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feather_ghyllI've continued to watch The Great British Sewing Bee, and indeed, I've seen all the episodes, but will post about them in two batches.
Episode 5: India week
Guest judge (and guest expert) time! The pattern challenge was a Nehru jacket, and having a new person in the conversation highlighted that the judges always tell the presenter that the choice of material is crucial. So it turned out this week, with Suzi, Lauren and Pascha all choosing difficult fabrics (too slippy, too liable to fray), and Georgie changing her mind and borrowing Alex’s, which meant that she was behind and offered the judges a direct comparison. It was a variation on tailoring, and even the people who seemed the most confident hadn’t quite done anything like this before. There was bemusement over the pockets, and a lot of people struggled to finish. I thought that Luke’s choice of thread was asking for trouble, but actually, xyr’s divergence from the instruction, e.g. a different fabric for the collar, worked. The judges looked over Alex’s first and it was obvious she was the high bar by which everyone would be compared. They all fell short, although Marcus, who has been in trouble for two weeks running, came second, and Pascha did well considering her choice of fabric. Suzi and Lauren less so.
Transformation challenge: two madras check shirts and up to a metre and a half of calico into a summer outfit. Alex decided she wasn’t going to use calico, and kept deciding this, even though they had been specifically asked to. Luke was doing something interesting with quilting, although I wondered if xyr would have enough material for an outfit until quite late on. Pascha did something with a ruffle, of course. Suzi was wittering on about pockets, but Lauren managed to rip what she’d done towards the end. By ignoring the instructions (fatal!), Alex’s pretty maxi dress came last, while Lauren and Suzi didn’t redeem themselves. Georgie came top, although I thought it was more for the ideas than the execution, Pascha came second, and the least transformative outfits were the most wearable.
Made to measure was a dress incorporating sari elements, and we learned who’d worn a sari or been to India, who’d got second-hand saris, and how ambitious they were being. Pascha was taking time to get rid of jewellery to make her material easier to sew, Suzi was taking forever to fold. Ailsa was combining the sari with elements of the kilt, or something. Luke was adding a secret element involving magnets. I liked a lot of the colour palates and ideas.
Suzi realised she’d made a humongous error, and other people were racing for time. Pascha ended up with a very short skirt, as did Luke when part of the dress came off as it was meant to, although it was certainly striking. There were interesting structural details about Ailsa’s. Suzi was just glad to have a finished dress. Lauren’s almost looked glam on the runway, but when you looked closer, the mistakes were obvious. Other people had messed up or not quite done enough with the brief, but the two people in trouble hadn’t done enough. I think it was execution that decided them that Lauren had to go (but who will Kiell spark off now? The running gag about the child mannequin beating him at games was amusing.) To her shock, Ailsa won Garment of the Week for understanding the brief.
Episode 6 – children week
They looked like a much smaller crew (only 7 remaining) as they were handed the instructions for the pattern challenge: a sequin bomber jacket. Not surprising that a few didn’t finish (they all looked aghast at how little time they had, although of course it was smaller than an adult jacket would be), although I thought overall they weren’t that far apart. Sadly, we didn’t get to know how many needles got broken sewing the sequin part, although it was the stretchy neck bits, wrist bands and lining that they struggled most with. Luke's mess with the neck collar got xyr last place, Suzi was in trouble and Georgie’s partially transparent material choice only showed up that the lining wasn’t attached. Although they’d liked Marcus’s similar colour choices more, Alex came second and a surprised Ailsa first.
The transformation challenge was fun: two towels into animal-based fancy dress outfits for a toddler. There was some tension – Suzi really was grumpy that Ailsa had nabbed the white towels to make a dalmatian costume, when she wanted to make a tribute to Bjork’s swan dress. Pascha was more philosophical that, as Marcus was doing a frog, she’d have to adapt and do an alligator. Georgie, already under pressure because she was the only parent remaining – and she didn’t sew outfits for her children! – was finding her butterfly costume tough to execute. They all felt rushed for time, although Luke was having fun with xyr fish, Alex with the mane of her Wild Thingsesque lion and Pascha was enjoying every second. Admittedly, the judges weren’t sure whether it was a dinosaur and then settled on crocodiles. Shout out to the accessories: Ailsa’s collar and lead, and Luke’s bag of chips. The judges were very complimentary to everyone – Marcus’s was too long, and although she’d got the shape of the wings, Georgie’s had the least impact. She came last, Suzi second last, so they were both glum. Alex came second again, and Pascha deservedly came first, her joy in making the costume having transferred into every detail.
The made to measure was a child’s outfit (probably for a party) based on a childhood picture. Some people were inspired by other people’s outfits, but most of them were pictures of them in things relatives had made for them. They’d had the kids’ measurements already and time to cut beforehand, but when the child models arrived they had to measure and double check. Ailsa had soon made a mess right at the front of the bodice of her mermaid outfit. A lot of people were ruing how much top stitching they’d decided to do, and as a result, nearly all of them were rushed for time. Luke, Marcus and Georgie were doing jumpsuits, Pascha and Suzi skorts, Alex velvet dungarees and Ailsa a mermaid dress, although as Esme had observed when she heard the plans, she hadn’t exaggerated the hi-low skirt enough, and might as well have made it all the same length. Suzi had to do some unexpected lining that she hadn’t planned for and quite late on, realised she’d done something wrong – it wasn’t a total disaster, but affected the look of her patchwork skort.
Pascha had fallen prey to ‘just one more ruffle’ that the judges deemed unnecessary. One of Luke’s pockets had gone wrong at the end. In fact, there was a criticism for everyone, so in their confab with Kiell, the judges seemed relieved that the Garment of the Week didn’t have to be a made to measure. (Although Luke might be pleased to learn that xyr blue yellow jumpsuit was enough to save xyr.) Pascha won GotW, and although Suzi was considered, it was Georgie who went, as there were too many things not quite right about her made-to-measure and she really needed a good outfit. It had been a tough week for her throughout.
You could tell from Kiell’s interactions with some of the other contestants that he really missed Lauren. (Previous hosts haven’t had such obvious favourites, IIRC.)
Episode 7 – lingerie week
The pattern challenge was more sleepwear, really, with the contestants being asked to make a ladies’ pyjama top with piping. Nobody seemed very confident. Patrick was dubious about Alex’s choice of copper for the piping, and both judges convinced Marcus to think again about his poor choice of piping. Not for the first time, I believe, he borrowed from Luke, who gently pointed out why his previous choice didn’t work colourwise. I liked Marcus’ floral pattern. There were a lot of ‘it could be worse’s and ‘that’ll do’s, as everyone did the piping. It was fairly clear that Suzy would come last as she’d only put one out of five buttons on. Ailsa and Marcus had put the buttons on the wrong way, and Luke, Pascha and Alex (in reverse order) came top, with Patrick conceding that Alex’s choice of piping had worked.
Kiell’s commitment to silly puns should be noted. The transformation challenge was to take shapewear (what is that, asked sweet, ignorant Marcus) and lace and fashion a new outfit out of them. The shapewear was in some pretty ugly colours, I think the ones who grabbed the black or white ones did best. I also think they could have done with more time. Suzy was twisting strips, which looked great, but did not a costume make. Ailsa looked uncertain. Marcus was not doing a hat, but a fake six-pack top, but as he admitted he didn’t have the time for armholes, there was an obvious flaw to his ‘wearable garment’. Alex had decided to be inspired by ballet, and Pascha was soon slashing and draping with abandon, while Luke got on quietly and confidently with a dress.
I thought the judging was fair: ‘But how do you wear it?’ is a valid question. Ailsa’s top and bottom weren’t that cohesive. Although I thought Pascha’s skirt was too long, her efforts were the most dramatically eye catching in a good way (Suzy and Marcus’s efforts were eye catching in the other way.) Marcus came last, while Alex and Pascha quite rightly exchanged places.
In their chat with Kiell, the judges put Alex and Pascha top, Luke in the middle (although it was clear those three would have to mess up spectacularly in the made to measure to get into trouble) and the other three in the bottom, and they knew it. The made to measure was to be a dress of any style, but featuring a bustier and boning. I liked nearly all of the designs (I thought Suzy’s colour combination was hideous, but it was very her, as was the shiny blue dress she was wearing), but it was soon clear that Marcus was the least confident about what he was doing. Alex was giving herself a lot of work to do to show off what she was doing in a reverse style. Pascha and Suzy were maybe playing it safe, but also doing the styles they loved, as was Luke, although Luke’s choice of cup would be noticeable, as Patrick observed.
As Kiell’s time checks kept getting lower, everyone still seemed to be working on the bustier, not the rest of the dress. Things weren’t quite going right for Marcus, but everyone else was getting along, until Ailsa came to do a fitting, and it was clear her bustier was way too small. Also, she admitted she wasn’t sure how she was going to join the top with the bottom, while at least everyone else had a plan for that. Alex was snipping off tulle, Marcus was desperately trying to finish hemming, and Luke’s model was doing the ironing as xyr sewed.
On the runway, Pascha’s and Alex’s looked good. On closer inspection, Pascha’s fit was highly praised – it was a sort of vintage luxury look that perhaps didn’t have quite as much impact as some of the others, but was very well done. Alex’s skirt was too long, and it wasn’t quite as well fitted. Luke had messed up with the cups. Suzy’s dress was irredeemably hideous because of the colour choices and possibly also the material, but it was well-sewn and fitted and very her, so she’d saved herself. Marcus’s bodice didn’t fit and he had been clearly rushed, while Ailsa’s bodice wouldn’t do up at the back and she’s also clearly rushed the join of the top and bottom. Shame, because both their designs were interesting, although I didn’t love Marcus’s choice of tartan.
Pascha won her first garment of the week for made to measure (she and Alex had a very good week), and Marcus was the one to go – he (and Ailsa to an extent) seemed the most out of their depth this week. He got touchingly emotional, and it seems as though he’s got a lot out of the experience.
Episode 5: India week
Guest judge (and guest expert) time! The pattern challenge was a Nehru jacket, and having a new person in the conversation highlighted that the judges always tell the presenter that the choice of material is crucial. So it turned out this week, with Suzi, Lauren and Pascha all choosing difficult fabrics (too slippy, too liable to fray), and Georgie changing her mind and borrowing Alex’s, which meant that she was behind and offered the judges a direct comparison. It was a variation on tailoring, and even the people who seemed the most confident hadn’t quite done anything like this before. There was bemusement over the pockets, and a lot of people struggled to finish. I thought that Luke’s choice of thread was asking for trouble, but actually, xyr’s divergence from the instruction, e.g. a different fabric for the collar, worked. The judges looked over Alex’s first and it was obvious she was the high bar by which everyone would be compared. They all fell short, although Marcus, who has been in trouble for two weeks running, came second, and Pascha did well considering her choice of fabric. Suzi and Lauren less so.
Transformation challenge: two madras check shirts and up to a metre and a half of calico into a summer outfit. Alex decided she wasn’t going to use calico, and kept deciding this, even though they had been specifically asked to. Luke was doing something interesting with quilting, although I wondered if xyr would have enough material for an outfit until quite late on. Pascha did something with a ruffle, of course. Suzi was wittering on about pockets, but Lauren managed to rip what she’d done towards the end. By ignoring the instructions (fatal!), Alex’s pretty maxi dress came last, while Lauren and Suzi didn’t redeem themselves. Georgie came top, although I thought it was more for the ideas than the execution, Pascha came second, and the least transformative outfits were the most wearable.
Made to measure was a dress incorporating sari elements, and we learned who’d worn a sari or been to India, who’d got second-hand saris, and how ambitious they were being. Pascha was taking time to get rid of jewellery to make her material easier to sew, Suzi was taking forever to fold. Ailsa was combining the sari with elements of the kilt, or something. Luke was adding a secret element involving magnets. I liked a lot of the colour palates and ideas.
Suzi realised she’d made a humongous error, and other people were racing for time. Pascha ended up with a very short skirt, as did Luke when part of the dress came off as it was meant to, although it was certainly striking. There were interesting structural details about Ailsa’s. Suzi was just glad to have a finished dress. Lauren’s almost looked glam on the runway, but when you looked closer, the mistakes were obvious. Other people had messed up or not quite done enough with the brief, but the two people in trouble hadn’t done enough. I think it was execution that decided them that Lauren had to go (but who will Kiell spark off now? The running gag about the child mannequin beating him at games was amusing.) To her shock, Ailsa won Garment of the Week for understanding the brief.
Episode 6 – children week
They looked like a much smaller crew (only 7 remaining) as they were handed the instructions for the pattern challenge: a sequin bomber jacket. Not surprising that a few didn’t finish (they all looked aghast at how little time they had, although of course it was smaller than an adult jacket would be), although I thought overall they weren’t that far apart. Sadly, we didn’t get to know how many needles got broken sewing the sequin part, although it was the stretchy neck bits, wrist bands and lining that they struggled most with. Luke's mess with the neck collar got xyr last place, Suzi was in trouble and Georgie’s partially transparent material choice only showed up that the lining wasn’t attached. Although they’d liked Marcus’s similar colour choices more, Alex came second and a surprised Ailsa first.
The transformation challenge was fun: two towels into animal-based fancy dress outfits for a toddler. There was some tension – Suzi really was grumpy that Ailsa had nabbed the white towels to make a dalmatian costume, when she wanted to make a tribute to Bjork’s swan dress. Pascha was more philosophical that, as Marcus was doing a frog, she’d have to adapt and do an alligator. Georgie, already under pressure because she was the only parent remaining – and she didn’t sew outfits for her children! – was finding her butterfly costume tough to execute. They all felt rushed for time, although Luke was having fun with xyr fish, Alex with the mane of her Wild Thingsesque lion and Pascha was enjoying every second. Admittedly, the judges weren’t sure whether it was a dinosaur and then settled on crocodiles. Shout out to the accessories: Ailsa’s collar and lead, and Luke’s bag of chips. The judges were very complimentary to everyone – Marcus’s was too long, and although she’d got the shape of the wings, Georgie’s had the least impact. She came last, Suzi second last, so they were both glum. Alex came second again, and Pascha deservedly came first, her joy in making the costume having transferred into every detail.
The made to measure was a child’s outfit (probably for a party) based on a childhood picture. Some people were inspired by other people’s outfits, but most of them were pictures of them in things relatives had made for them. They’d had the kids’ measurements already and time to cut beforehand, but when the child models arrived they had to measure and double check. Ailsa had soon made a mess right at the front of the bodice of her mermaid outfit. A lot of people were ruing how much top stitching they’d decided to do, and as a result, nearly all of them were rushed for time. Luke, Marcus and Georgie were doing jumpsuits, Pascha and Suzi skorts, Alex velvet dungarees and Ailsa a mermaid dress, although as Esme had observed when she heard the plans, she hadn’t exaggerated the hi-low skirt enough, and might as well have made it all the same length. Suzi had to do some unexpected lining that she hadn’t planned for and quite late on, realised she’d done something wrong – it wasn’t a total disaster, but affected the look of her patchwork skort.
Pascha had fallen prey to ‘just one more ruffle’ that the judges deemed unnecessary. One of Luke’s pockets had gone wrong at the end. In fact, there was a criticism for everyone, so in their confab with Kiell, the judges seemed relieved that the Garment of the Week didn’t have to be a made to measure. (Although Luke might be pleased to learn that xyr blue yellow jumpsuit was enough to save xyr.) Pascha won GotW, and although Suzi was considered, it was Georgie who went, as there were too many things not quite right about her made-to-measure and she really needed a good outfit. It had been a tough week for her throughout.
You could tell from Kiell’s interactions with some of the other contestants that he really missed Lauren. (Previous hosts haven’t had such obvious favourites, IIRC.)
Episode 7 – lingerie week
The pattern challenge was more sleepwear, really, with the contestants being asked to make a ladies’ pyjama top with piping. Nobody seemed very confident. Patrick was dubious about Alex’s choice of copper for the piping, and both judges convinced Marcus to think again about his poor choice of piping. Not for the first time, I believe, he borrowed from Luke, who gently pointed out why his previous choice didn’t work colourwise. I liked Marcus’ floral pattern. There were a lot of ‘it could be worse’s and ‘that’ll do’s, as everyone did the piping. It was fairly clear that Suzy would come last as she’d only put one out of five buttons on. Ailsa and Marcus had put the buttons on the wrong way, and Luke, Pascha and Alex (in reverse order) came top, with Patrick conceding that Alex’s choice of piping had worked.
Kiell’s commitment to silly puns should be noted. The transformation challenge was to take shapewear (what is that, asked sweet, ignorant Marcus) and lace and fashion a new outfit out of them. The shapewear was in some pretty ugly colours, I think the ones who grabbed the black or white ones did best. I also think they could have done with more time. Suzy was twisting strips, which looked great, but did not a costume make. Ailsa looked uncertain. Marcus was not doing a hat, but a fake six-pack top, but as he admitted he didn’t have the time for armholes, there was an obvious flaw to his ‘wearable garment’. Alex had decided to be inspired by ballet, and Pascha was soon slashing and draping with abandon, while Luke got on quietly and confidently with a dress.
I thought the judging was fair: ‘But how do you wear it?’ is a valid question. Ailsa’s top and bottom weren’t that cohesive. Although I thought Pascha’s skirt was too long, her efforts were the most dramatically eye catching in a good way (Suzy and Marcus’s efforts were eye catching in the other way.) Marcus came last, while Alex and Pascha quite rightly exchanged places.
In their chat with Kiell, the judges put Alex and Pascha top, Luke in the middle (although it was clear those three would have to mess up spectacularly in the made to measure to get into trouble) and the other three in the bottom, and they knew it. The made to measure was to be a dress of any style, but featuring a bustier and boning. I liked nearly all of the designs (I thought Suzy’s colour combination was hideous, but it was very her, as was the shiny blue dress she was wearing), but it was soon clear that Marcus was the least confident about what he was doing. Alex was giving herself a lot of work to do to show off what she was doing in a reverse style. Pascha and Suzy were maybe playing it safe, but also doing the styles they loved, as was Luke, although Luke’s choice of cup would be noticeable, as Patrick observed.
As Kiell’s time checks kept getting lower, everyone still seemed to be working on the bustier, not the rest of the dress. Things weren’t quite going right for Marcus, but everyone else was getting along, until Ailsa came to do a fitting, and it was clear her bustier was way too small. Also, she admitted she wasn’t sure how she was going to join the top with the bottom, while at least everyone else had a plan for that. Alex was snipping off tulle, Marcus was desperately trying to finish hemming, and Luke’s model was doing the ironing as xyr sewed.
On the runway, Pascha’s and Alex’s looked good. On closer inspection, Pascha’s fit was highly praised – it was a sort of vintage luxury look that perhaps didn’t have quite as much impact as some of the others, but was very well done. Alex’s skirt was too long, and it wasn’t quite as well fitted. Luke had messed up with the cups. Suzy’s dress was irredeemably hideous because of the colour choices and possibly also the material, but it was well-sewn and fitted and very her, so she’d saved herself. Marcus’s bodice didn’t fit and he had been clearly rushed, while Ailsa’s bodice wouldn’t do up at the back and she’s also clearly rushed the join of the top and bottom. Shame, because both their designs were interesting, although I didn’t love Marcus’s choice of tartan.
Pascha won her first garment of the week for made to measure (she and Alex had a very good week), and Marcus was the one to go – he (and Ailsa to an extent) seemed the most out of their depth this week. He got touchingly emotional, and it seems as though he’s got a lot out of the experience.
