a balance though, isn't there. One one hand you have someone designing a pattern cut on the bias or something which means you need metres and metres of fabric and have loads of waste, and on the other hand you have the zero-waste baggy trousers with no waste at all. If it makes sewists think of ways of reducing fabric use then that's a good thing.

I think a better challenge would have been what I was talking to a lady about in the charity shop where I volunteer. She came in and headed straight for our sale rail where she scooped up about half a dozen large size dresses - 18, 20, 22. She was about a size 8/10. She explained that she repurposed the dresses into tops, sometimes just using the skirt of the original dress, sometimes using the whole lot. That's the sort of thing which people are doing and making wearable garments. Tote bag fabric is just too stiff.

I can't sew at all but I bought a stunning dress in TK Maxx that I knew didn't fit me on top, I hacked the top off and now it's one of my favourite skirts.

As someone that crochets, I spent most of the challenge cringing - if you want a crocheted garment, you’d crochet it! And if you were repurposing, then for the blankets that were blocks of colour you would frog them to a certain point and then redo with shaping for armholes and necklines. Small granny squares you could unpick the joining and rejoin the squares and again crochet the neck and armhole. (Unless it was a join as you go design).

But to be honest, apart from the baby blanket, the yarn you’d use for a blanket is not the yarn I’d use for a garment, it’s too thick for anything other than a sturdy jacket or cardigan. For blankets that are beyond repair, I salvage what yarn I can and it ends up in the next yarn-buster/granny square item.

It's difficult to of it well though.

If you adjust the darts the neck and the shoulders will be out of balance. If you reduce the waist the side seams will need taking in as well. It's a puzzle and it has to fit just right. To put it simply you will need two bigger size dresses to make a well fitting smaller size one, and that's waste, again.

Some waste is inevitable, because you are shaping a one dimensional fabric to fit a body. Some manufacturers are fitting as many garments as they can on the fabric and home sewers are careful with using fabric because it's not cheap.

The Sewing Bee recycle challenges have always been ridiculous.

Anyone else thinking of toddler's reins when they saw Matthew's harness yesterday?

YES!!!

😂

Yes 🤣

Matthew's toddler harness affair looked like it had been singed in places. It was an odd looking thing.

I didn't think much of any of the crochet garments.

I'm also not sure of the 'point' of no waste garments if they just end up being baggy when you could 'waste' stuff and make them tailored.

re Inclusiveness. I think on these kind of shows it works best when it isn't mentioned (like creative writing - show not tell). There was a trans person on the woodworking show - they just got on with the job in hand. There was Briony (?) on bake off with one hand, again not mentioned. Asmaa is there in a headscarf, but she doesn't make a noise about creating 'modest' clothing the whole time, she is just there representing Muslim women.

teendivided

Your last paragraph put it perfectly. I love seeing diversity. As mosh said too - just BE.

But having to mention it just makes me think it is more about being special than just being their own selves.

Everyone is special. I’m not sure why you need reins to highlight it.

I liked Matthew (not his harness obsession) and thought he was more creative than some, but isn't it par for the course that his "specialness" got mentioned by him so much? That's where the irritation stems from. You can't blame people on here for discussing it when it was such a part of Matthew and he clearly had an agenda. He said so himself.

I love to see diversity, but I think it's counterproductive to make it a "thing". I know we've really moved forward when disabilities etc are just there and not made a big deal of. Both of my parents are/were disabled and I'm really happy to see more people with disabilities on our tv screens these days.

Same with blasting through gender stereotypes. Not sure that the harnesses helped with that.

Yeah, the issue with Matthew wasn't his "otherness", which wasn't exactly out there's, but his seeing that as an identity that he had to bang on about. If he'd turned up as he was and only made a passing reference then there'd have been little to no negative comment. Last year we had the lovely woman, whose name escapes me, with one and a half arms. I didn't notice that at first, then I did, occasionally I thought that a particular thing she had to do looked difficult because of her missing hand and she only mentioned difficulties and the odd advantage in passing. As has been said, just be. That's when whatever difference you have becomes positively seen. We are all more than just our differences great and small or no real difference at all. It's a real shame because given how the others were with him he was clearly a popular, nice chap and I wish he could have seen that he's more than just a non binary man who likes a harness. I mean, for heaven's sake, he's also a ginger!

Yesterday I was wondering about the gusset of the trousers if there wasn't to be any waste so I was pleased when all was revealed in the evening and those shaping pieces turned into deep curvy pockets. (When I was young I had a winter coat which was loose but it had loops and a tie belt and one of my uncles said I looked 'all arse and pockets' in it.

Patrick's clothes were easier on my eye than last week's. Slightly snappier?

Tote bags could be recycled to charity shops for reuse as, erm tote bags. . They seem to forget the reuse and recycling part in favour of the repurpose mantra! Much better to repurpose things that have reached the end of their natural first life, like old duvet covers, charity shop curtains with ruffles, deck chair seats. Did they do one with umbrellas once, or was that just a Patrick dream I had.

I think the right person went, though he made a valiant effort to stay by playing the dead granny legacy pattern card. Too late Matthew, too late.

Exactly!

In fact just "being" and getting on with things is a much more powerful message than standing on a metaphorical soapbox with a metaphorical megaphone.

You are doing better than me, I only seem to be able to crochet in a straight line, I never could get the hang of going round corners.

given how the others were with him he was clearly a popular, nice chap and I wish he could have seen that he's more than just a non binary man who likes a harness.

So right @mouseminge - I'll bet he was really good fun when he wasn't banging on about being non-binary.

Re Patrick - Fauve seemed to think so.