Hello all, Mary Ellen here.

My history as a sewer began with clothing–first with clothing for dollies made with crude little girl hand stitching, gradually working through making my own A line skirts and Peter Pan collared blouses up to making tailored suits and coats. Some of my motivation was financial (in those days, one could make nice clothing spending less than it would cost to purchase similar items); some of my motivation was a desire for unique clothing that would never be seen on anyone else. If you are a watcher of YouTube videos you will know how videos are recommended to you along the side bar or as part of your “subscription” package. Videos about sewing-both quilting and clothing construction–are always in the recommendation list for me.

This week I was recommended several episodes of a series called “The Great British Sewing Bee”. I clicked on one of them and let it run while I puttered on a few tasks in the kitchen. I was expecting something on the order of Project Runway. I suppose this series is a bit like that, but I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. It seems that the hosts of the series actually have pulled together tasks based on items of clothing that real persons might actually wear. In the first episode the tasks were based on an A line skirt, an off the rack top, and a day dress. All were tasks I had completed in the past. I remembered tackling all of the issues that the sewers in the competition had to deal with. And just like them, sometimes I succeeded spectacularly, and sometimes had an epic fail. I actually am somewhat intrigued-enough that I may attempt some piece of clothing for myself before long. I definitely am going to watch more episodes in this series to see how the competition progresses.

If you have some clothing construction in your sewing history, perhaps you would enjoy this series too. I know some of you had nightmarish harridans as your home economics teachers, who completely took away your love of sewing anything remotely related to a piece of clothing. So sorry for that. But some of us enjoyed the challenge and the pride of the garments either in spite of, or because of, the sewing teacher(s) we had. Have a look. Click here.