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feather_ghyllEp 5 – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle week and I think they recycled the challenges, actually. The pattern challenge was a zero waste work jacket – causing general horror at the maths involved in measuring the cutting out. It soon became apparent that Jess had gone wrong early, and it snowballed from there on in. Others ran out of time. Yasmin reached the top three, Orla came second, having gone for a contrasting thread that showed up her top stitch, while Kit, easily the happiest contestant during the challenge, had gone for a bright pattern and executed it all well.
The transformation challenge was tents into something that could be worn at a festival, ideally using as many of the tent’s interesting details as possible. Jess had an idea, but so did everyone else, although some people needed to either embrace the see through or some up with something, as Yasmine did, to protect some modesty. Jess got slammed for not using enough tent details, Stuart’s fake pockets did not impress. Kit only managed third, although I thought his version of the puff ball skirt had impact. Caz’s gown had more impact (Esme took against it for being too grey.) But for once, Dan had found a challenge where going big for an outfit that made me giggle (chaps and knickers, with an outsize cape) totally worked and won. Everyone’s reaction suggested he’s really popular.
Made to measure was to honour the ‘make do and mend’ ethos, or, as Sarah pointed out, a transformation challenge, only with more planning, time and the fit element. Contestants were asked to transform some outfits – I think they nearly all had something personal to them, and then some had another outfit they’d got in a charity shop, so there were narratives. The idea was for the outfit to be worn at a family do, and having given a dog’s birthday party as an example, Sara really committed to it as her bit for telling them when the time was.
Nearly everyone was doing something interesting, Kit and Caz were kind of going head to head by both using old jeans, but he was making a dress, and steaming ahead, and she was making a trouser suit, but was taking longer than anyone just to sew the jeans together into a patchwork. Jess, under pressure, was using part of her mother’s lab suit and he sister’s dress, while Dan was using 13 family Christmas pyjamas and a stole that his now deceased mother had worn. Orla and Stuart were under pressure because they didn’t have enough material, and Gaynor had a panic about cutting her material (wasn’t that the zero waste challenge?)
As time ran out, people had to rush or make decisions about what to drop. Caz had brought it all together, Jess was wielding the scissors and Gaynor had changed her fastenings. They all looked good on the catwalk. I liked Kit’s dress, though the judges were happiest with Caz and Dan’s (and confirmed as much in a chat to Sara.) They were probably least happy with Gaynor’s finish, but had Jess done enough to overcome two last places? Dan had been really emotional about his made-to-measure, and his narrative possibly helped him beat Caz for GotW, but Jess had not quite done enough and talked quite honestly about going into day two under so much pressure.
Ep 6 – Children’s week.
They made a lot of the pattern challenge being an adaptive design, which sounds really interesting and eminently sensible, bringing in an extra judge for this round. The challenge was kids’ dungarees – I think my favourite pattern was Yasmin’s – inserting elastic into the strap and with popper fastenings at the bottom of the trousers. Dan made (too much of) a fuss about Orla getting his desired rainbow pattern first. Orla and Caz put the plackets on the wrong side, Orla decided to redo it. Caz was struggling a bit, but Kit had enough time to help her and someone else.
The dungarees were fairly evenly matched, although the judges had something to criticise about with all of them. Because Caz had done something wrong, she came last, then it was a matter of degree, and a bit of tension as to whether Kit or Yasmin’s error would be considered the worst. Kit won (again). I should note he’d dressed up as a Toy Story inspired cowboy for this episode.
The transformation challenge was very clever – maternity wear into a toddler’s play outfit. Some of them had very clear ideas, some of those were completely mad, while the others were very sane, and some (Stuart) were flapping about. Dan decided his toddler was going to play at being a popstar, in defiance of the stated requirements. Orla started off with tights, and Gaynor (used to sewing for kids as a granny) with yoga pants. Kit was doing something with a lot of ruffles. Caz was sewing on patches, but quite late on, realised the sleeves of her top were too tight for the dummy’s arms, so the arms had to go. Kit’s outfit had me in giggles every time we saw it, and he knew it was terrible.
Patrick liked Caz’s outfit, but the arms meant it had to go last. I liked what Yasmin had done a lot, and she came second again, while Orla came first, indignantly saying her patch was a giraffe not a llama, although, admittedly, it had a very long neck. The confab with the judges confirmed that consistently second Yasmin was probably safe, and consistently last Caz had to do something amazing, although, actually, they were all quite close standard-wise, and whoever had a poor final round might well be in trouble.
The made to measure round was children’s fancy dress outfits based on what the contestants had dreamed of being when they grew up. This led to a whole range of designs, from Kit’s Elton John outfit (which was something of a glammed up version of the pattern challenge) to Caz’s Zandra Rhodes design. Patrick said he knew Elton John and Esme said she knew Zandra Rhodes. We also had a beekeeper, an Arctic explorer, a snowdrop (Gaynor had danced as one as a child and had wanted to be a dancer) and a politician. Dan had wanted to be a circus ringmaster, and had probably the most ambitious outfit, or rather outfits. He couldn’t afford the time lost when he went wrong.
Caz had got her child model to doodle on bits of fabric, which would be incorporated into her design. I thought Orla’s outfit was incredibly cute. It soon emerged that Gaynor’s outfit was rather simple – the skirt would have some impact, but it wasn’t hard to do, and so had to be executed flawlessly. In contrast, Dan was rushing to finish, quality falling by the wayside. Stuart’s mittens turned out to be far too big.
The young models had fun on the catwalk, the judges had a good look and pointed out that Orla’s zip wasn’t quite right (though the hat and veil ‘had impact’), Caz’s hat wasn’t quite finished, Yasmin’s buttons didn’t match the hole, and Kit’s stars on the pocket (which the camera had kept cutting to) had been ironed on, not sewn, and one of them was starting to come off. It was very clear that Caz had had a triumph and was going to win Garment of the Week, while it was a question of whether Gaynor’s flawless but simple dance dress or Dan’s overly ambitious and badly sewn three piece combo would send them home. I thought it might be Gaynor, who keeps playing it safe, but maybe they considered the previous two rounds, where she’d placed higher, too. It was Dan, who was very emotional.
Ep 7 – Art week
Pattern challenge was a Greyson Perry-inspired babydoll dress, which featured lots of gathers, and had them doing a frill, collar, bodice, sleeves and, very late in the round, a skirt. Of the busy patterns, I preferred Caz and Stuart’s to Yasmin and Kit’s. General grumpiness at the slow progress and all the gathering. Gaynor’s collar didn’t sit right. More grumpiness at the gathering and generally (Kit aside?) people were just in a rush to finish. As would be a theme all episode, there was a top four and a battle for bottom, which Stuart won by putting the side seams at the front and back, Gaynor’s collar mishap put her just above, and what Yasmin had done with a contrast frill, not collar, was what she should have done. They tried to make a big drama out of whether Kit (they complemented him for his hem and pressing it) or Yasmin (they never mentioned her hem, but had fewer nitpicks) would win, but it was Yasmin, winning something for the first time.
Transformation challenge was paint-spattered overalls and the like into something asymmetric. The judges were optimistic about what they’d see. Lots of people were folding on the mannequins, Gaynor hated this challenge, she hated the ‘dirty’ material (I wouldn’t be surprised if the production team had just spattered paint on the clothes, but they’d probably washed them) and didn’t know what to do. She ended up doing a skirt, as did Orla, who seemed much chirpier about it. Stuart and Kit went for tops – Stuart’s evolved, Kit’s was for a man and he thought it might fit him (it didn’t), while Yasmin and Caz went for dresses. I thought Yasmin and Orla’s outfits had the most visual impact, but Kit came second for structure and Orla was first. Gaynor came last – she agreed that the bottom detail on her skirt was naff, and Stuart above her for a top that Patrick liked more than Esme did.
Made to measure was something inspired by pop art. The top four and Stuart went for something ambitious, Gaynor for something she was sure she could do. As soon as she showed the judges, I too thought that the cut-outs could have been bigger. Kit was working with interface-backed paper, Caz was doing a rendition of a 2-D dress, knew how much time she had to leave for the binding, but would end up spending too much on the quilting. Yasmin was doing a dress and a cape (I wondered if she could have made life easier for herself by just making a skirt) with a face on it. Getting the face right was a bit of a problem. Orla was doing oversized bell-bottoms and jacket for a man, with a print of graphic versions of her lips and the words ‘Zip It!’ appliqued on the back, while Stuart was doing something very structural, although he’d dropped the black lines that would have made the pop art reference clear.
Nobody had any disasters – they teased Kit saying the paper had ripped at the start of the programme, but it was in the seam allowance. Safe Gaynor aside, they were all sewing to the last second, and the judges could see the signs of rushing in several of their outfits. Nobody escaped criticism – and I agreed the rushed speech bubble bag that Kit had made was best ignored. Caz’s very important tabs showed even more sign of rushing, and there were minor imperfections with Orla and Yasmin’s outfits (although Orla’s made me smile).
They’d summed up the dilemma with the bottom two before this round – Stuart was more ambitious, but Gaynor’s sewing was better – and their made-to-measure outfits typified it. Because there was less reference to pop art in Stuart’s dress, he was sent home, but Gaynor is probably beyond borrowed time (it’s not like this show hasn’t been running for years, and that it’s been clear that it's also about design and pushing yourself, so she knew what she was signing up for.)
Ep 8 - Movie week and the quarter finals
The pattern challenge was a (version of?) Edith Head’s jacket for Tippi Hedren in The Birds, which turned out to be extremely tough, with the contestants urged to read the instructions, which confused most of them. Caz had forgotten she needed a different material for the lining, I think, and then found she’d cut the gussets out of the one of the pieces she’d already cut, so she was in tears before sewing. Then people weren’t happy with their pockets, Kit was deciding to add some topstitching where it wasn’t asked for, Sara kept telling them they had less time than they wanted, Gaynor got stuck, most of them weren’t sure whether they’d attached the lining properly…
Gaynor hadn’t finished, Caz had come on tremendously given her terrible start, Yasmin and Orla had got their top and bottom collars mixed up. Kit hadn’t, but his topstitching would have caused problems when wearing the jacket, but as he had enough time to advise several people during this challenge, he always deserved first place.
The transformation challenge was movie theatre curtains into something fit for an afterparty. So, they had loads of material, with some interesting details, including the ties, although they were all in the same colour - red. Caz started off well, then cut off too much of her skirt and had to do a rescue job. Orla had been draping and pinning away on an asymmetric dress, and then realised that it was too heavy to sew, burst into tears and asked to start again with a completely new curtain and fifteen minutes to go. At first it looked as if what she was doing was very risqué, but she added a bit more length, but it was obviously a rush job. There were nice details to all the others, although Esme had a hate on Gaynor’s dress, which was better than her usual transformation challenges, but Yasmin’s was clearly the best (so much so that I thought she might have been up for GotW with it if everyone had problems with the made to measure.)
Two contestants in tears at the end of day one! Yasmin’s transformation aside, the judges claimed that everything everyone had done was much of a muchness and they’d be deciding on the basis of the made to measure.
They’d asked for a costume fit for a character in a horror movie. (My first thought was a clown.) There was a bit about the influence of the Universal monsters - so Mary Shelley probably wouldn't recognise Frankenstein's monster as we think of it/him!? Orla had gleefully conjured up a doll with backstory, Kit was doing a homage to scarecrows off Doctor Who, Yasmin was going for a Trinidadian siren, Gaynor for a Welsh siren – both infamous for killing their victims, but no surprises that Gaynor’s outfit wasn’t dirtied up with a bloodied handprint, although the design looked as though it would have impact, but then so did Caz’s cult priestess outfit.
She always looked as though she had a lot to do, but Yasmin’s confidence that she’d get it done was soon challenged, and she dropped the hat she’d planned. Gaynor had, as ever, done something well within her abilities, and Kit and Orla, both doing masks to begin with, were having fun.
Their costumes were extremely effective, Caz was nearly effective, but the judges got picky about details, and she had probably not done herself any favours with the choice of fabric and ambition. Yasmin’s was probably the most poorly sewn. Esme got picky with Gaynor over the chiffon, while Patrick pointed out that it wasn’t very scary. Unlike the judges, who couldn’t pick between Orla and Kit and gave a double GotW, I think I’d have given it to Orla, because she did more sewing work. Kit’s construction was pretty simple, and he showed that he could have worn the costume as well as his model, it was more about the distressing of the material afterwards.
Anyway, I think we all knew that it was past time for Gaynor to go, and although Yasmin’s made to measure had issues, she’d done better the previous day too, and I think they’re the right semi-finalists.
The transformation challenge was tents into something that could be worn at a festival, ideally using as many of the tent’s interesting details as possible. Jess had an idea, but so did everyone else, although some people needed to either embrace the see through or some up with something, as Yasmine did, to protect some modesty. Jess got slammed for not using enough tent details, Stuart’s fake pockets did not impress. Kit only managed third, although I thought his version of the puff ball skirt had impact. Caz’s gown had more impact (Esme took against it for being too grey.) But for once, Dan had found a challenge where going big for an outfit that made me giggle (chaps and knickers, with an outsize cape) totally worked and won. Everyone’s reaction suggested he’s really popular.
Made to measure was to honour the ‘make do and mend’ ethos, or, as Sarah pointed out, a transformation challenge, only with more planning, time and the fit element. Contestants were asked to transform some outfits – I think they nearly all had something personal to them, and then some had another outfit they’d got in a charity shop, so there were narratives. The idea was for the outfit to be worn at a family do, and having given a dog’s birthday party as an example, Sara really committed to it as her bit for telling them when the time was.
Nearly everyone was doing something interesting, Kit and Caz were kind of going head to head by both using old jeans, but he was making a dress, and steaming ahead, and she was making a trouser suit, but was taking longer than anyone just to sew the jeans together into a patchwork. Jess, under pressure, was using part of her mother’s lab suit and he sister’s dress, while Dan was using 13 family Christmas pyjamas and a stole that his now deceased mother had worn. Orla and Stuart were under pressure because they didn’t have enough material, and Gaynor had a panic about cutting her material (wasn’t that the zero waste challenge?)
As time ran out, people had to rush or make decisions about what to drop. Caz had brought it all together, Jess was wielding the scissors and Gaynor had changed her fastenings. They all looked good on the catwalk. I liked Kit’s dress, though the judges were happiest with Caz and Dan’s (and confirmed as much in a chat to Sara.) They were probably least happy with Gaynor’s finish, but had Jess done enough to overcome two last places? Dan had been really emotional about his made-to-measure, and his narrative possibly helped him beat Caz for GotW, but Jess had not quite done enough and talked quite honestly about going into day two under so much pressure.
Ep 6 – Children’s week.
They made a lot of the pattern challenge being an adaptive design, which sounds really interesting and eminently sensible, bringing in an extra judge for this round. The challenge was kids’ dungarees – I think my favourite pattern was Yasmin’s – inserting elastic into the strap and with popper fastenings at the bottom of the trousers. Dan made (too much of) a fuss about Orla getting his desired rainbow pattern first. Orla and Caz put the plackets on the wrong side, Orla decided to redo it. Caz was struggling a bit, but Kit had enough time to help her and someone else.
The dungarees were fairly evenly matched, although the judges had something to criticise about with all of them. Because Caz had done something wrong, she came last, then it was a matter of degree, and a bit of tension as to whether Kit or Yasmin’s error would be considered the worst. Kit won (again). I should note he’d dressed up as a Toy Story inspired cowboy for this episode.
The transformation challenge was very clever – maternity wear into a toddler’s play outfit. Some of them had very clear ideas, some of those were completely mad, while the others were very sane, and some (Stuart) were flapping about. Dan decided his toddler was going to play at being a popstar, in defiance of the stated requirements. Orla started off with tights, and Gaynor (used to sewing for kids as a granny) with yoga pants. Kit was doing something with a lot of ruffles. Caz was sewing on patches, but quite late on, realised the sleeves of her top were too tight for the dummy’s arms, so the arms had to go. Kit’s outfit had me in giggles every time we saw it, and he knew it was terrible.
Patrick liked Caz’s outfit, but the arms meant it had to go last. I liked what Yasmin had done a lot, and she came second again, while Orla came first, indignantly saying her patch was a giraffe not a llama, although, admittedly, it had a very long neck. The confab with the judges confirmed that consistently second Yasmin was probably safe, and consistently last Caz had to do something amazing, although, actually, they were all quite close standard-wise, and whoever had a poor final round might well be in trouble.
The made to measure round was children’s fancy dress outfits based on what the contestants had dreamed of being when they grew up. This led to a whole range of designs, from Kit’s Elton John outfit (which was something of a glammed up version of the pattern challenge) to Caz’s Zandra Rhodes design. Patrick said he knew Elton John and Esme said she knew Zandra Rhodes. We also had a beekeeper, an Arctic explorer, a snowdrop (Gaynor had danced as one as a child and had wanted to be a dancer) and a politician. Dan had wanted to be a circus ringmaster, and had probably the most ambitious outfit, or rather outfits. He couldn’t afford the time lost when he went wrong.
Caz had got her child model to doodle on bits of fabric, which would be incorporated into her design. I thought Orla’s outfit was incredibly cute. It soon emerged that Gaynor’s outfit was rather simple – the skirt would have some impact, but it wasn’t hard to do, and so had to be executed flawlessly. In contrast, Dan was rushing to finish, quality falling by the wayside. Stuart’s mittens turned out to be far too big.
The young models had fun on the catwalk, the judges had a good look and pointed out that Orla’s zip wasn’t quite right (though the hat and veil ‘had impact’), Caz’s hat wasn’t quite finished, Yasmin’s buttons didn’t match the hole, and Kit’s stars on the pocket (which the camera had kept cutting to) had been ironed on, not sewn, and one of them was starting to come off. It was very clear that Caz had had a triumph and was going to win Garment of the Week, while it was a question of whether Gaynor’s flawless but simple dance dress or Dan’s overly ambitious and badly sewn three piece combo would send them home. I thought it might be Gaynor, who keeps playing it safe, but maybe they considered the previous two rounds, where she’d placed higher, too. It was Dan, who was very emotional.
Ep 7 – Art week
Pattern challenge was a Greyson Perry-inspired babydoll dress, which featured lots of gathers, and had them doing a frill, collar, bodice, sleeves and, very late in the round, a skirt. Of the busy patterns, I preferred Caz and Stuart’s to Yasmin and Kit’s. General grumpiness at the slow progress and all the gathering. Gaynor’s collar didn’t sit right. More grumpiness at the gathering and generally (Kit aside?) people were just in a rush to finish. As would be a theme all episode, there was a top four and a battle for bottom, which Stuart won by putting the side seams at the front and back, Gaynor’s collar mishap put her just above, and what Yasmin had done with a contrast frill, not collar, was what she should have done. They tried to make a big drama out of whether Kit (they complemented him for his hem and pressing it) or Yasmin (they never mentioned her hem, but had fewer nitpicks) would win, but it was Yasmin, winning something for the first time.
Transformation challenge was paint-spattered overalls and the like into something asymmetric. The judges were optimistic about what they’d see. Lots of people were folding on the mannequins, Gaynor hated this challenge, she hated the ‘dirty’ material (I wouldn’t be surprised if the production team had just spattered paint on the clothes, but they’d probably washed them) and didn’t know what to do. She ended up doing a skirt, as did Orla, who seemed much chirpier about it. Stuart and Kit went for tops – Stuart’s evolved, Kit’s was for a man and he thought it might fit him (it didn’t), while Yasmin and Caz went for dresses. I thought Yasmin and Orla’s outfits had the most visual impact, but Kit came second for structure and Orla was first. Gaynor came last – she agreed that the bottom detail on her skirt was naff, and Stuart above her for a top that Patrick liked more than Esme did.
Made to measure was something inspired by pop art. The top four and Stuart went for something ambitious, Gaynor for something she was sure she could do. As soon as she showed the judges, I too thought that the cut-outs could have been bigger. Kit was working with interface-backed paper, Caz was doing a rendition of a 2-D dress, knew how much time she had to leave for the binding, but would end up spending too much on the quilting. Yasmin was doing a dress and a cape (I wondered if she could have made life easier for herself by just making a skirt) with a face on it. Getting the face right was a bit of a problem. Orla was doing oversized bell-bottoms and jacket for a man, with a print of graphic versions of her lips and the words ‘Zip It!’ appliqued on the back, while Stuart was doing something very structural, although he’d dropped the black lines that would have made the pop art reference clear.
Nobody had any disasters – they teased Kit saying the paper had ripped at the start of the programme, but it was in the seam allowance. Safe Gaynor aside, they were all sewing to the last second, and the judges could see the signs of rushing in several of their outfits. Nobody escaped criticism – and I agreed the rushed speech bubble bag that Kit had made was best ignored. Caz’s very important tabs showed even more sign of rushing, and there were minor imperfections with Orla and Yasmin’s outfits (although Orla’s made me smile).
They’d summed up the dilemma with the bottom two before this round – Stuart was more ambitious, but Gaynor’s sewing was better – and their made-to-measure outfits typified it. Because there was less reference to pop art in Stuart’s dress, he was sent home, but Gaynor is probably beyond borrowed time (it’s not like this show hasn’t been running for years, and that it’s been clear that it's also about design and pushing yourself, so she knew what she was signing up for.)
Ep 8 - Movie week and the quarter finals
The pattern challenge was a (version of?) Edith Head’s jacket for Tippi Hedren in The Birds, which turned out to be extremely tough, with the contestants urged to read the instructions, which confused most of them. Caz had forgotten she needed a different material for the lining, I think, and then found she’d cut the gussets out of the one of the pieces she’d already cut, so she was in tears before sewing. Then people weren’t happy with their pockets, Kit was deciding to add some topstitching where it wasn’t asked for, Sara kept telling them they had less time than they wanted, Gaynor got stuck, most of them weren’t sure whether they’d attached the lining properly…
Gaynor hadn’t finished, Caz had come on tremendously given her terrible start, Yasmin and Orla had got their top and bottom collars mixed up. Kit hadn’t, but his topstitching would have caused problems when wearing the jacket, but as he had enough time to advise several people during this challenge, he always deserved first place.
The transformation challenge was movie theatre curtains into something fit for an afterparty. So, they had loads of material, with some interesting details, including the ties, although they were all in the same colour - red. Caz started off well, then cut off too much of her skirt and had to do a rescue job. Orla had been draping and pinning away on an asymmetric dress, and then realised that it was too heavy to sew, burst into tears and asked to start again with a completely new curtain and fifteen minutes to go. At first it looked as if what she was doing was very risqué, but she added a bit more length, but it was obviously a rush job. There were nice details to all the others, although Esme had a hate on Gaynor’s dress, which was better than her usual transformation challenges, but Yasmin’s was clearly the best (so much so that I thought she might have been up for GotW with it if everyone had problems with the made to measure.)
Two contestants in tears at the end of day one! Yasmin’s transformation aside, the judges claimed that everything everyone had done was much of a muchness and they’d be deciding on the basis of the made to measure.
They’d asked for a costume fit for a character in a horror movie. (My first thought was a clown.) There was a bit about the influence of the Universal monsters - so Mary Shelley probably wouldn't recognise Frankenstein's monster as we think of it/him!? Orla had gleefully conjured up a doll with backstory, Kit was doing a homage to scarecrows off Doctor Who, Yasmin was going for a Trinidadian siren, Gaynor for a Welsh siren – both infamous for killing their victims, but no surprises that Gaynor’s outfit wasn’t dirtied up with a bloodied handprint, although the design looked as though it would have impact, but then so did Caz’s cult priestess outfit.
She always looked as though she had a lot to do, but Yasmin’s confidence that she’d get it done was soon challenged, and she dropped the hat she’d planned. Gaynor had, as ever, done something well within her abilities, and Kit and Orla, both doing masks to begin with, were having fun.
Their costumes were extremely effective, Caz was nearly effective, but the judges got picky about details, and she had probably not done herself any favours with the choice of fabric and ambition. Yasmin’s was probably the most poorly sewn. Esme got picky with Gaynor over the chiffon, while Patrick pointed out that it wasn’t very scary. Unlike the judges, who couldn’t pick between Orla and Kit and gave a double GotW, I think I’d have given it to Orla, because she did more sewing work. Kit’s construction was pretty simple, and he showed that he could have worn the costume as well as his model, it was more about the distressing of the material afterwards.
Anyway, I think we all knew that it was past time for Gaynor to go, and although Yasmin’s made to measure had issues, she’d done better the previous day too, and I think they’re the right semi-finalists.
