We're passionate about sewing and dressmaking at Sew Me Sunshine, so we were excited to watch the new TV show Dress The Nation. Every week we will break down the episode and sign post you to some sewing inspiration.
Dress The Nation is sponsored by M&S - 10 of Britain's best amateur clothes designers compete to win a dream job as a fashion designer at high street giant M&S. We wish all the contestants the best of luck.
M&S: Dress the Nation is airing every Tuesday at 8pm on ITV (BST).
This week we are looking at the first episode which is womenswear week. In challenge one the contestants had to make a women's summer dress that reflects their own style, and in challenge two that had to work in teams to make a small cohesive womenswear holiday collection.
First Challenge: Summer Dress
In the first challenge the contestant's were asked to design and make a summer dress that is bold and expresses their individual style. They were allowed to pre-prepare their design ideas, and they were given 4 hours to make their dress. The designers had access to some amazing fabrics and haberdashery for their make. They all made different dresses out of different fabrics, and were then judged by the M&S judges and special guest judge Mel-B.
We have lots of amazing dress paper sewing patterns in stock here at Sew Me Sunshine that would work in lots of different types of fabrics - viscoses, crepes, linens, cottons and so on. You can find all of our dress sewing patterns here. Below is a few of our favourite dress sewing patterns for summertime.
L-R: Tilly and the Buttons Seren, Atelier Jupe Savannah, Chalk and Notch Marcel, Megan Nielsen Protea, Emporia Patterns Penelope.
Second Challenge: The Collection
The amateur designers were put into 3 teams and were tasked with designing and making a mini collection for women for a weekend away. They each had to make one item each and make sure that all items were cohesive, had purpose and a meaning. They had 5 hours to bring their collection to life, and it was judged not only by the judges but also by a group of M&S customers.
At Sew Me Sunshine we love the idea of creating our own capsule wardrobes so we really enjoyed this challenge. One of the team's focussed on creating a collection for a weekend away at a beach destination, and another team designed a collection for a city break. Below you will see some inspiration boards we have put together inspired by this week's collection challenge.
City Break
For a summer city break we think a pair of chic trousers, a blouse, a simple vest top and a cropped jacket would be great items to throw in your weekend bag. Using a similar colour pallet across your makes helps to keep your capsule wardrobe cohesive and means that you can easily wear different garments together to make new outfits. We love the orange and blue colour pallet, in the image board below we have used our flame orange washed linen cotton, viscose jacquard orange watercolour flowers and deadstock viscose linen in sky blue. We think these fabrics would look great with the following patterns: Helen's Closet Moss Jacket, Fabric Godmother Fleur Blouse, Style Arc Atlas Pants.
Beach Break
For a weekend at the beach we think you need to have a beautiful caftan that you can throw over your swimsuit and a boxy shaped shirt and shorts that can also be worn with a swimsuit underneath. We love a natural colour pallet and think a pop of blue looks great next to these natural linen colours. The fabrics we have picked out for our inspiration board below are: viscose linen blend blue and white stripe, blue econyl activewear / swimwear, ecru viscose linen slub. We think these fabrics would look great with the Closet Core Patterns Faye Swimsuit and Charlie Caftan, and the Albie Pant / Short and Shirt by Style Arc.
