If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen that after watching the Great British Sewing Bee I set myself the challenge of sewing the same quilted jacket that the contestants were tasked to make in Series 8, episode 4. The main reason for this challenge was that I found it hard to believe that this garment could be made in just 4 hours and 15 minutes and I wanted to see if my suspicions were justified!
Rather than setting myself a time limit and ending up with a garment I had rushed and wasn’t happy with, I decided instead to keep a record of exactly how long each stage of the sewing process took. Obviously there were elements of preparation that had already been done for the contestants which I would need to spend time on – there were also additional steps I took to make sure my jacket was exactly what I wanted, but I recorded all of this and I will outline the timings later in this post.
Conveniently, I had already acquired a copy of ‘The Modern Wardrobe’, which is the book that accompanies this series and contains the pattern the contestants used on the show, so I set about gathering the rest of the materials I would need to complete my challenge. I have a very strict sewing budget and didn’t want too spend much of it on this project, so I had a rummage in my leftovers and managed to find a really lovely selection of scraps that were perfect for the patchwork sections! I had enough leftover pieces of wadding to make each panel, so all I needed to buy was 1.75m of lining and enough fabric to make my own binding and I was all set!
The long bank holiday this weekend was the perfect opportunity to work on my project and I was very excited to get started! I decided to share my progress on my Instagram stories and it was really interesting chatting to different members of the sewing community about my challenge while I sewed. My ramblings and time-checks have been saved to a highlight called ‘quilt jacket’ if you are keen to watch!
Right – the timings! Below is a list of every single step I completed while making my jacket and how long it took. This includes all of the preparation and additional steps that the contestants wouldn’t have done – more on that in a minute.
Finding suitable scraps, pressing then cutting 96 4” squares: 1 hour 15 minutes
Finding the pattern pieces on the sheets, tracing them and cutting them out: 1 hour
Deciding on patchwork placements for four 4 by 6 panels: 25 minutes
Piecing together and pressing all four panels: 2 hours
Re-piecing parts of the panels to accommodate the pattern pieces, cutting backing fabric and wadding: 1 hour
Pin-basting layers and marking out quilting: 1 hour
Quilting the two front panels: 40 minutes
Quilting the sleeves and back panel: 1 hour 40 minutes
Cutting pattern pieces: 30 minutes
Sewing darts and overlocking raw edges: 30 minutes
Construction: 45 minutes
Making the binding: 30 minutes
Attaching the binding: 40 minutes
Hand-stitching the binding (including the cuffs) and sewing in a label: 2 hours 30 minutes
Total time: 14 hours and 25 minutes!
Now I am not surprised by that – I have made many, many quilts and many, many garments and I know these things take a considerable amount of time. So, with some of the preparation done for them and several of these steps omitted – could TEN HOURS of sewing time be shaved off this project? Let’s see…
Here is that list again, but with the things the contestants didn’t do crossed out:
Finding suitable scraps and pressing them then cutting 96 4” squares: 1 hour 15 minutesFinding the pattern pieces on the sheets, tracing them and cutting them out: 1 hour
Deciding on patchwork placements for four 4 by 6 panels: 25 minutes
Piecing together and pressing all four panels: 2 hoursRe-piecing parts of the panels to accommodate the pattern pieces, cutting backing fabric and wadding: 1 hour
Pin-basting layers and marking out quilting: 1 hour
Quilting the two front panels: 40 minutesQuilting the sleeves and back panel: 1 hour 40 minutes
Cutting pattern pieces: 30 minutesSewing darts and overlocking raw edges: 30 minutes
Construction: 45 minutesMaking the binding: 30 minutes
Attaching the binding: 40 minutesHand-stitching the binding (including the cuffs) and sewing in a label: 2 hours 30 minutes
And for good measure, let’s assume they were super-speedy at machine-finishing the binding: 15 minutes
Total time: 6 hours 15 minutes.
That’s a full TWO HOURS longer than the 4 hours and 15 minutes they were given to complete the technical challenge. OK, so they could have done things a little differently to save time – maybe they only spent 10 minutes deciding on their patchwork placement, perhaps they used a longer stitch-length and took 15 minutes off piecing, they possibly used fusible wadding and eliminated the need for pin-basting and many of them didn’t bother to mark their quilting lines, potentially saving them another 30 minutes – but that still would have only saved them an hour altogether and I still can’t account for the other 60 minutes they didn’t have.
I’m not saying it can’t be done, but I am 100% sure that I could not have finished sewing a quilted jacket in that time. Maybe my standards are different as I keep and wear the things I make, but the jackets presented for judging certainly appeared well made compared to the dog’s dinner I would have cobbled together had I only been given 4 hours and 15 minutes. So my challenge was a success – my suspicions were justified!
I am very aware that it’s a competition and a time limit needs to be given to make it challenging, exciting and entertaining, but I also know that lots of people watch the Sewing Bee and start to wonder if they’re a ‘slow sewist’ because they can’t churn out a lined coat in 5 hours or a pair of jeans in an afternoon. I also know that non-sewists watch it and use it as a benchmark for how long it takes us to make things, which I think can undermine and undervalue our skills. Hopefully my little challenge will provide a bit of perspective!
I’m so pleased with my finished jacket and I absolutely loved the whole process of both making and documenting it. The Megan Nielsen Hovea jacket is on my #makenine2022 and I had planned to make this instead, but now I don’t think one quilted jacket is enough and I’m planning to sew a Hovea too!