The time has finally come… series two of The Great British Sewing Bee is due to air tomorrow, February 18th, at 8pm on BBC2. This time there will be a total of 8 episodes, which is quite exciting!
The Great British Sewing Bee, 2014, Series 2 contestants: (Left to Right) Julie, Lynda, Heather, Cerina, Simon, Chinelo, David, Tamara and Jenni – Image Credit: BBC/Love Productions/Charlotte Medlicott
To celebrate the new series, we at The Stitchery have decided to run our very own sewing competition! And, to make things even more exciting, we shall be aiding contestants in their sewing projects with our very first Stitchery Sewalong (more on that later).
The winner of this fabulous competition will receive a CXL301 Sewing Machine from our sponsor Janome, and we will also be giving them a £50 gift voucher to spend on anything Stitchery. Our runner-up shall be bestowed with a £50 gift voucher from our other sponsor, Mandors Fabric Shop, plus a £50 Stitchery gift voucher. Our bronze prize is a £50 Stitchery gift voucher.
To win one of these prizes, we will be asking contestants to sew their best version of the new Zinnia skirt, by Colette Patterns. Entries shall be reviewed by a panel of guest judges and assessed on the following criteria:
- Fabric choice
- Quality of construction
- Embellishments and/or style alterations (not essential, but may earn you brownie points.)
Entrants can purchase their Zinnia pattern in person, by email or over the phone from our Studio in Glasgow. Or alternatively online at The Village Haberdashery or Guthrie & Ghani. The competition closes for entries on April 8th at 10pm.
The Zinnia Sewalong
Now, to help you with your competition entry, we are going to run an online Zinnia Skirt Sewalong, starting next week and finishing in time for the competition closing date.
What is a sewalong? I hear you say. An online sewalong is a practical, step-by-step photo or video tutorial, guiding you through the steps of an entire sewing project. The difference between this and a regular online tutorial is that you actually sew along with other people as each new step of the process is posted to the website or blog. And you can post questions for the instructor or other sewers to answer, making the whole thing even more fun and interactive!
For some good examples of how this is done, check out Colette Pattern’s new dedicated sewalong website: Sewalongs.com. We're very excited about this very useful tool for the sewing community.
The Stitchery Zinnia Sewalong will commence next Tuesday, the 25th of February, when we post the first step in the process on this very blog. This will cover subjects such as choosing your fabric and haberdashery and understanding the pattern. So watch this space or alternatively sign up to receive our blogs via email using the form on the right of this page. Anyone who wishes to join in the sewalong will be well placed if they purchase their Zinnia pattern prior to this date. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.
Happy Sewing!