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feather_ghyllThe Great British Sewing Bee - rounds 4 to 7
Round 4 – sportswear
I noted/was reminded that Hazel was most at risk after last week, but it was Liz who got the pattern challenge, a rugby shirt, the most wrong. I thought all the competitors could have done with the guidance viewers got on the animation. Nearly all. Nicole did some nifty sewing (Clare who came second lost out on design flourishes). Ali and Peter had seemed confident and at first glance their chunky stripy choices were good.
For the transformation challenge came a demand for a onesie for toddlers from a Kagool, and Liz went badly wrong again, though the biggest problem seemed to be sizing for a toddler. I didn’t love the clash of Nicole’s patterns, while others had gone for more sympathetic combos, but she probably had the best first day.
Liz emerged with a positive attitude. Interesting to hear that from Suzanne Lenglen’s days on, individuality was a big part of female tennis players’ outfits, thanks to one designer whose name I don’t remember. But it’s true to say with Bethany Matteck-Sands and Serena Williams getting namechecked as inspirations by those who know tennis.
There was quite a range of styles for the made-to-measure tennis outfits challenge. Measuring caught some people out, i.e. fit, but both Ali and Liz managed to do nice extras well, while Hazel suffered. They tried to inject some jeopardy, but her work was appreciably poor, while Mark (was it Mark?)’s problem was he hadn’t done a tennis dress, not that he’d sewn it badly. But, he has now been named by the judges. The whole ‘too close to call’ thing is getting tired.
Round 5 - sleepwear/lingerie
Pattern challenge was indeed a challenge, with the basque making fairly technical demands, and the number of competitors getting stressed increased as hurdle after hurdle was met. Matt’s howler was huge, he must have had a huge lapse in concentration at the critical moment and lost sight of the panels. I thought Nicole was justified in feeling miffed at Clare using the same material. The latter squeaked through the win, and for all Nicole said she didn’t care, it was clear from her reaction to the victory in the next challenge that she did.
The transformation challenge ranking was fairly predictable from the judges’ comments. I thought that Peter’s skirt and Nicole’s dungaree set were the most wearable. Others were interesting shapes or silhouettes. Some people redeemed themselves, but it was a surprise after the first day that Ali, who had seemed like a frontrunner, was sixth both times.
And in the made to measure, the brief seemed generously expansive. The mood generally got more and more frazzled, with pretty materials and designs not getting the right treatment. Either it wasn’t enough time for the fit or the finish, as ambitious materials got in people’s way. Again, Ali was waaay behind everyone, and although Matt had had two bad moments, she was the consistently weakest person all week, so no matter how glum Nicole was…
I liked a lot of details about many of the pieces, actually, and Peter’s Victorian number made me laugh.
Round 6 – Reduce, reuse, recycle
I watched this on television, which meant that I saw the details less well e.g. on the materials used for the bomber jacket and how they went together. I think it’s fair to say I liked bits of all, either the colour palette or one or two of the patterns. I could see that Peter’s was well-balanced, and if they said the sewing was the best, then fine.
It was obvious that there were fewer competitors around – next week there’ll be half the total who was there originally, although it seemed close.
When I saw the transformation challenge, I thought ‘go Japanese’. Interesting that the top two in the pattern challenge did not shine here, though the judges allowed that it was fine margins. Interesting to watch Therese’s technique – I’d say she’s learned to approach this challenge differently over the episodes. Structure won. There wasn’t much that was screaming ‘wear me’.
So, things were finely balanced before made to measure. Nicole knew she needed to wow, and it seemed that whoever did worst in this round would be the one to go. Therese dithered. I liked Clare’s puffin-inspired dress, and the one that Esme liked. (maybe I’ll remember the names now that one of the men has gone) and chortled that neither judge got their way and they had to have two garments of the week. Nicole’s dress may have been well sewn, but to me it screamed eighties and had one or two patterns too many. It was fairly obvious which dress was the weakest – it didn’t fit, and as soon as they said ‘costumey’ it was all one could see. A challenge where they weren’t all sure how to tackle it.
Round 7 – Eighties week
Only six left, and things felt even tenser. Shoulder pads got a lot of attention.
Pattern challenge: the narrative was that the material they chose was vital, and lo and behold, ‘rebels’ Therese and Nicole were soon lagging far behind because of their selection. Clare obviously liked her top enough to want to try it on. From the comments, it was obvious Matt would come first, she second…and Therese was last.
For the transformation challenge, the competitors needed to live up to a certain idea of the 80s (geometric), and Clare won (I think she meant that this was her first transformation challenge win). Therese moaned about the sequins, forgetting that it was the sequins AND the tassels that were the problem. Coming last in both challenge meant that she was relying on doing brilliantly on the second day and someone else doing terribly.
In one sense, I didn’t enjoy the final challenge, because the tension was palpable with so many of them. Some ideas (how many shoulder pads does your dress need? Nicole’s contrasting colours and Therese’s removable item of clothing) were repeated or rather, because they’d practiced this first, they’d been repeated in the transformation challenge.) Matt had an absolute ‘mare, Liz was wondering if she’d made the right choice timewise to concentrate on fit and Nicole got away with her shoulder mistake. Patrick managed a ‘Buck up’ speech to Matt and averted a total walk-off. I suppose coming top of the pattern challenge and more or less completing the dress, minus some items because of a change of tack, saved him for another day while Therese didn’t wow the judges enough to make up for the previous day.
Round 4 – sportswear
I noted/was reminded that Hazel was most at risk after last week, but it was Liz who got the pattern challenge, a rugby shirt, the most wrong. I thought all the competitors could have done with the guidance viewers got on the animation. Nearly all. Nicole did some nifty sewing (Clare who came second lost out on design flourishes). Ali and Peter had seemed confident and at first glance their chunky stripy choices were good.
For the transformation challenge came a demand for a onesie for toddlers from a Kagool, and Liz went badly wrong again, though the biggest problem seemed to be sizing for a toddler. I didn’t love the clash of Nicole’s patterns, while others had gone for more sympathetic combos, but she probably had the best first day.
Liz emerged with a positive attitude. Interesting to hear that from Suzanne Lenglen’s days on, individuality was a big part of female tennis players’ outfits, thanks to one designer whose name I don’t remember. But it’s true to say with Bethany Matteck-Sands and Serena Williams getting namechecked as inspirations by those who know tennis.
There was quite a range of styles for the made-to-measure tennis outfits challenge. Measuring caught some people out, i.e. fit, but both Ali and Liz managed to do nice extras well, while Hazel suffered. They tried to inject some jeopardy, but her work was appreciably poor, while Mark (was it Mark?)’s problem was he hadn’t done a tennis dress, not that he’d sewn it badly. But, he has now been named by the judges. The whole ‘too close to call’ thing is getting tired.
Round 5 - sleepwear/lingerie
Pattern challenge was indeed a challenge, with the basque making fairly technical demands, and the number of competitors getting stressed increased as hurdle after hurdle was met. Matt’s howler was huge, he must have had a huge lapse in concentration at the critical moment and lost sight of the panels. I thought Nicole was justified in feeling miffed at Clare using the same material. The latter squeaked through the win, and for all Nicole said she didn’t care, it was clear from her reaction to the victory in the next challenge that she did.
The transformation challenge ranking was fairly predictable from the judges’ comments. I thought that Peter’s skirt and Nicole’s dungaree set were the most wearable. Others were interesting shapes or silhouettes. Some people redeemed themselves, but it was a surprise after the first day that Ali, who had seemed like a frontrunner, was sixth both times.
And in the made to measure, the brief seemed generously expansive. The mood generally got more and more frazzled, with pretty materials and designs not getting the right treatment. Either it wasn’t enough time for the fit or the finish, as ambitious materials got in people’s way. Again, Ali was waaay behind everyone, and although Matt had had two bad moments, she was the consistently weakest person all week, so no matter how glum Nicole was…
I liked a lot of details about many of the pieces, actually, and Peter’s Victorian number made me laugh.
Round 6 – Reduce, reuse, recycle
I watched this on television, which meant that I saw the details less well e.g. on the materials used for the bomber jacket and how they went together. I think it’s fair to say I liked bits of all, either the colour palette or one or two of the patterns. I could see that Peter’s was well-balanced, and if they said the sewing was the best, then fine.
It was obvious that there were fewer competitors around – next week there’ll be half the total who was there originally, although it seemed close.
When I saw the transformation challenge, I thought ‘go Japanese’. Interesting that the top two in the pattern challenge did not shine here, though the judges allowed that it was fine margins. Interesting to watch Therese’s technique – I’d say she’s learned to approach this challenge differently over the episodes. Structure won. There wasn’t much that was screaming ‘wear me’.
So, things were finely balanced before made to measure. Nicole knew she needed to wow, and it seemed that whoever did worst in this round would be the one to go. Therese dithered. I liked Clare’s puffin-inspired dress, and the one that Esme liked. (maybe I’ll remember the names now that one of the men has gone) and chortled that neither judge got their way and they had to have two garments of the week. Nicole’s dress may have been well sewn, but to me it screamed eighties and had one or two patterns too many. It was fairly obvious which dress was the weakest – it didn’t fit, and as soon as they said ‘costumey’ it was all one could see. A challenge where they weren’t all sure how to tackle it.
Round 7 – Eighties week
Only six left, and things felt even tenser. Shoulder pads got a lot of attention.
Pattern challenge: the narrative was that the material they chose was vital, and lo and behold, ‘rebels’ Therese and Nicole were soon lagging far behind because of their selection. Clare obviously liked her top enough to want to try it on. From the comments, it was obvious Matt would come first, she second…and Therese was last.
For the transformation challenge, the competitors needed to live up to a certain idea of the 80s (geometric), and Clare won (I think she meant that this was her first transformation challenge win). Therese moaned about the sequins, forgetting that it was the sequins AND the tassels that were the problem. Coming last in both challenge meant that she was relying on doing brilliantly on the second day and someone else doing terribly.
In one sense, I didn’t enjoy the final challenge, because the tension was palpable with so many of them. Some ideas (how many shoulder pads does your dress need? Nicole’s contrasting colours and Therese’s removable item of clothing) were repeated or rather, because they’d practiced this first, they’d been repeated in the transformation challenge.) Matt had an absolute ‘mare, Liz was wondering if she’d made the right choice timewise to concentrate on fit and Nicole got away with her shoulder mistake. Patrick managed a ‘Buck up’ speech to Matt and averted a total walk-off. I suppose coming top of the pattern challenge and more or less completing the dress, minus some items because of a change of tack, saved him for another day while Therese didn’t wow the judges enough to make up for the previous day.
