It was Arts Week on the Great British Sewing Bee last week, which was all about combining creativity with solid sewing skills. The sewists created a baby-doll dress inspired by Grayson Perry, transformed a pair of used painter’s overalls and made a garment embracing the bold designs of pop art.
Seven episodes have flown by, and we’re just about ready for number 8 tonight. Before we do that, here’s a little recap of Episode 7.
Don’t read on if you haven’t watched Episode 7 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 challenge involved creating lots of volume – gathered skirts, frilly collars and puffy sleeves. The sewists all made ‘baby-doll’ dresses inspired by the award winning artist Grayson Perry.
Yasmin was the star of this challenge – the judges praised her neat gathering, and she chose a beautiful print of illustrated women for her fabric.
This week’s challenge remind me of a shirt I’d made with an oversized, decorative collar. I used blue ric rac from William Gee, and I think it added a fun touch!
The transformation
I just loved the transformation this week. The sewists all designed and made garments using secondhand, paint-covered overalls! Orla’s creation was just beautiful. She played around with architectural shapes, and showing off the painted sections:
The made to measure
This week the sewists had five hours to create the perfect pop art inspired piece. This meant graphic colours and bold shapes.
Kit championed in this challenge, with their crepe paper masterpiece, held together by discreet stitches and bias binding.
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 2nd September to see the sewers head to the movies with a jacket from The Birds, cinema curtains and a horrifying Made to Measure challenge. I for one love a horror film, and can’t wait to see a Hitchcock-inspired jacket!
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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