It was Children’s Week on the Great British Sewing Bee! I know for a lot of people children’s wear is where they feel most comfortable with dressmaking, for a start, it’s more cost-effective because there is less fabric involved and so many designers are doing such amazing things with children’s prints that you can’t help but want to make something with it.
With 10 sewers left and smaller patterns than ever, stakes are getting high in the bee. Starting with a smocked dress for the pattern challenge, then the transformation of a sleeping bag into a food-inspired costume, and finishing up with a pair of dungarees the contestants went against each other and the clock to finish tiny pockets, ambitious topstitching and wacky designs.
In the pattern challenge, we saw the stitchers create a smocked dress with a Peter Pan collar and a lot of liberty! Liberty is a go-to choice for many when they think of making children’s clothing, its lightweight Tana lawn is world-renowned for quality and amazing prints. To see our full range of Liberty Cotton Lawn click here. If the sewers thought that the children’s collars are tricky, they should try the collar on Alfie’s shirt! now that is a tiny fiddly collar.
We loved the little history lesson from Joe on smocking and how it has risen the ranks from agricultural wear to the uniform of little princesses. I am currently researching a series of blogs on the anthropology of clothing and fabrics so watch this space! I have to say that I am converted to the beauty of smocking and now I quite want to give it a go, it is just so pretty, and some of them made it look so easy! Unfortunately, we don’t have a pattern in stock with smocking to share with you but we do have a wonderful book Perfect Party Dresses which is stuffed full of beautiful smocking and swoon-worthy shapes.
The Penny Collar Dress creates a loose, ruffled shape finished with puff sleeves and a flat collar option, it is a comfortable and cool design that’s perfect for playing. It is recommended that you make this Liberty pattern with linen, denim or cotton, for ages 12 months to 4 years.
The traditional style mixed with the Penny dresses floaty skirt makes it perfect for tree climbing, mud pie making and afternoon tea with the queen and yes, we know it doesn’t have smocking but we still think Princess Charlotte would like it a lot. Liberty is the obvious choice but we think it would work in so many different fabrics and prints such as Dream World by Emily Winfield by Robert Kaufman, a simple like this Cornflower Cosmo Yarn Dye from Sevenberry or if you are brave enough this glorious printed double gauze.
As a quick side note, I love how the cameraperson always shows who is a shoe on stitcher and who is a shoe off stitcher. (I’m definitely shoes off, what about you?). Whilst we are on side notes is it just me or does Ali never get as flustered as the others, I read somewhere emergency responders panic less about time because they know the true value of a minute.
Transformation Challenge
We would have loved to see the sleeping back turned in to a proper garment, mainly because we just wanted to see a snowsuit or a puffer skirt. But the grapes by Theresa really blew us away, Patrick is right there really was something quite chic about it, maybe it was the way the shadows worked with the purple or maybe grapes are just the new black. a truly lovely costume that would be the pride of any parade.
We couldn’t stop laughing at the outfits they were creating as Sarah once made a peapod costume for her niece Victoria and it’s gone down in family history as one of her greatest and maybe cruellest creations. There was also the Quasimodo costume but we don’t have evidence of that one. Here is the peapod for all your viewing pleasure, Sarah Peel was ahead of the game! Maybe Luna needs her own…
The Dungarees
Who doesn’t love a good dungaree! I remember I had a pair as a child and I wore it with a rainbow coloured GAP jumper, it’s about the only outfit I remember really loving (and my strawberry dress of course). Dungarees have really come back as a stable item of adult wardrobes in the past few years and are enjoying their spotlight as a fashion essential. They have never really left as a desirable item for children, there’s just something so cute about them whether it is a full-length pair, shorties or a dungaree dress.
The dungaree has its origin in 17th century India, where the cloth used for making cheap, robust working clothes was called ‘Dungri’. Dungri was the Hindi name of the Indian village which produced this hardwearing fabric. By default when the English bought the cloth to make workwear they took the name and anglicized it naming the fabric ‘dungaree”! Fast forward to 1853 and Levi Stauss, king of the jean attached the bib to the trouser and the rest is history.
We absolutely love the Freddie and Frankie dungaree patterns by Two Stitches for their clear instructions and great design. Freddie is for 3 to 6 year old and Frankie is 6 month to 2 years so there are dungarees for all, both patterns also include the pattern for a sweet little dungaree dress. We should but a disclaimer that dungarees probably aren’t for the beginner stitcher there are a lot of bits that need to fit together so nothing is too tight to run around in.
We love both Freddie and Frankie in our fine needlecord like this one which is a gorgeous forest green (we have made Chloe by Tilly and the Buttons in fabric), in any light- mid-weight denim or for a slightly lighter pair this beautiful soft purple check from Sevenberry
If you are unfortunate enough to be adult-sized but are feeling inspired check out the chilled out cousin of the dungaree the Burnside Bib by Sew House Seven or a perennial favourite the Cleo Dungaree Dress from Tilly and The Buttons.
THE GREAT BRITISH SEWING BUNNY
Week 2 – Sportswear
Its been another week of feeling overwhelmed by the response we have had to our very own Great British Sewing Bunny. This week we challenged everyone in Luna Lapins Little World on Facebook to make sportswear and I feel like Luna has a fair few new hobbies to get stuck in to during lockdown, from tennis dresses to track pants to ice-skaters, the wonderful people in the group thought of it all. We feel so lucky to have created a product that has inspired so many talented and creative people. I will admit that I am a little disappointed that there was no Luna playing Polo but at least I can keep that idea to myself for when I have some spare time, I definitely have a toy horse around here somewhere…
Here is a video of all the entries with the judges, Patrick and Esme plus Iris Stocks William and Matilda. A huge thank you to hilarious and hugely skilled Iris who is our guest judge and as always has done a brilliant job.
Our joint winners for the week are…
Katrina Bacon
Katrina created Freddie the Eagle, the stunt skiing badger. We love the attention to detail in his costume, his perfectly fitted hat and all those tiny racing stripes. a brilliant contribution and a well-deserved win.
Will Leckey
Will created this sportswear/streetwear tracksuit for luna complete with lettering. We absolutely love the colour combinations and fabric choice. Beyonce will be channeling this look for her next Ivy Park collection
We have been absolutely thrilled with the response and its heartwarming to see people come together to share creativity and good fun.