Research: The Great British Sewing Bee

I am always looking for new ways of gaining inspiration, be it through film, photography or even television, so to hear that the BBC were going to start showing a programme that comibined my love of gaining inspiration, and passion for sewing into one place, I just couldn't say no. To my surprise, the programme went on to talk about useful inspiration that I can use towards my unit x project.

Steam punk, and fashion through the Victorian Era

The talk was given by Dr Clare Rose- more information here http://clarerosehistory.com
http://clarerosehistory.com/2013/03/the-great-british-sewing-bee/

In the Victorian era the art of sewing began to flourish in the middle class society, with woman wanting to learn how to create their own garments, the problem being, they had to make and fit their own designs, as the invention of paper patterns did not exist. At this point only upper class society really had the money and time to have clothes made for them . 

In 1863 this all began to change, when a man named Mr Beeton designed the first paper pattern guides, suitable for all classes in society, and showing that sewing was in fact becoming much more upmarket. This was done through a magazine pull out, it was an invention that allowed women to recreate fashion for themselves on a lower budget- simply wonderful! 

To find out more or to watch the episodes, I've linked to the official Great British Sewing Bee website