My head's going a mile a minute...

Guys!

Did you see the telly last Tuesday?! I completely lost my shit seeing that two of my absolute favourite things on earth were being covered by BBC2 in one night. This will NEVER happen again.

Sewing and tap dancing

So we all know the Great British Sewing Bee is really getting intense now. I am astounded by the creativity and precision of the remaining sewists. What on earth can they be planning for the final challenges? (my money's on a lace wedding dress, or a full tux, anyone got other ideas?)

But the important thing today is what came after the Sewing Bee last week: tap. I adore tap. You should too.

The all-round entertainer always tops off their act with a spot of tap. If they're really good, they'll do something crazy like tap dancing on roller skates. Why? Because screw you, that's why.

But then there's a whole other world, of people who actually have their own signatures and styles, from super-girly, to stupidly complex, to grimey-funk. These guys are cool.

So with that introduction out of the way, I'm going to tell you now that my next few projects will all be named for something to do with tap dancing. This is partly because Melissa has launched the Spring Race Challenge (and tap is duly allowed!), and partly because I desperately need some appropriate exercise gear for Stockholm.

Here's the secret, the Stockholm trip is actually Stockholm Tap Festival. Europe's biggest and most established tap festival. We will sweat, we will ache, we will develop blisters in places you didn't know you could get blisters. That definitely counts as a challenge.

So without much more ado, meet The BS Hoodie.

Front

Back

Named for the BS Chorus, which is a classic bit of choreography no tap dancer should live without. Much like a TNT (tried and true) t-shirt pattern really.

The  fabric is a light (read: transparent) jersey from Girl Charlee, but only the blue/yellow colourway is still available. The pattern was traced from my favourite t-shirt, I lengthened the sleeves and added a lined hood. The seams are flat-felled for durability, and most of the detail topstitching is a zigzag (lazy, but consistent).

All the zigzags and topstitching

Flat fells and a teeny-tiny coverup. Spotted it?

I love flat-felling jersey, it just falls over itself and curls up so nicely. Yes, it makes hemming quite tough, but the seams all look good. Plus the guts look good too.

Stay tuned for more exercise-wear, and yet more obscure tap references.

Bye!