The Purple Stitcher

A sewing blog

Posts Tagged ‘liberty’

The Great British Sewing Bee Live 2017

Myself and my friend from Liverpool Sewing Club Jan visited the first ever Great British Sewing Bee Live at the Excel in London a fortnight ago and it was AMAZING!

Myself & Jan at the Great British Sewing Bee Live

 

We travelling down in the Friday, visited Liberty and went to see Kinky Boots the musical in the evening. The show is fabulous and we have brilliant seats in row B so had a great view. I’d definitely recommend seeing it and if it goes on tour and comes to Liverpool I’ll definitely be going again!

Liberty of London

Kinky Boots Show in London

 

We then spent the whole weekend at GBSB Live and am very glad we bought two-day tickets.Although I do kinda wish we’d waited till closer to the time to book them as we paid almost £30 each and there were some great discounts later. At least booking so far in advance meant we got spaces on two great workshops: The Maker’s Atelier Origami Top with Claire Tyler and Perfect Piping with Celia Banks, I’ll go into more detail later in this post.

 

Saturday

I wore the new dress I’d made specifically to visit the show, using the amazing Alexander Henry Home Sewing is Easy fabric from Fabrics Galore!.

Me in my Home Sewing is Easy Dress

 

As we were wandering along the waterfront from our hotel to visit The Great British Sewing Bee Live at the Excel, we met the lovely mother and daughter Julie & Stacie:

Myself, Jan, Julie & Stacie

 

We had a plan to work our way round the stall methodically but got distracted by shiny things, oops! I did have fun over at the Love Sewing Magazine who had a magazine cover to pose in front of and become a ‘cover star’

Home Sewing is Easy Cover Star

We also bumped into the lovely Paul Clarke (season 3 GBSB contestant) and his partner Neil. Paul does a lot of demos at my local fabric store Abakhan Fabrics in Birkenhead, so I’ve met him a few times and he’s a fab bloke with rather similar taste in fabric to me!

Me, Paul, Neil and Jan

 

More random wandering took us to the ‘Absolutely Fabulous – Creating the Costume!’ exhibit, which I browsed whilst Jan chatted to Debbie Shore on the Create & Craft stand.

Jan & Debbie Shore Absolutely Fabulous - Creating the Costume! exhibit at The Great British Sewing Bee Live Absolutely Fabulous - Creating the Costume! exhibit at The Great British Sewing Bee Live Absolutely Fabulous - Creating the Costume!

 

 

 

 

Met up with the lovely Kara and wandered round the stalls, spending way too much money and enjoying the fabulous displays on goods on sale.  How stunning is this dress and dolls from Sew La Di Da Vintage!?

 

Sew La Di Da dress   Sew La Di Da dress at The Great British Sewing Bee Live

 

Also had to pop along and see Stitch Fabrics after being one of the first to tell them about the show and make sure they were visiting!

Stitch Fabrics at The Great British Sewing Bee Live

 

I also saw the lovely folks and Fabrics Galore and met my headless twin!

Home Sewing is Easy Twins

 

We then spent the afternoon doing a workshop with Claire Tyler making the Makers Atelier Origami Top. I’ll blog about the workshop and the pattern at a later date, as I need to do a little finishing off on the top. Claire is a great tutor and can happily recommend her classes. Myself and Jan enjoyed making the top and they came together so quickly that we actually ended up running out to Doughty Fabrics, buying another meter of jersey and making a second one!

Me in Claire Tyler's workshop Me, Jan & Claire Tyler

 

 

 

After the workshop we popped round to see the lovely Melissa of Fehr Trade and her stunning sportswear pattern range. I even ended up buying the ‘Knot-Maste Yoga Set’ pattern! (although it could be a while before I make the trousers as my bum’s too big for the pattern, oops!)

Myself and Melissa of Fehr Trade

 

We then met up again with Kara, Julie, Stacie and Beatrice and went to the pub for tea (of course)After the show dinner and drinks gang

 

Sunday

We tried to be more logical in our approach on Sunday and started at Melissa’s stall then worked our way round, however 11am was quickly upon us and we had to take our seats for the Super Theatre. Jenny Eclair was an amazing host as she introduced the alteration challenge contestants, each working with a former Sewing Bee contestant. The GBSB judges Patrick Grant & Esme Young were then interviewed, and Lauren Guthrie provided a demo on using snaps. The winners of the alteration challenge were announced and the hour was over!

Jenny Eclair talking to Lauren Guthrie   Jenny Eclair interviewing Patrick and Esme

The alteration challenge

 

A little more wandering, a bit of lunch and it was time for our second workshop. This time with Celia Banks of Sew Fundamental – Perfect Piping.  Having never done any piping before I was a tad nervous but it was great to see a familiar face in the form of Harriet and her mum Lindsay who were my sewing buddies at The Sewing WeekenderMyself and Harriett

 

The workshop went really well, Celia is a great teacher and I learnt loads and found that piping wasn’t as scary as I thought and I’m looking forward to adding it to any future projects.Jan sewing in the piping workshop

 

We visited Love Sewing Magazine , so I can be a coverstar again and I decided to sign up for a subscription.Minions cover star

Wandered round a few more stalls and had a lovely chat to Laura from Sew Different and bought her Everyday Chic Dress pattern.Laura from Sew Different

 

We then decided it was time to watch the final fashion show of the day, with patterns from both the ‘Big 4’ and the independant designers with stands at the show:

Fashion show           Fashion Show Fashion Show

 

Caught a quick glimpse of Lauren in the Live Demo Theatre:Lauren Guthrie in the Live Demo Theatre

 

By this time myself and Jan were all shopped out, so decided it was good time to take advantage of the Champagne Bar:Champagne bar

 

The Vintage Gallery was amazing, full of amazing Liberty garments, I’ve picked out a few of my favourites:

The Art Nouveau Revival liberty dress The Art Nouveau Revival liberty dress neckline details   The Fabric of Fashion 1930s Liberty dress The Fabric of Fashion 1930s Liberty dress neckline detailsThe Art Nouvea Revival Liberty dress  The Art Nouveau revival 1960s Liberty Men's Jacket

 

A quick wander round the Bees Gallery was great to see some of the garments from the show up close.

Rumana Lasker Dawood Neela Mistry-Bradshaw & Ryan Walklett Heather Jacks Jacket Deborah Simms Leather Jacket  Jade Earley & Lauren Guthrie Jade Earley & Lauren GuthrieRumana Lasker Dawood & Joyce Bellingham

 

 

Then time for the return train trip home! Although I can’t finish this without showing you all my purchases from the show.

My fabric purchases:
The purple embossed scuba is from Simply Fabrics;
The colourful peacock feathered jersey is from Stitch fabrics,
The Christmas jumper & buttons cotton are from Sew Sew fabrics;
The galaxy jersey is from Girl Charlee UK
The purple flecked jersey is from Doughtys.

Amazing Alexander Henry Fabric

How AMAZING is this Alexander Henry ‘Frida La Catrina’ border print from the lovely Fabrics Galore (poor lighting sorry, the background is actually a dark blue not black)

My pattern purchases

My pattern purchases:
The Sew Me Something Bianca coat;
The Sew Different Everyday Chic Dress
The bottom 2 patterns from The Fold Line’s swap. I’ve been after a jersey blazer pattern for a while & the Debbie Shore bag is cute 😊

The practical purchases

The practical purchases:
1m of fusable fleece from Empress Mills;
Boot socks from Community Clothing,
Spray adhesive;
A subscription to Love Sewing Magazine.

 

Myself and Jan had a great weekend at The Great British Sewing Bee Live, it’s so good to see a dedicated dressmaking only show, finally!. I loved every minute and am really hoping to be able to afford a visit next year. Although I do wish they would follow in the style of The Knitting & Stitching Show and have one up North as well, so I can spend more money on fabric and less on travelling and accommodation! 🙂

 

 


Abakhan Clearance Liberty Infinity Scarf

Wrapped liberty jersey infinity scarf

As I have previously discussed Abakhan Fabrics have recently had 22,000 meters of Liberty fabrics delivered! Initially just the Tana Lawns were available to buy but now the Cotton Twills, Kingly Cotton Cords, JerseysLifestyle Craft Cottons and Mayfair Silk Chiffons  are all available to purchase from Abakhan at great discounted prices.

New Abakhan Liberty Fabrics

 

As with all Liberty fabrics, their jersey is of great quality & is a beautifully soft fabric with a distinct stretch, jersey is your go-to for versatility and comfort. The jersey composition is 95% cotton with 5% elastane and 150cm.
Liberty Tana Jersey Fabric Mitford PinkAfter browsing through all the Liberty jerseys available, I chose my favourite 2 and ordered 1m of each. I love abstract prints and find the swirls and bright colours in the Liberty Tana Jersey Fabric Mitford Pink beautiful and my much my style.

Liberty Tana Jersey Fabric Robin Pink

 

 

I also love the slightly quirky but still pretty and colourful Liberty Tana Jersey Fabric Robin Pink and ordered 1m of that also, as I reckoned the two would work beautifully together.

And I was very pleased when my parcel arrived and as expected they do look fabulous together:

Liberty Jersey

I decided with winter approaching (yes I know it’s pretty mild one so far) to make a big snuggly infinity scarf with this jersey. You can’t make too many stylish scarves at winter and a beautiful soft Liberty jersey infinity scarf will be the perfect stylish accessory perfect to snuggle against on a cold winters day! Just in case you don’t know – an infinity scarf is basically one giant loop of fabric and is sometimes also known as a circle scarf.

imageInfinity scarves are quick and easy to make, as well as stylish and comfy. I have made a few before, so this took me even less time as I already have my head wrapped round the concept, which i admit took a little getting used to at first. I cut this out on Sunday evening and then stitched it together on the overlocker at Liverpool Sewing Club on the Monday evening – took me less than 2 hours in total!

 

image

I used the overlocker to sew the Liberty jersey with as it makes it much quicker and easier and I am rather fond of sewing with an overlocker. You could just a standard zigzag or overcasting stitch to sew jersey with on a standard sewing machine however.

 

The Liberty jersey is beautiful to sew with, so soft and easy to handle and with just the perfect amount of elastane in that it stretches well but also returns back to it shape quickly and uniformly. No skipped stitches, no tension issues or any other hassle at all with this jersey!

I’m really happy with my new scarf and love the fact that in this milder weather I can wear it open as one long loop and when it get cold wrap it round again and snuggle up in it’s softness.

Open Liberty jersey infinity scarf

Wrapped liberty jersey infinity scarf

Liberty jersey infinity scarf

I’ll write a tutorial on how to make one of these lovely Liberty jersey infinity scarves, however that will; have to wait till the new year as it’s now Christmas Eve and I still have some hand sewing and pressing to do on my Christmas day top, oops!

Merry Christmas – let me know if you get any of Abakhan’s lovely Liberty fabric from Father Christmas or any other sewing related gifts.

NB: I received this fabric free of charge to try out from Abakhan. All opinions about it however are fully my own.