I love The Great British Sewing Bee, it’s one of the few crafting competitions where I have sufficient knowledge of the craft to recognise the skill it takes to produce what’s on screen.
That knowledge has been gathered by years of making my own clothes (occasionally). Notable forays into this area are our wedding outfits, and my, and my daughter’s steampunk outfits.
A few months ago, my daughter saw some dungaree shorts that she loved, but just couldn’t afford. The steampunk outfit I’d made has a shorts variant and I said if we found a similar fabric, I’d make some for her. Recently I found that fabric online.
I cut the fabric last week and today I’ve been making it up. I’ve done the majority, after much unpicking! Being an idiot, I made two classic mistakes.
- I joined the two legs by sewing up the whole seam from the front waist to the back waist – forgetting that I had to stop part way to fit the zip in.
- I sewed the fronts of the legs to each other, instead of the backs.
I sewed the bodice and shorts, stitched them together, and pinned the zip in, got my daughter to try it on throughout, so it’s fitted to her not the pattern – proper made to measure (sort of).
As I was getting tired I said I was thinking I might stop for the day. To which my husband said, “Well, Jo Lycett isn’t about to come around and say ‘Five minutes, sewers’!”
Which is just as well. Patrick Grant might praise the fact that I’ve aligned all my seams, darts and pleats, but he wouldn’t be impressed by the pattern alignment – it’s a print of small dinosaurs there is no pattern alignment.
Finishing is next week’s job.
The Write Route 