8th May 2022

 

THE GREAT BRITISH SEWING BEE - EPISODE 2 

Written by Claire Nilles, Marketing Assistant at Sew In Brighton Sewing School and Improver level self-taught sewer

For anyone new to this blog post, Sewing Bee has nothing to do with bees but as you may have guessed it has everything to do with sewing! Just like last week (you can find the first blog post here), I will be recapping this week’s episode and giving you some ideas of how to try the different challenges at home - or you can bring them to our ‘Stitch! General Sewing/Dressmaking Classes - any level/project’.

If you are wondering where and when the Sewing Bees sew away - the show is on every Wednesday at 9pm on BBC1.

Source: https://www.thegreatbritishsewingbee.co.uk/  These are the 2 judges (left: Esme Young, right: Patrick Grant) and the moderator and comedian Sara Pascoe (middle).

SPORTS WEEK

Episode 2 was all about SPORTS. You might think this only relates to this week’s theme but some consider sewing as a high-intensity sport! If you ask Sewing Bee Man Yee, she will tell you that she sweated more during the first challenge than during any other sports… So, be ready to get down and sweaty to take on this week’s challenge of sports shoe making 😅

1. THE PATTERN CHALLENGE - A pair of high top trainers

This week kicked off with the Sewing Bees having to make a pair of high top trainers from scratch. Btw this has been a ‘first-ever’ on the show! Have any of you ever tried to make a pair of high tops? Personally, I have never even thought about sewing my own shoes but would give it a go now 😁

So the candidates were given a pattern, some fabric, a hand eyelet puncher and only 4 hours to make these high tops. Here are some of their results which look pretty good for a first try in only 4 hours:

 

Alright, so I went off and did some online (Google) research to find a high top pattern and I was not able to find any that weren’t £50 or over…

So if you end up finding one or making a pair of high tops, please let us know as we would love to see the results! 

Also if you struggle pressing those eyelets into the fabric, Sew In Brighton has an industrial eyelet puncher which saves you a whole lot of hassle and produces perfect eyelets every time. Just pop by to one of our ‘Stitch! General Sewing/Dressmaking Classes - any level/project’ to use it.

NEXT UP:

2. THE TRANSFORMATION CHALLENGE 

The Sewing Bees were given old netball kits (including netball bibs and sports tops) with the task to transform them into a glamorous day-wear garment. In order to make it a little bit more challenging, the garment needed to have some pleated elements in it. During this challenge, the judges are not in the room with the Sewing Bees so they don’t know whose is whose in the end, which makes it a bit more interesting. 

On your marks, ready gooo! 

Brogan’s winning dress for the challenge!

With only 1 hour and 30 mins at hand, this is a pretty impressive result! Even the judges were blown away by the details and imagination the Bees used to transform old netball bibs into a very wearable dress. Well done to Brogan!

So if you have any old bibs or sports shorts lying around at home, bring them to one of our Sewing classes and challenge yourself to make it into a night out skirt or nice headband. Who knows what the result will be?

3. THE MADE-TO-MEASURE CHALLENGE - Sports jacket

Each Sewing Bee is given a mannequin for the last event of the Sports week, they take their measurements and fit their choice of sports jacket pattern onto them. Pretty challenging hey! For this week’s task each Sewing Bee chose a sports personality that they admire and made a jacket inspired by their sports hero. Amongst their sports heroes, were Freddie Flintoff (cricket player), Nicola Adams (boxer), Serena Williams (tennis player) and Jain Kim (climber).

The sewers were given 5 hours to complete this task. Let’s see what they managed to put together (Personally, these were my favourites):

   

Gill’s jacket inspired by Nicola Adams.

   

Annie’s jacket inspired by Serena Williams.

                       

Man Yee’s jacket inspired by Jain Kim.   

                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marni’s jacket inspired by Heather Stanning.

And the winner was Marni! Maybe not a surprise at this point as Marni has been acknowledged as a pretty good and spot-on sewer - yet still a well deserved win 🏆

So what does Sew In Brighton have to help you create amazing garments and increase your dressmaking skills to Sewing Bee level (so you can apply to be in it next year!)?

OUR NEW Tailored Jacket course is up and going!

The idea is to make yourself a modern, tailored lined jacket that fits you beautifully and have the pattern to take away to use again and again - as is or tweaked to different shapes and styles and in a variety of fabrics. 

We also have a huge range of workshops and courses in sewing and dressmaking for all levels including complete beginners to sewing - view them here (https://www.sewinbrighton.co.uk/viewclasses).

A new blog post will follow each week’s episode of the Great British Sewing Bee, so stay tuned for some more content and sewing inspiration!

See you next week and until then sew, sew away….

Browse Sewing and Dressmaking Courses and Classes here: (https://www.sewinbrighton.co.uk/viewclasses)

Browse free sewing tips and tutorials here: (https://www.sewinbrighton.co.uk/viewclasses/cat_1650825-Video-Lessons-Advice-Sessions.html)