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feather_ghyllWeek 5/Children’s Week
We’ve now reached the point of the show where I’m more aware of the numbers left, instead of them just being a large mass. The pattern challenge was a romper for toddlers, and the words ‘small’ and ’fiddly’ got used a lot. I only slowly realised why Adam’s choice of three materials was making life difficult for himself due to needing to change the threads, and, after all that, it didn’t have as much impact as the boldly patterned ones. Damien not reading the instructions did come to bite him, while Adeena went wrong a couple of times, and was only able to save herself once. Farie seemed calmer, because unlike some, she had experience of sewing for children, but it was nice for Rebecca to be so close to the top, while Serena got to know how much the judges rated her sewing.
The transformation challenge seemed to inspire a lot of them. Well, three chaps went for ‘mermaid’ with only some level of success (not Damien, who deservedly came last). Adeena (who just seemed completely lacking in oomph) and Farie were done for by not being very definite, although I liked the colour of Farie’s outfit, but the octopus, the jellyfish and, most of all, the crab were brilliant. Everyone had a moan about sewing the main material.
We learned that only the young’uns were safe; despite Andrew’s excellent crab, his romper had been below par.
So they shared child models? The fit wasn’t such a massive issue in general. The bigger problem was that most waterproof materials are tough to sew. When even Serena said she’d have to do a topstitch and hadn’t practiced it for time, my eyebrows lifted. But it was all very colourful and everyone was doing their own thing, Farie with quiet confidence, Rebecca talking about teacherly experience, which didn’t help her with the hood, Adeena seemed happier than the previous day, but Raph was not. But things were clearly going worse for Adam, as he kept talking about bits he wasn’t happy with.
Most of the coats looked great, until they honed in on the details, but I was glad Andrew had pulled off his reversible jacket on both sides, and Adeena’s looked magnificent (although I’d argue that Farie’s rainbows and unicorns are ‘girls’ and Adeena’s dinosaurs are ‘boys’ and both failed the ‘unisex’ brief.) But although there were some bits wrong with the middle of the pack for that round, Adam’s coat was a series of failures, plus he hadn’t done the pockets. I was in no doubt that he’d go (rightly), but I hope that he will conquer the material and produce a decent raincoat for himself and his nephew having been able to take his time.
Week 6/Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Joe and Patrick swopping outfits was…something to behold. Some of the contestants were on board with the message in what they wore.
The pattern challenge was a waistcoat from already worn clothes. I didn’t love the brown/grey tweeds, perhaps they looked better close up. Esme was funny scolding Damien for his mess, while Serena later helped him out, Andrew tried to help Farie at the very last minute with her buckle, and was it Rebecca who advised Adeena about two pairs meaning four? I admit when Joe first read out the instructions, I was very confused and didn’t start to get it until I saw them following the introductions, but I haven’t sewn a pattern since GCSEs and even then, that was with a lot of help. Adeena was probably the most in danger going into this episode, and apart from her difficulties with finding the right material (one of the big things in the challenge), that howler didn’t help.
Raph’s was clearly the most stylish waistcoat, and as the judges had used the word ‘fantastic’, there was zero tension over the ranking, although it’s clear Serena is fully aware of who her competition is in the pattern challenge.
Camo into stylish women’s wear next, and I would not have guessed that Joe would get so into playing soldiers, but we saw a lot of his inner six-year-old. The contestants mostly plumped for dresses. Except Adeena, who changed her mind and was always on the backfoot. Serena was disappointed (I kept thinking that the netting was see through (but she’d do well to heed the criticism of being too obvious.) I liked the orange trim of Raph’s but overall, even with the enormous sleeve, it, like everything else, could not compete with The Cape. Aside from its visual impact, the fact that Esme, like Joe, had wanted to try it on said it all.
I think the judges must recognise the contestants’ styles and techniques a little by now. Patrick nailed it in the talk when he said that Adeena doesn’t plan.
And we saw this again as she talked about the made to measure. But first, the show made you feel bad about wanting new jeans, because they’re such resource guzzlers to make, although I was amused to learn that old jeans worn by miners are now more valuable than the gold they slogged to get.
It would, once again, be a case of one outfit outshining them all. Perhaps they shouldn’t have given that away at the top of the episode. My second favourite was perhaps Andrew’s, even if the fit was problematic and the placement of the waist wasn’t great. Serena’s was fine, but not good enough, Farie’s was better than I thought it would be from the sketch (because in that the model wasn’t standing straight), although I thought the white needed to be placed differently. Rebecca’s patches just didn’t go with the rest of the dress, or the rest of the dress didn’t go with the patches, and while the stained denim worked – Damien is turning out to be a man of many hobbies – the dress was unmemorable.
But Raph’s dress was clearly the best. What I loved was that he’d brought in these curves to represent the waves of the sea while everyone else had gone for lines, for squares and rectangles. It told its own story, the whale wasn’t too gimmicky, the colours went well together, it fit and it sounded like it took a higher degree of difficulty. Easiest garment of the week to call.
It was also easy to see that Adeena hadn’t redeemed herself from consistent last in the made to measure. Nobody else had failed spectacularly, and were more or less all in the less-‘flair’-than-Raph group. She recognised it too. She’s obviously good at sewing but not within the dictats of the competition (which has been running for years and years, so it shouldn’t come as a total surprise.)
Week 6/Winter
Only six of them left! Interesting how the men seemed confident with the shirts, given how some of them turned out. I daresay they were exaggerating how far Farie was behind a bit (couldn’t she see that everyone else had started sewing?) We knew Rebecca had gone wrong, but she was soldiering on, while Raph struggled (!)_ and Damien swam through until he Daminely skipped some pages of instruction. There was zero tension about the ranking, given what they’d said to Serena, who must have been chuffed as she’d had little experience making a shirt, and Farie was so far from finished.
Transformation challenge: scarfs. They were told they could do any adult garment, but they all went for women’s wear. I didn’t love any of them. I think Andrew’s was my favourite, appealing to my fictional Sherwood Forest aesthetic taste and I liked the colours Serena had chosen (although with one exception, her transformation challenges have never been great), while I loathed the colours Rebecca had put together, and wasn’t much fussed about Farie and Raph’s choices. Damien’s poncho from one scarf with embellishments deservedly came last, but at the end of the first day, Raph (!) was in trouble.
Oh, and I shouted with laughter at Joe’s use of the fake fur scarf as a tail; that was my favourite bit of his, although he was game as ever.
Made to measure festive dresses i.e. Quality Street colours and more difficult materials. Unlike Patrick, I love purple. Serena was tutting at what the interfacing had done to her satin, Damien was possibly doing the most understated dress, but staggering everyone, he did it well enough that its quality shone through - the pattern matching, fit and zip were as excellent as they needed to be. Raph had to rescue his dress being too tight. Farie had one oopsie but the style meant she just about got away with not fitting the model when she should have. They made less of a song and dance of Andrew’s mistakes as he noted them in passing, but this is the kind of show where a bow falling off an outfit is high drama. Although I could see why they loved Damien’s dress and Raph’s (it had enough detail to desrve garment of the week), Rebecca’s dress was the one I wanted to wear, from the way the two layers of fabric worked together to the shape.
Alas, so often Andrew’s ideas sounded great, but didn’t quite come off, and mostly didn’t come off well enough, certainly in the made to measure, while if some of Farie’s lows were lower, her highs were higher.
We’ve now reached the point of the show where I’m more aware of the numbers left, instead of them just being a large mass. The pattern challenge was a romper for toddlers, and the words ‘small’ and ’fiddly’ got used a lot. I only slowly realised why Adam’s choice of three materials was making life difficult for himself due to needing to change the threads, and, after all that, it didn’t have as much impact as the boldly patterned ones. Damien not reading the instructions did come to bite him, while Adeena went wrong a couple of times, and was only able to save herself once. Farie seemed calmer, because unlike some, she had experience of sewing for children, but it was nice for Rebecca to be so close to the top, while Serena got to know how much the judges rated her sewing.
The transformation challenge seemed to inspire a lot of them. Well, three chaps went for ‘mermaid’ with only some level of success (not Damien, who deservedly came last). Adeena (who just seemed completely lacking in oomph) and Farie were done for by not being very definite, although I liked the colour of Farie’s outfit, but the octopus, the jellyfish and, most of all, the crab were brilliant. Everyone had a moan about sewing the main material.
We learned that only the young’uns were safe; despite Andrew’s excellent crab, his romper had been below par.
So they shared child models? The fit wasn’t such a massive issue in general. The bigger problem was that most waterproof materials are tough to sew. When even Serena said she’d have to do a topstitch and hadn’t practiced it for time, my eyebrows lifted. But it was all very colourful and everyone was doing their own thing, Farie with quiet confidence, Rebecca talking about teacherly experience, which didn’t help her with the hood, Adeena seemed happier than the previous day, but Raph was not. But things were clearly going worse for Adam, as he kept talking about bits he wasn’t happy with.
Most of the coats looked great, until they honed in on the details, but I was glad Andrew had pulled off his reversible jacket on both sides, and Adeena’s looked magnificent (although I’d argue that Farie’s rainbows and unicorns are ‘girls’ and Adeena’s dinosaurs are ‘boys’ and both failed the ‘unisex’ brief.) But although there were some bits wrong with the middle of the pack for that round, Adam’s coat was a series of failures, plus he hadn’t done the pockets. I was in no doubt that he’d go (rightly), but I hope that he will conquer the material and produce a decent raincoat for himself and his nephew having been able to take his time.
Week 6/Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Joe and Patrick swopping outfits was…something to behold. Some of the contestants were on board with the message in what they wore.
The pattern challenge was a waistcoat from already worn clothes. I didn’t love the brown/grey tweeds, perhaps they looked better close up. Esme was funny scolding Damien for his mess, while Serena later helped him out, Andrew tried to help Farie at the very last minute with her buckle, and was it Rebecca who advised Adeena about two pairs meaning four? I admit when Joe first read out the instructions, I was very confused and didn’t start to get it until I saw them following the introductions, but I haven’t sewn a pattern since GCSEs and even then, that was with a lot of help. Adeena was probably the most in danger going into this episode, and apart from her difficulties with finding the right material (one of the big things in the challenge), that howler didn’t help.
Raph’s was clearly the most stylish waistcoat, and as the judges had used the word ‘fantastic’, there was zero tension over the ranking, although it’s clear Serena is fully aware of who her competition is in the pattern challenge.
Camo into stylish women’s wear next, and I would not have guessed that Joe would get so into playing soldiers, but we saw a lot of his inner six-year-old. The contestants mostly plumped for dresses. Except Adeena, who changed her mind and was always on the backfoot. Serena was disappointed (I kept thinking that the netting was see through (but she’d do well to heed the criticism of being too obvious.) I liked the orange trim of Raph’s but overall, even with the enormous sleeve, it, like everything else, could not compete with The Cape. Aside from its visual impact, the fact that Esme, like Joe, had wanted to try it on said it all.
I think the judges must recognise the contestants’ styles and techniques a little by now. Patrick nailed it in the talk when he said that Adeena doesn’t plan.
And we saw this again as she talked about the made to measure. But first, the show made you feel bad about wanting new jeans, because they’re such resource guzzlers to make, although I was amused to learn that old jeans worn by miners are now more valuable than the gold they slogged to get.
It would, once again, be a case of one outfit outshining them all. Perhaps they shouldn’t have given that away at the top of the episode. My second favourite was perhaps Andrew’s, even if the fit was problematic and the placement of the waist wasn’t great. Serena’s was fine, but not good enough, Farie’s was better than I thought it would be from the sketch (because in that the model wasn’t standing straight), although I thought the white needed to be placed differently. Rebecca’s patches just didn’t go with the rest of the dress, or the rest of the dress didn’t go with the patches, and while the stained denim worked – Damien is turning out to be a man of many hobbies – the dress was unmemorable.
But Raph’s dress was clearly the best. What I loved was that he’d brought in these curves to represent the waves of the sea while everyone else had gone for lines, for squares and rectangles. It told its own story, the whale wasn’t too gimmicky, the colours went well together, it fit and it sounded like it took a higher degree of difficulty. Easiest garment of the week to call.
It was also easy to see that Adeena hadn’t redeemed herself from consistent last in the made to measure. Nobody else had failed spectacularly, and were more or less all in the less-‘flair’-than-Raph group. She recognised it too. She’s obviously good at sewing but not within the dictats of the competition (which has been running for years and years, so it shouldn’t come as a total surprise.)
Week 6/Winter
Only six of them left! Interesting how the men seemed confident with the shirts, given how some of them turned out. I daresay they were exaggerating how far Farie was behind a bit (couldn’t she see that everyone else had started sewing?) We knew Rebecca had gone wrong, but she was soldiering on, while Raph struggled (!)_ and Damien swam through until he Daminely skipped some pages of instruction. There was zero tension about the ranking, given what they’d said to Serena, who must have been chuffed as she’d had little experience making a shirt, and Farie was so far from finished.
Transformation challenge: scarfs. They were told they could do any adult garment, but they all went for women’s wear. I didn’t love any of them. I think Andrew’s was my favourite, appealing to my fictional Sherwood Forest aesthetic taste and I liked the colours Serena had chosen (although with one exception, her transformation challenges have never been great), while I loathed the colours Rebecca had put together, and wasn’t much fussed about Farie and Raph’s choices. Damien’s poncho from one scarf with embellishments deservedly came last, but at the end of the first day, Raph (!) was in trouble.
Oh, and I shouted with laughter at Joe’s use of the fake fur scarf as a tail; that was my favourite bit of his, although he was game as ever.
Made to measure festive dresses i.e. Quality Street colours and more difficult materials. Unlike Patrick, I love purple. Serena was tutting at what the interfacing had done to her satin, Damien was possibly doing the most understated dress, but staggering everyone, he did it well enough that its quality shone through - the pattern matching, fit and zip were as excellent as they needed to be. Raph had to rescue his dress being too tight. Farie had one oopsie but the style meant she just about got away with not fitting the model when she should have. They made less of a song and dance of Andrew’s mistakes as he noted them in passing, but this is the kind of show where a bow falling off an outfit is high drama. Although I could see why they loved Damien’s dress and Raph’s (it had enough detail to desrve garment of the week), Rebecca’s dress was the one I wanted to wear, from the way the two layers of fabric worked together to the shape.
Alas, so often Andrew’s ideas sounded great, but didn’t quite come off, and mostly didn’t come off well enough, certainly in the made to measure, while if some of Farie’s lows were lower, her highs were higher.
