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feather_ghyllQuarter finals – 1930s week
Is it me, or were some of Sara’s references more relevant to the 1920s than the thirties?
I also think Patrick was trying to channel Fred Astaire as he and Esme talked Sara through the pattern challenge, just in the way he leaned and crossed his legs, as he said (yet again) this was the toughest pattern challenge they’d given them yet.
Said pattern was ladies sailor trousers with a pre-zip complicated button, flap and pocket arrangement that stymied all the contestants. Esme had to explain how it should be done to Sara and the audience. All I got out of that was that I was glad it wasn’t me.
Before that, it was about choice of fabric, and as prompted, I winced at the talk of denims. I preferred the blues and greens colourwise, FWIW. Anyway, significantly, Debra, Cristian and Man Yee realised what they’d done wrong with the pockets, unpicked and resewed. The other two, fatefully, did not, and maybe got an inkling that things were wrong when they discussed the waist. Everyone was sewing up until the last possible moment, and the judges politely didn’t mention the hems, all of which were rushed, in their comments.
How they’d be ranked was fairly obvious from the comments: Annie, in her confusion, coming last, Brogan mortifyingly fourth, Debra midway at third, Cristian second and Man Yee, who had also got things wrong, but had heard the word ‘neat’, coming top.
In round 2, they were asked to transform two men’s shirts and trimmings into 1930s style ladies’ blouses, with helpful 1930s pictures. Man Yee, as confused about the 1930s as she had been about country music, needed the assist. Cristian did that rare thing of not liking what he’d done – they only had an hour and a half – giving up and starting afresh with two other shirts and using the word ‘freestyling’. Uh-oh. Sara paid Man Yee the compliment of trying on her blouse while she was off in the haberdashery.
The judges seemed happier, and it mostly came down to taste/how thirties they felt the blouse was, which did for Brogan. I rather liked what she’d put together, but it was dead as a duck when Esme disparaged it as like a pyjama. I agreed that Cristian’s would have done better with contrasting colours (and more time, if he’d gone for that from the start!), Annie’s was middling, Debra came second – I actually didn’t love the polka dot and leopard-print combo. I think it would have been better with one plain material plus either. But Man Yee’s striking – and yes, simple – design gave her first place AGAIN.
Judges’ talk: Brogan was the most in trouble, possibly also Annie and Cristian. They pretty much made it clear that Man Yee would have to have an epic disaster not to get to the semis.
The made-to-measure was a 1930s Hollywood glamorous gown on a bias cut. I was hoping for inspirations who didn’t appear in Madonna’s ‘Vogue’, while Debra geeked out about the thirties, not just in this round but throughout the episode, Cristian started off proceedings by going for a stretchy fabric that ignored the whole bias cut requirement – I am generally a fan of purple velvet, but even I could tell that that was a problem.
The others had chosen satins and followed the patterns Indeed, by going for the same Jean Harlow-inspired pattern, in different colours and with a few diverging choices, Man Yee and Annie were offering up a direct comparison. Sara tried to get up a rivalry – unsuccessful as it was so blatant and this is the sewing bee, not wrestlemania. Otherwise, Debra seemed to love her fabric so much that she was futzing – until it turned out she’d sewn the front bit back to front. She did have just enough fabric to start over again, but it cost her time as the younger ladies sewed on serenely.
And Cristian, on top of all the changes he’d already made to his pattern, decided to freestyle the back.
Sara was very droll, pretending she was a character in a noir to inform them how much, well, how little time they had left. Some things had gone awry for Brogan and her pink Ginger Rogers gown (of course Brogan did musical theatre, OF COURSE SHE DID!) The judges compared telling notes, and Cristian did something desperate with the hem, while Debra and Brogan could see where they’d gone wrong when their models put on the gown for the last time.
Every gown made an impact, although in the head to head, the red was stronger than the ivory. The judges’ critique was incisive: Annie’s sewing was neater than Man Yee’s (French seams!), Debra had mostly achieved her aims despite the loss of time, but there was a mistake with her top. There were more mistakes with Brogan’s top, but Cristian hadn’t quite finished, his freestyling on the back hadn’t gone well. They tried to up the tension, but Annie had lifted herself from trouble to the top. Patrick teased giving GotW to Debra, but that spot when he acknowledged she’d been more ambitious in technique was where she got her dues. She’d made an error that had probably led to the other issues, and you must award the GotW to the person who’s accurately gauged their ability and pulled it off. So, Annie got GotW.
They also tried to make us wonder about who’d be leaving, but Cristian had not only ignored the whole bias cut thing, but he’d not finished. Brogan had clearly saved herself with the MtM, and lo, we had our semi finalists.
Semi finals – Japan week
The show has loved Japan over the years, and it was notable that the music editor had fun playing Japanese equivalents of the Doris Dayesque songs we normally hear.
The pattern challenge was, like all pattern challenges this series, hard. Esme and a Japanese designer friend had drafted a version of a kimono (which we all learned from the featurette means ‘thing to wear’) or a dress with kimono elements AND and Esme-pleasing bow. Some of the pieces were massive and the construction was non-Western, and they had five hours to do them in.
Has there ever been a round where so much beige has been used? I thought Man Yee had an advantage all episode, as a Sailor Moon fangirl, she knew the most about Japanese culture. Everyone was puzzled over the lining and the construction, and Debra was well out of her depth – her decision not to use a different material for the lining or the collar/edge, only the belt, really did not help her. As flagged up, Brogan (who had skipped entirely on pressing just to finish sewing) and Man Yee had problems with the lining, but despite being as confused as anyone, Annie had clearly constructed the best kimono-dress. They were placed in the order their names have been mentioned.
Transformation: Debra was pinning a lot of hopes on this, but again looked flummoxed as they were asked to mend ragged denim clothes using a Japanese technique of very fancy darning, which most of them only knew from the judges’ comments and the one example they’d seen. They also didn’t have a lot of time. Perhaps Man Yee had the most clue. She went for weather/sky motifs, Annie and Brogan went for stars – Brogan went all celestial by the end, and Debra plumped for birds. They were all sewing until the last second, and this challenge involved a lot of hand sewing. Despite great confabbing, the order was predictable from the judges’ comments. A delighted Man Yee came a deserved top, Annie second, Brogan third, despite having produced something wearable, and Debra came last again. Because fourth is last.
The judges pointed out the obvious to Sara: Annie and Man Yee were in far less trouble than Brogan and Debra.
Made to measure was a dress influenced by origami. It turned out that the younger bees had done more origami as children. Annie was influenced by a childhood origami bunny, Man Yee by her childhood obsession with cranes, Brogan by the lotus flower and Broganified the whole thing by using neoprene, which you can’t fold, and so seemed to have fallen into the trap of not picking the right material that Cristian had tumbled into last week. Debra was influenced by research and Mount Fuji.
Patrick was obsessed by how Man Yee was going to fasten the dress at the back (rightly, as it turned out, her late solution wasn’t impressive.) Debra got blinded by white and seemed to have a lot to do at the last, but so did Man Yee, desperately trying to attach her hem. Sara was singing the times left with a karaoke machine for this round – I think I preferred when she’d asked a bonsai tree what the time was in the first round.
Annie’s and Brogan’s gowns made more of an impact on me, simply because of their colour choices, although once I saw what Debra had achieved with the sleeves, I was suitably impressed. Annie was praised – I had been impressed by her managing a head-dress – for pulling off a sophisticated dress, and she’d drafted the pattern herself, bless. Debra had clearly saved herself with her nods to Japan and her execution. The judges were torn over Brogan’s: Esme deemed that it wasn’t origami, Patrick was loudly on the fence although both agreed it had had ‘impact’, but criticised the sewing and confusing elements of Man Yee’s dress. So would that failure or Brogan’s overall third place send them packing?
Fair play to Sara, she genuinely made me think, ‘Oh, this must be hard for her, the first time she has to send someone home at the last pass.’ But the judges couldn’t decide and put them all through, after giving Annie GotW. I wonder if it’s because last year was still overshadowed by COVID that the producers went along with this. It sounded as if the judges didn’t want to send best technician Brogan home, while admitting Man Yee had excelled in the transformation challenge. I don’t know what past contestants will think, although they’ll probably be glad they didn’t get any of this series’s pattern challenges.
Final!
They weren’t going to make the final pattern challenge easy, and in another running theme, it was a dress Esme had helped design, the amorphous dress, that certainly looked different when we saw the visual of how it was meant to be done.
From the off, Brogan blithely picked the wrong fabric, and Debra seemed the calmest bee, as she a) remembered the 1980s and b) seemed to have the best idea of how the pattern functioned (as far as we know, Esme didn’t show her picture on her phone to any of the others. I wouldn’t put it past Esme to have had a camera phone in the eighties either.) This may be speculative, but Debra might have been more used to sewing with Lycra. She was the one doling out advice about fastenings, anyway. Man Yee was noticeably behind from the cutting onwards and last to put the dress on the mannequin while the others were pressing and primping.
Fairly clear how they’d be ordered: Brogan last because the fabric hadn’t helped her, Annie’s burgundy dress third, Man Yee coming second after getting everything nearly right, and Debra’s silver-grey dress receiving high praise.
The final seemed very…hormonal. We also got a few clips of their family talking about the finalist bees - lack of self-confidence seemed to be a theme, and we sadly learned that Man Yee’s father had died, making the pyjamas even more poignant in hindsight. We also learned that Debra and Annie were matched on total garments of the week, Man Yee had won the most overall challenges, while Brogan – foreshadowing! - was always the also-ran.
The transformation challenge was to use cut-offs from throughout the series to make an outfit for a party they’d go to. It did bring a nostalgia hit and a touch of personality. Man Yee did her thing where she got someone to help her (Sara, offering her ribbons.) Sara was doing party games as her convoluted lead-up to telling them how little time they had left and inevitably banged the dustbin lids (they’d been holding the materials) together to announce time was up.
I could see where the judges were coming from in their ranking: once Esme decided the ruffles on the bosom were unflattering, that was it for Brogan, and everyone else had done something fancier. The front of Debra’s top let her down – the back was much snazzier. I liked the interesting shapes Annie had pulled off, and I’d personally be far more likely to wear that than Man Yee’s outfit, even in my younger days, but if the judges thought the detailing was more cohesive and it had greater impact, fair enough.
The judges confirmed to Sara that Brogan was last and would have to pull off the made to measure of her life to leapfrog the others.
Of course, having a relative/friend as their model and knowing it was the last challenge hit the finalists like a ton of bricks. Their challenge? A jumpsuit (ugh) (personally speaking) worthy of the red carpet.
From the off, it was clear that Debra’s design had the least impact, sadly. (I had to read the subtitles as she and Lisa chatted to each other, because they were basically mumbling, although I can confirm that it was more in Wenglish than pure Welsh.)
Brogan was happy, but never a serious contender, while there was mild tension as to whether Annie’s boning would be able to hold up the bow AND train. She had an inspo picture but we all know that BOW + ESME was part of her calculation. Meanwhile, Man Yee indulged her inner fangirl and picked a sequin material that, again, pushed her behind everyone else, as the judges noted. She pulled it together at the end, though.
But on the catwalk, Annie’s tuxedo/sporty jumpsuit really did have the most impact, the contrast of the two colours was sophisticated, the structural element was so strong, and her model did indeed clearly love moving in it. But Man Yee had done everything she’d set out to do, including the cape, the fit was good, and Esme praised the details, so I thought it was between them. With the skirt, Brogan’s jumpsuit had more impact that Debra’s, who’d perhaps got too caught up in making a really nice jumpsuit her friend could wear realistically on her hen do (that’ parti plu in Wesh), so for all the details they praised, you knew Debra’d never triumph.
Family AND past contestants returned. I think Marni was a little narked that there were four finalists (and she wasn’t one of them.)
I thought that Man Yee might have pipped it, but no, it was Annie, who perhaps hasn’t been as ambitious as Debra or Man Yee, but has pulled off increasingly immaculate and impressive outfits and certainly won the made to measure (Brogan looked like the slightly overpromoted finalist though).
As ever, we got the catch-up photos, mainly of outfits, as they should be. But I now wonder if Annie was pregnant while this series was being filmed, although congratulations to her and Brogan. But the most special mention must go to Gill, who was now making short-sleeved tops for herself proudly! That’s smashing.
[Edited for typos 27/2/25.]
Is it me, or were some of Sara’s references more relevant to the 1920s than the thirties?
I also think Patrick was trying to channel Fred Astaire as he and Esme talked Sara through the pattern challenge, just in the way he leaned and crossed his legs, as he said (yet again) this was the toughest pattern challenge they’d given them yet.
Said pattern was ladies sailor trousers with a pre-zip complicated button, flap and pocket arrangement that stymied all the contestants. Esme had to explain how it should be done to Sara and the audience. All I got out of that was that I was glad it wasn’t me.
Before that, it was about choice of fabric, and as prompted, I winced at the talk of denims. I preferred the blues and greens colourwise, FWIW. Anyway, significantly, Debra, Cristian and Man Yee realised what they’d done wrong with the pockets, unpicked and resewed. The other two, fatefully, did not, and maybe got an inkling that things were wrong when they discussed the waist. Everyone was sewing up until the last possible moment, and the judges politely didn’t mention the hems, all of which were rushed, in their comments.
How they’d be ranked was fairly obvious from the comments: Annie, in her confusion, coming last, Brogan mortifyingly fourth, Debra midway at third, Cristian second and Man Yee, who had also got things wrong, but had heard the word ‘neat’, coming top.
In round 2, they were asked to transform two men’s shirts and trimmings into 1930s style ladies’ blouses, with helpful 1930s pictures. Man Yee, as confused about the 1930s as she had been about country music, needed the assist. Cristian did that rare thing of not liking what he’d done – they only had an hour and a half – giving up and starting afresh with two other shirts and using the word ‘freestyling’. Uh-oh. Sara paid Man Yee the compliment of trying on her blouse while she was off in the haberdashery.
The judges seemed happier, and it mostly came down to taste/how thirties they felt the blouse was, which did for Brogan. I rather liked what she’d put together, but it was dead as a duck when Esme disparaged it as like a pyjama. I agreed that Cristian’s would have done better with contrasting colours (and more time, if he’d gone for that from the start!), Annie’s was middling, Debra came second – I actually didn’t love the polka dot and leopard-print combo. I think it would have been better with one plain material plus either. But Man Yee’s striking – and yes, simple – design gave her first place AGAIN.
Judges’ talk: Brogan was the most in trouble, possibly also Annie and Cristian. They pretty much made it clear that Man Yee would have to have an epic disaster not to get to the semis.
The made-to-measure was a 1930s Hollywood glamorous gown on a bias cut. I was hoping for inspirations who didn’t appear in Madonna’s ‘Vogue’, while Debra geeked out about the thirties, not just in this round but throughout the episode, Cristian started off proceedings by going for a stretchy fabric that ignored the whole bias cut requirement – I am generally a fan of purple velvet, but even I could tell that that was a problem.
The others had chosen satins and followed the patterns Indeed, by going for the same Jean Harlow-inspired pattern, in different colours and with a few diverging choices, Man Yee and Annie were offering up a direct comparison. Sara tried to get up a rivalry – unsuccessful as it was so blatant and this is the sewing bee, not wrestlemania. Otherwise, Debra seemed to love her fabric so much that she was futzing – until it turned out she’d sewn the front bit back to front. She did have just enough fabric to start over again, but it cost her time as the younger ladies sewed on serenely.
And Cristian, on top of all the changes he’d already made to his pattern, decided to freestyle the back.
Sara was very droll, pretending she was a character in a noir to inform them how much, well, how little time they had left. Some things had gone awry for Brogan and her pink Ginger Rogers gown (of course Brogan did musical theatre, OF COURSE SHE DID!) The judges compared telling notes, and Cristian did something desperate with the hem, while Debra and Brogan could see where they’d gone wrong when their models put on the gown for the last time.
Every gown made an impact, although in the head to head, the red was stronger than the ivory. The judges’ critique was incisive: Annie’s sewing was neater than Man Yee’s (French seams!), Debra had mostly achieved her aims despite the loss of time, but there was a mistake with her top. There were more mistakes with Brogan’s top, but Cristian hadn’t quite finished, his freestyling on the back hadn’t gone well. They tried to up the tension, but Annie had lifted herself from trouble to the top. Patrick teased giving GotW to Debra, but that spot when he acknowledged she’d been more ambitious in technique was where she got her dues. She’d made an error that had probably led to the other issues, and you must award the GotW to the person who’s accurately gauged their ability and pulled it off. So, Annie got GotW.
They also tried to make us wonder about who’d be leaving, but Cristian had not only ignored the whole bias cut thing, but he’d not finished. Brogan had clearly saved herself with the MtM, and lo, we had our semi finalists.
Semi finals – Japan week
The show has loved Japan over the years, and it was notable that the music editor had fun playing Japanese equivalents of the Doris Dayesque songs we normally hear.
The pattern challenge was, like all pattern challenges this series, hard. Esme and a Japanese designer friend had drafted a version of a kimono (which we all learned from the featurette means ‘thing to wear’) or a dress with kimono elements AND and Esme-pleasing bow. Some of the pieces were massive and the construction was non-Western, and they had five hours to do them in.
Has there ever been a round where so much beige has been used? I thought Man Yee had an advantage all episode, as a Sailor Moon fangirl, she knew the most about Japanese culture. Everyone was puzzled over the lining and the construction, and Debra was well out of her depth – her decision not to use a different material for the lining or the collar/edge, only the belt, really did not help her. As flagged up, Brogan (who had skipped entirely on pressing just to finish sewing) and Man Yee had problems with the lining, but despite being as confused as anyone, Annie had clearly constructed the best kimono-dress. They were placed in the order their names have been mentioned.
Transformation: Debra was pinning a lot of hopes on this, but again looked flummoxed as they were asked to mend ragged denim clothes using a Japanese technique of very fancy darning, which most of them only knew from the judges’ comments and the one example they’d seen. They also didn’t have a lot of time. Perhaps Man Yee had the most clue. She went for weather/sky motifs, Annie and Brogan went for stars – Brogan went all celestial by the end, and Debra plumped for birds. They were all sewing until the last second, and this challenge involved a lot of hand sewing. Despite great confabbing, the order was predictable from the judges’ comments. A delighted Man Yee came a deserved top, Annie second, Brogan third, despite having produced something wearable, and Debra came last again. Because fourth is last.
The judges pointed out the obvious to Sara: Annie and Man Yee were in far less trouble than Brogan and Debra.
Made to measure was a dress influenced by origami. It turned out that the younger bees had done more origami as children. Annie was influenced by a childhood origami bunny, Man Yee by her childhood obsession with cranes, Brogan by the lotus flower and Broganified the whole thing by using neoprene, which you can’t fold, and so seemed to have fallen into the trap of not picking the right material that Cristian had tumbled into last week. Debra was influenced by research and Mount Fuji.
Patrick was obsessed by how Man Yee was going to fasten the dress at the back (rightly, as it turned out, her late solution wasn’t impressive.) Debra got blinded by white and seemed to have a lot to do at the last, but so did Man Yee, desperately trying to attach her hem. Sara was singing the times left with a karaoke machine for this round – I think I preferred when she’d asked a bonsai tree what the time was in the first round.
Annie’s and Brogan’s gowns made more of an impact on me, simply because of their colour choices, although once I saw what Debra had achieved with the sleeves, I was suitably impressed. Annie was praised – I had been impressed by her managing a head-dress – for pulling off a sophisticated dress, and she’d drafted the pattern herself, bless. Debra had clearly saved herself with her nods to Japan and her execution. The judges were torn over Brogan’s: Esme deemed that it wasn’t origami, Patrick was loudly on the fence although both agreed it had had ‘impact’, but criticised the sewing and confusing elements of Man Yee’s dress. So would that failure or Brogan’s overall third place send them packing?
Fair play to Sara, she genuinely made me think, ‘Oh, this must be hard for her, the first time she has to send someone home at the last pass.’ But the judges couldn’t decide and put them all through, after giving Annie GotW. I wonder if it’s because last year was still overshadowed by COVID that the producers went along with this. It sounded as if the judges didn’t want to send best technician Brogan home, while admitting Man Yee had excelled in the transformation challenge. I don’t know what past contestants will think, although they’ll probably be glad they didn’t get any of this series’s pattern challenges.
Final!
They weren’t going to make the final pattern challenge easy, and in another running theme, it was a dress Esme had helped design, the amorphous dress, that certainly looked different when we saw the visual of how it was meant to be done.
From the off, Brogan blithely picked the wrong fabric, and Debra seemed the calmest bee, as she a) remembered the 1980s and b) seemed to have the best idea of how the pattern functioned (as far as we know, Esme didn’t show her picture on her phone to any of the others. I wouldn’t put it past Esme to have had a camera phone in the eighties either.) This may be speculative, but Debra might have been more used to sewing with Lycra. She was the one doling out advice about fastenings, anyway. Man Yee was noticeably behind from the cutting onwards and last to put the dress on the mannequin while the others were pressing and primping.
Fairly clear how they’d be ordered: Brogan last because the fabric hadn’t helped her, Annie’s burgundy dress third, Man Yee coming second after getting everything nearly right, and Debra’s silver-grey dress receiving high praise.
The final seemed very…hormonal. We also got a few clips of their family talking about the finalist bees - lack of self-confidence seemed to be a theme, and we sadly learned that Man Yee’s father had died, making the pyjamas even more poignant in hindsight. We also learned that Debra and Annie were matched on total garments of the week, Man Yee had won the most overall challenges, while Brogan – foreshadowing! - was always the also-ran.
The transformation challenge was to use cut-offs from throughout the series to make an outfit for a party they’d go to. It did bring a nostalgia hit and a touch of personality. Man Yee did her thing where she got someone to help her (Sara, offering her ribbons.) Sara was doing party games as her convoluted lead-up to telling them how little time they had left and inevitably banged the dustbin lids (they’d been holding the materials) together to announce time was up.
I could see where the judges were coming from in their ranking: once Esme decided the ruffles on the bosom were unflattering, that was it for Brogan, and everyone else had done something fancier. The front of Debra’s top let her down – the back was much snazzier. I liked the interesting shapes Annie had pulled off, and I’d personally be far more likely to wear that than Man Yee’s outfit, even in my younger days, but if the judges thought the detailing was more cohesive and it had greater impact, fair enough.
The judges confirmed to Sara that Brogan was last and would have to pull off the made to measure of her life to leapfrog the others.
Of course, having a relative/friend as their model and knowing it was the last challenge hit the finalists like a ton of bricks. Their challenge? A jumpsuit (ugh) (personally speaking) worthy of the red carpet.
From the off, it was clear that Debra’s design had the least impact, sadly. (I had to read the subtitles as she and Lisa chatted to each other, because they were basically mumbling, although I can confirm that it was more in Wenglish than pure Welsh.)
Brogan was happy, but never a serious contender, while there was mild tension as to whether Annie’s boning would be able to hold up the bow AND train. She had an inspo picture but we all know that BOW + ESME was part of her calculation. Meanwhile, Man Yee indulged her inner fangirl and picked a sequin material that, again, pushed her behind everyone else, as the judges noted. She pulled it together at the end, though.
But on the catwalk, Annie’s tuxedo/sporty jumpsuit really did have the most impact, the contrast of the two colours was sophisticated, the structural element was so strong, and her model did indeed clearly love moving in it. But Man Yee had done everything she’d set out to do, including the cape, the fit was good, and Esme praised the details, so I thought it was between them. With the skirt, Brogan’s jumpsuit had more impact that Debra’s, who’d perhaps got too caught up in making a really nice jumpsuit her friend could wear realistically on her hen do (that’ parti plu in Wesh), so for all the details they praised, you knew Debra’d never triumph.
Family AND past contestants returned. I think Marni was a little narked that there were four finalists (and she wasn’t one of them.)
I thought that Man Yee might have pipped it, but no, it was Annie, who perhaps hasn’t been as ambitious as Debra or Man Yee, but has pulled off increasingly immaculate and impressive outfits and certainly won the made to measure (Brogan looked like the slightly overpromoted finalist though).
As ever, we got the catch-up photos, mainly of outfits, as they should be. But I now wonder if Annie was pregnant while this series was being filmed, although congratulations to her and Brogan. But the most special mention must go to Gill, who was now making short-sleeved tops for herself proudly! That’s smashing.
[Edited for typos 27/2/25.]
