The revolution will not be televised. The #sewingrevolution will be live. (Gil Scott-Heron)Its been a very humbling and busy one for me this week. Two full day workshops and two gig's with Snooty Bobs, catch up's with family and friends and my 'normal' job all in just four days. I've met some wonderful people at workshops and gig's and also had some very inspiring conversations with potential new venues for my #sewingrevoultion workshops. The reason this week was so humbling for me was because I recieved two very lovely emails completely out of the blue. These very resourceful people had tracked down my email address and wrote to me personally to either ask me questions or as you will read below, just to tell me how I had inspired them to sew and show me their projects! With their parents permission they have allowed me to share thier messages with you. The first message was from a girl called Hannah - titled Messge from a sewing-obsessed 12 year old. Hi jenni, Just to say (I would say just a quick email but this probably won't be quick!) you were the person who completely and utterly inspired me on the sewing bee from the start and I really felt the need to get up (during the programme) and sew something everytime I saw one of the outfits you'd made :) this email really does sound awfully over the top but I am 12 so it's allowed!! I have always been desperate to start a sewing group/club or anything like that but... None of my friends like sewing (which is a DISASTER). i find it so disappointing that all these big brands have taken over, i find it so much more exciting wearing clothes that have a story. I have really taken to sewing in our living room though just by myself and have so far created... Numerous outfits for teddy bears that I can't face giving away, a pleated skirt, a puffy pin-striped skirt and a few dolls, oh yeah and some pj trousers :) I am now hoping to get a seamstress dummy that I can fit clothes to so I can begin to make shirts and dresses! I will try to only ask one question because this email is already too long... Where do you get your inspiration from?? Quite a general question and I'm sure it comes up a lot but that's what is so epic about the stuff you make- you just have endless creativity that is never repetitive!!! I hope you like reading this email (if you do!) From hannah wright age 12 Sent from my sewing-research station aka my ipod My response to Hannah. Hi there Hannah, so sorry it has taken me a while to get back to you! Firstly, thank u so much for your wonderful email!! You really made my day when i was reading about your passion for sewing! Glad to hear that I have inspired you to start! I'm currently trying to start a #sewingrevolution where I'm inviting people to start sharing their makes on Facebook and twitter by posting pictutes.If u or your parents are on twitter / Facebook please feel free to follow me !! (JennibobTaylor on twitter and Tailor Taylor on Facebook) and post a picture!! You might be glad to hear that I'm also running workshops in and around the midlands. Maybe you could come to one as I know it is difficult to find like minded people (who sew) u can find details of my workshops on FB and twitter or my website. Finally - what inspires me? Well this is a tough one. At first I think I was inspired by retro clothing, the 70's and 60's periods. You can't get clothes like that anymore and also lots of people used to make their own anyway. But more recently I think I like sewing because its just another way of expressing yourself like painting or dance. You think about what u want to make and you create it from scratch. And each item even though it could be the same pattern will and can be different if u add different things. You get to pick the fabric you want and the style you want! What do you think? You might know that I also sing in a band from Watching the programme so I you know that I love to be creative. I also enjoy painting and cooking! So I'm very greedy as I like to do so many things! Lol I hope this answered your question? It would be lovely to see something You have made so please send me a pic of a finished item!! Looking forwards to it! Lots of love Jenni from the sewing bee. Xx Here are the pictures Hannah forwarded to me! How amazing!! The second email I recieved was from Meg, titled Hello. Dear Jenni, I looked at your blog and I really enjoyed watching you at the Sewing Bee. You are my favourite sewer on the Sewing Bee. I enjoyed watching you make the dungarees. Happy Easter. I love you. Love Meg (age 6) My response.. Dear meg. Thank u so much for ur lovely email!! Glad u enjoyed watching me and the sewing bee programme!! Hope I have inspired u to maybe want to start sewing!!! That would be soo cool! Also could I use ur message for my blog this week. U have really made my week and i'd like to share it with everyone. Love jenni!! From the sewing bee Dear Jenni, Yes my mum says you can. I’m really excited about it. I fancy sewing a dress and I’ve borrowed Nanny’s sewing machine to make it. Nanny’s sewing machine looks like the old ones that were on the Sewing Bee but it has a handle that you turn round. It doesn’t do the stitches like Mummy’s that you did on the Sewing Bee but it will be good for me to learn. I’ll send you a picture of the dress when it’s done. I hope the Easter Bunny comes to your house. I was crying when you went out because I wanted you to stay in. Love Meg xxx Jenni, thanks for replying to Meg, she LOVED the Sewing Bee, was totally inspired. All her own idea to “Google Jenni to find her number” to send you a message! Clare x After recieving these wonderful messages of love and inspiration, I have been totally overwhelmed and rejuvenated to continue my cause in promoting the #sewingrevolution, not only to help get adults back into the swing of things but to also consider encouraging children to also start their sewing adventure too. So much so I have become involved in a project called S.T.A.R (Striving To Achieve Results). This is a youth project that hopes to deliver a range of creative workshops for a diverse range of young people to support both academic and personal development. The end result will be a competition event to showcase thier talents and work. There will be a panel of judges from the fashion, dance and music industry for the final event on the 3rd May! Guess who is running workshops and is going to be a judge? ME!!! I'm so excited and will be blogging about this soon. I've also teamed up with http://www.sewmesomething.co.uk/studio?task=view_category&category_id=11 and http://www.thecraftpatch.co.uk/index.html to offer workshops specifically for children. Hopefully, through this project and my workshops, I will continue to inspire others to sew. I'm sorry to say that there will be no blog next week as I'm taking a short but well deserved trip abroad for some sea, sand and sun! I've decided that I'm going to try and teach myself to crochet while on holiday, so I'll update you on that when I get back! Wish me luck! So for now I need you to keep the #sewingrevolution fires burning by continuing to keep me posted on your makes. Look forward to seeing them when I get back! Peace Out!
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Heather gallops ahead.As we all settled down to watch the final of The Great British Sewing Bee, a little melancholy came over me. Tuesday nights have become quite a ritual in our and so many other households. Chinelo, Heather and Tamara looked so nervous on this episode. More than I had ever seen them before I thought. I think the reality of the final began to ring loud and clear in their heads. Everything they/we had worked so hard for over the last seven weeks comes down to this episode. No pressure then! :) Couture was the theme, so hand sewing and perfection was key. I was quite surprised by Heather's tie, I thought that she would of smashed this task because of the level of skill required. She may not be so out there as the other two but she had shown in the previous tasks that, like the box pleat skirt, I'm sure Heather was awarded for her lapped zip. Tamara however, you could see that she was fighting for this and snapped up first! I really wanted to be there to give Chinelo a huge hug! I didn't like seeing her upset like that, but she came back in true Chinelo style ready for the alteration challenge. This looked a lot of fun but a hell of a lot of work in such a small space of time. Chinelo really did herself proud on this challenge I thought. The dress was just beautiful. Now for the final third task, I thought this was just ridiculous! Couture in seven hours, a little unfair I thought. The results however were stunning. For me, Chinelo's dress was the best but this is based on style. I thought her bodice design was so beautiful. I was proud of Tamara sticking to her guns on the final task. She was going for something out there. This is something that she has done from day one and I'm glad that she didn't change her game plan, she stayed true to herself which I think is important and is something that I personally love her for! Heather, WOW! I think Heather had been saving all her creative juices for this task! Sunray pleats in the bodice. Lashings of fabric to boot, along with a top hat, chains and a whip! I say!!! Go for it Heather! It was very strange coming back to the sewing room for the final take. Even though I had not made it to the final I still felt very connected to the other contestants and the show. This felt like good bye. It must have been very hard for the Judges to pick the winner of the show. What do they go on? Progression throughout the show, this weeks tasks or the final task? Chinelo had achieved top two over seven times and garment of the week once. Tamara with garment of the week twice and top two over four times. Heather with top two over five times however had not been awarded garment of the week; was this her garment of the week and what won the prise. I still can't figure out the Judge's angle for scoring. That being said it makes for one amazing programme! A huge congratulation to Heather, your dress was stunning, so much work for such a small amount of time; and it made the Book! BOOM! I want to wish all the contestants, all the best for the future! I'm glad to say that the last episode wasn't goodbye and that we all keep in touch. I love hearing about their adventures after the bee! Some of you have asked about the dress that I wore for the final. Yes, it is a Tailor Taylor dress (I made it). Thank you all for you kind comments! I used a vintage pattern by Style patterns ltd- 4278 from 1973. It was given to me along with a box full of old pattern treasures by a lovely lady who no longer had a use for them. Thank you Ma McToot! The fabric is from my local market stall in Walsall and is just a simple light cotton. Nothing fancy but I think it looks cool! I've had quite a few lovely donations of late from complete strangers and friends. Hordes of fabric, sewing machines and haberdashery as well as just offering help! So I wanted to thank Clare Lundy, Sue and Nigel Tame, David Nutt and Jo Smith for putting me in touch with potential workshop spaces. The world really does have some big hearts in it! Thank you so much for contributing to my #sewingrevolution! Speaking of workshops, it has been a very crazy week. I've secured another three workshop venues and completed one at the lovely Guthrie and Ghani Haberdashery in Moseley last Saturday. It is just a wonderful space. We still have limited spaces left for the upcycle IPad cover on the 18th of May. (my birthday week so there might be cake as well) http://www.guthrie-ghani.co.uk/workshops/learn-to-sew-beginners-upcycled-ipad-or-gadget-case-with-jenni-taylor/ We had a cracking day! it was a little scary for me as this time we decided that we would run an upcycle sewing clinic. This way I didn't know until the day what we would be making! Quite a challenge for me but an exciting one and you know I love a good challenge! Lynda wanted to make a bag out of a charity shop shirt and leather belt. Penny had only made bunting before but wanted to go for a make-up wrap bag using fat quarters that she had left over from her stash. Rachel wanted to completely alter a sari into a halter neck top. Julie had two men's shirts that she wanted to make into a comfortable dress. Lorna armed with a pair of black jeans and a skirt, wanted to make a cover for her laptop. Not wanting to feel left out, I had decided to wear my own upcycled man's shirt that I had resized and added a ruffle to. Very 'Prince and the Revolution' and appropriate I thought ! (#sewingrevolution) The ladies were a great group. All varied ideas, skill levels but all had cracking sense of humour. Had to remind them all as well as myself that we had to get on with the sewing if we wanted finished items. Once I had given everyone a plan, they were off! It was wonderful to see all the items coming together throughout the day. It was also nice to observe the ladies taking an interest in the other projects and encouraging each other. They had mentioned that they really liked being able to see how other things were being made, even though they were making something else. That way, they were able to take the ideas away and try it at home later. I must admit I was really pleased with myself while I was cleaning up the workspace. I had achieved everything that I had set out to. The ladies had enjoyed themselves. All had finished items and enthusiasm to create more. Learned how to design and create their own items from recycled material and think outside the box! Job done, it was a rewarding pint for me and a curry! I have updated my events page with all the new venue's I will be running workshops over the next few months. Please feel free to get in touch if you know of any other venue's that might be interested in joining the #sewingrevolution and having me come to visit! I would love to come and see you all! Keep your pictures coming through on twitter and facebook. I'd love to see your projects, remember to use the hashtag! Lovely Lynda is made the April Fool.Unfortuntley, I was a little behind with the Great British Sewing Bee this week, as I had a rehearsal booked with Snooty Bobs. However, I already knew what was coming. I'd sent a personal message to Lynda that day to reminder her that I thought she was amazing and that I loved her to bits. I honestly had Lynda and potentially one other to contestant to to win ( I won't reveal the other one yet) when I was asked on my exit interview in Episode Five. When I finally got round to watching it, I was a little dissapointed with the judges comments regarding Lynda. 'A little inconsistant', she has had garment of the week three times! Closely followed by Tamara who only got her second garment of the week at the end of this episode. That said, I was sad to see Lynda go but very please for Chinelo, Heather and Tamara! Well done ladies and good luck for the final next week! This is very stange for me to say as we all know this is prerecorded programme but it really does feel like its only just happening. Reliving it if you like. Im very excited about the Final, but also gutted as again I'm not going to be able to watch it live. My good friends have treated me to an evening at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham. We are going to be watching Hitchcock's - Psycho. This is no ordinary screening as it will be accompanied by a live orchestra! Awesome and a little eerie as we might be at the famous shower scene as they are announcing the winner of the GBSB, this isn't a spolier by the way, but I do hear that its a tense one! As for this weeks challenges, WOW what a tough one! I've bodged a few patterns in my time but never to this extreme. Here are some Hotpants that I had copied back in and around April 2013 (according to the picture upload date on facebook #virtualdiary) with slight adjustments as I wanted to make them high waisted. The Hotpant are made out of left over corduroy from a previous project and the buttons are off an old coat. My proposal for the Made to Measure challenge in the bee (if I had made it that far) would have been my dad's Levis denim shirt. I adore that shirt but as he and now I, pretty much live in it, its falling to bits. Holes in the elbow's, you name it, its falling apart :( I was hoping to get some time to have a go at the First challenge for the blog today, but I haven't had the time this week. Sorry Ladies and Gents. The #sewingrevolution will be social-live!The #sewingrevolution came into full force this week. My first willing victim was Charlotte Hall. A dear friend who had made my wonderful cupcakes for the GBSB premier party as a suprise (check out episode one blog pic's) . As the 'boys' were at a whiskey festival we decided we would have a 'crafty' day and transfer skills. Its as kind of a sewing bee cook off day if you will. The task to make and decorate cupcakes and make a 'Beatrice' Dress by www.sewmesomething.co.uk . A fantastic beginners pattern that I came across at the Sewing For Pleasure event at the NEC a few weeks before. A wonderful pattern that is a great start for beginners and a fantastic pattern for any sewing hands that love something comfortable and has wicked pockets! I had already made this particular dress the night before and was wearing it at the time but I had slightly adapted the pattern to make it reversible. Therefore, I got two dresses in one garment! A great holiday item as you would only need to pack this and it would cover two days (with a bit of airing) !! Anyway I digress, First thing first we needed was materials of both kinds! Fabric was the first of the ingredients on the list. Charlotte just couldnt get over how many different types and styles there were being a non sewer. Guiding her through she found what she was looking for. Charlotte had decided to go with this wonderful Blue pin striped cotton with a contrasting Bicycle pattern that repeated in different colours. Very Paul Smith! She wanted to go with my adapted 'Beatrice' pattern as well, this was going to be ace! After getting all the cake ingredients next we headed back to the appartment and got started on the cupcakes first. We figured we can cut out the fabric while they were cooking. A great tip for Cupcakes is to use stork not butter as this makes a lighter cupcake. Another tip, after creaming your butter and sugar don’t add the flour next, mix in the eggs first, then fold in the flour! Mary Berry ain't go nothing on our Charlotte, but she would kill me for saying that! Cake mix done and in the oven, we started on setting out our pattern on the fabric. I explained how to lay out the pattern and to be aware of the bias of the fabric, and the difference's it makes if you do cut on the bias. All pinned in place she got stuck into cutting out. Charlotte has just finished cutting out and the cake were ready! But first they needed to cool down before we could decorate them. So Charlotte got straight on with it and tackled the pockets! I was very impressed, a natural! With the side seams now attached we have one side of the dress completed. We decided that we would leave that for a bit and make a start on decorating the cakes . As it was a lovely sunny day and feeling like spring finally, we went for grass, flowers and Ladybirds and of course Bee’s! Charlotte was an excellent teacher! I think we should hook up and do a master class!!! The sew off/cook off we joked! What do you think? While the icing and fondant set, we set to work on the second part of the dress. This was basically what we had just done, but again to make it reversible. Feeling like we had achieved something already by completing the cup cakes we had a little glass of Prosecco to celebrate first! Then got straight back on it. We were both determined to get this finished today! Repeating what we had done earlier to make it a reversible dress. We then stitched the two pieces together, right sides together and leaving a small gap to pull back through. Bagging it if you like. For those of you that don't sew, think about a inside out pillow case, where you can see all the stitches but when you fold it the right way its a lovely clean seam. That's bagging. We then needed to sew the shoulders together and top stitch all the way around. Charlotte a little overwhelmed by all the sewing that a garment requires had another glass of Prosecco but felt very proud of herself, with me even more so. I was so glad that she had done this herself and it was all ready to wear! My #sewingrevolution mission was now complete! Check out next weeks Blog, talking about the Final Great British Sewing Bee :( and my Upcycle Sewing clinic at www.guthrie-ghani.co.uk. |
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