It was Kids’ Week on the Great British Sewing Bee this week, where the judges set three challenges inspired by childrenswear. It’s always a really creative week, often featuring fancy dress costumes and playful transformations.
Don’t read on if you haven’t watched Episode 6 yet
I love to follow along the episodes with weekly recaps and pattern suggestions, so don’t read on if you don’t want to see what happened in the last episode.
The pattern challenge
This week’s pattern challenge was so fun! I love making myself a pair of comfy dungarees, but these children’s ones were very cute. It was essential that the dungarees were able to be adapted to different needs. Victoria Jenkins, an expert in adaptive clothing design, joined Patrick and Esme to help with the judging.
The contestants picked playful fabrics for their makes, and I thought it’d be a lovely, fun project to try at home.
The Fold Line have a collection of different children’s dungaree and overalls patterns (and remember you can also find all the haberdashery you need for them at William Gee)!
The transformation
Each week Esme and Patrick ask the sewists to create a new garment from second-hand or discarded materials. This week, it was transforming maternity clothes into a brand new children’s outfit. I thought that was a lovely, circular idea. There’s also a wonderful softness to secondhand clothes, that would be perfect for cosy children’s clothes.
Here’s Orla’s very cute transformation, featuring an appliqué giraffe:
The made to measure
It’s a bit of a tradition on Kids’ Week to have a fancy dress made to measure challenge. I can see why – it’s so fun, and allows the contestants to get really creative. Often the sewists draw inspiration from costumes they had (or wished they had!) as a child. I love to see the different versions develop.
Orla’s Beekeeping costume was delightful.
If you missed this week, you can catch up on BBC iPlayer when it suits you!
What’s happening next week?
Tune into BBC1 at 9pm on Tuesday 26th August to see Arts week, where the sewists create a baby-doll dress inspired by Grayson Perry, transform a pair of used painter’s overalls and produce a garment that embraces the bold designs of pop art.
Want to sew along with the Bee?
The Sewing Bee always inspires people to start creating their own wardrobe. Seeing the contestants experimenting with different fabrics and styles is a lovely way to think about how you might tackle your own projects.
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