The Great British Sewing Bee 2

I can't believe we are at the final for the Great British Sewing Bee!  The weeks have flown by and I could quite happily sit and watch it all again.

It's certainly been a lot more challenging this series than the first one. I wonder if anyone has had a bit of a shock at what they've been asked to do? I like the fact that this time there's been some more in depth explanations of things with Claudia going off to visit places like The V & A Museum and the Fashion and Textile Museum which helps give us background on some of the items, or techniques, the contestants are having to deal with.

I used to watch Project Runway in the States, but ended up stopping because of the bitchiness of, not only the contestants, but also the judges. Obviously it's a much bigger deal there with a chance to show at New York Fashion Week, etc but I felt awful for the participants when they'd stand with their creation and then have humiliating comments tossed at them by the likes of Michael Kors and Heidi Klum. I realise that they obviously have experience in the fashion world - that's not in question, but I do think they could have put their criticisms across more constructively. That's why I love our Sewing Bee! May and Patrick obviously have a huge amount of knowledge between them but they always try to advise constructively, even if something's not to their taste.

I was sad to see Lynda leave last night. She's been such a lovely addition to the group; so kind and thoughtful towards the others and generous when anyone asked her anything. It's hard when it gets to this stage to see anyone go. I'd really like Heather to win it now, but Chinelo is super talented too and would also be very deserving of the title. How to choose?!

It'll be a tense time next week for the final challenges. What will they be?!

In the meantime, I'll be getting back to my own sewing! I've just made up two cushions from this fabric and just have a little hand sewing to do to finish them off. I'm hoping to get the last one finished off later so that I can photograph it and put it on here to show you.

I love that the Sewing Bee has inspired so many people to either drag out their sewing machine from a dark cupboard, or learn from scratch. Attending the NEC's Sewing For Pleasure a couple of weeks ago, I was amazed at how much busier it was this year than when I went a couple of years ago. Last time I went, it took about an hour for that side of the show to start filling up, but this time it was busy from the opening of the doors!

I'm still deciding whether to go to Creative Stitches and Fashion & Embroidery at London's ExCel which starts tomorrow. I have a complimentary ticket so it's just the train fare to find. The last time I went though, it was pretty tiny. I don't know whether the upsurge of interest in sewing will have boosted this exhibition or whether The Knitting and Stitching Shows held at Alexandra Palace and Olympia have fulfilled the need for London shows. I was surprised to find that Sew Magazine wasn't at the NEC show this year, having always attended before but again, perhaps they felt that attending the Ally Pally and Olympia shows in Spring and Autumn are enough. I have attended the Ally Pally one a couple of times but the last time, a couple of years ago, it was so busy and so cramped, it was unbearable! I don't know whether they have rectified that problem at all now and would love to hear from anyone who has attended more recently.

Did anyone else attend the Sewing For Pleasure show? What did you think?

In the meantime, happy GBSB watching and happy sewing!

Lavender Heart Stuffies

I don't know if any of you subscribe to or buy 'Sew' magazine. I've been a subscriber for quite a while now but the last couple of months have left me disappointed. It seems to be going over to more craft than dressmaking. I love sewing craft as much as the next person, but that's not why I subscribe to what is a fairly expensive magazine. For instance, last month's was a Patchwork Special.

I'm all for reading, and trying new techniques but I don't really want a whole magazine devoted to it, when I buy that magazine for its original subject, ie, dressmaking. What also bothered me with last month's was that there was no 'proper' pattern. Sew's big draw is that it always includes a dressmakers' pattern, quite often Simplicity. This works well for me as they are usually patterns I'd like to try so that addition helps justify the subscription (as it's not the cheapest mag on the market). I like that it is modern, and looks at fashion as well as dressmaking. At least it used to.

Last month's pattern was for an apron (not exactly a shortage of these around), and a little girl's dress. Both are sweet, and both have to be downloaded. The thought of sitting there printing out bits of pattern that I need to use both time and ink up on as I churn it out and then try and work out what goes where does not fill me with glee. So far I haven't bothered.

Anyway, I'm hoping for a return to its roots for Sew very soon.

Along with the 'free download' offered last month was a pack of a few patchwork squares of fabric. I wasn't inspired at all by the projects shown in the mag so washed and ironed the pieces and put them away. Yesterday I felt like a play so ended up making these:

I drew a heart shape freehand and cut out eight larger size hearts, then drew around a biscuit cutter to make the smaller ones for the applique. I spray tacked the little one on the fronts and zig zagged around to hold it on then sewed two big ones together, sandwiching a little piece of grosgrain ribbon inside so that there would be a hanger for it. I tried it with some thicker ribbon to start but it was really hard to get it to hang right, so I unpicked and went with the thinner one. I then stuffed them with a mixture of pillow stuffing (quite literally from a pillow) and dried lavender.

I think they came out ok for a little bit of playing and for some fabric that I wasn't terribly inspired by to start with. I'm keeping the first one (which is a bit wonky!) and then giving away the rest. Yet another project to help me get used to my new machine.

I hope you like them and would love to hear your views on Sew if that's a magazine you read!