The Great British Sewing Bee Live

I think I’m probably the only person who went to the Great British Sewing Bee Live, only took one photograph and didn’t buy a thing! There was a good reason for this. My lovely friend and co-sewing group organiser, The Draper’s Daughter, had a stand at the show and I offered to be her assistant on the Friday.

Here’s Karen making sure everything is displayed perfectly. She’s wearing a fabulous Camber/Inari dress hack she made up in one of her fabrics – which also features on the top shelf of the photo.

Karen had been on her own for the first day of the event which had been incredibly busy and she’d only manage to visit the loo thanks to the kindness of someone on another stand who also took her a cup of tea! Friday was busy but not nearly as overwhelming. The stand looked amazing. The Merchant & Mills Top 64 pattern seemed to be the bestseller and I’m not surprised. It’s a great pattern which I wrote about here and Karen had sewn a dress version for the sample rail which I’m definitely going to copy.

Talking of the sample rail … I offered to make up a pattern and went with the Merchant & Mills Trapeze Dress. I love M & M patterns for their simplicity and style. The Trapeze sewed up very quickly despite my decision to bind all the hems for extra neatness given that the whole world would be looking at it! There are no darts or fastenings which makes life very easy. The dress has three sleeve variations – sleeveless, short and long. I went for the short sleeves.

I really like how the dress turned out but I’m not sure it’s ideal for someone as short as me (5′)! The size 8 fitted perfectly at the top but I looked a bit overwhelmed in it. I’ve seen some great versions out there and particularly like the short sleeve version styled with a long sleeve white shirt underneath. Check out @sewingblue on IG for a good example. If only I was a little bit taller!

I was planning to write a more detailed post about the Trapeze for Karen’s website but I’m not sure she’ll be too impressed by my lack of progress photographs. I always forget to take them!

On the day I wore my new Cleo dress made up in one of Karen’s fabrics so I could be a good ambassador. I’ll be writing about this one in a separate post dedicated to my new love of the dungaree dress.

Sadly I did NOT see Patrick in the flesh but I did spot Esme who was looking very stylish. I caught up with lots of sewing friends – and met some IG friends IRL. We also met sewing royalty in the form of Liesl Gibson of Liesl & Co and Oliver + S who visited the stand.

I really enjoyed spending the day with Karen but four days on the trot must have been so exhausting! I see that the dates for 2018 have now been released, three days, 8 – 10 June. Let’s hope that the huge crowds this year have shown the BBC that there’s a real passion for sewing in the UK and the Great British Sewing Bee will be back on our screens next year.