Great British Sewing Bee the last leg thread (that's 3 for those that follow)

[dillite]

I thought I might as well start it. As then I won't have to go searching for the new thread.

Claire to win, for me.

I thought Nicole's transformation would make it look like your boobs had dropped to your waist. Only me?

No, not only you 😂

I thought it was awful.

A hospital consultant, sci-fi geek, 1940s groupie, who can sew and also dance the Charleston! That's a considerable list of achievements. Clare to win for me too! (Although I agree her final show stopper will have to have some pizzazz about it!)

Perhaps she favours muted shades because she sews what she would like to wear herself. I had an Aunt who was a fabulous seamstress, who could tailor too. She made wonderful suits for herself but anything she made for anyone else, however hard she tried, was a total disaster.

No swivel in her Charleston though. 😂

Glow-Up is no substitute with that silly woman judge shouting 'DING DONG!!' all the time....

I agree that Glow Up is second best, but it's better than nothing - and also agree that Ding-Ding is going to end up with my foot through the telly one of these days - but I love the sheer inventiveness and artistry of some of the challenges.

Also interesting that Claire hasn't done flamboyant well

I noticed that, too. And I think that she knows it, and the tension gets to her and makes her perform less well than she could.

I think Claire has been most consistent although I think Nicole is coming into her own. I like the fact she rarely does safe options!

Has anyone seen "Next In Fashion" on Netflix? It's a whole other level to Sewing Bee i'm afraid. I LOVED it and can't wait for another series. And any Project Catwalk/ Project Runway fans here?
Considering how many of these programmes I watch, you might expect that I would have made an item of clothing in my life....aside from a mask in the last month or two.

@vicarlady

I seem to remember that many years ago - and I'm nearly 70 so I mean 50 years ago - it was possible to send fabric away to have permanent pleats put in. Does that strike a chord with anyone else?

As someone who makes for a dance related sport, yes it is still possible to get fabric permanently pleated. DSI-London the same company that makes the Strictly costumes offers this service. However it is not done in house. They send the fabric (purchased from DSI) away to a third party to be pleated.

Yes I enjoyed Next In Fashion. It has been cancelled, sadly.

Also Blown Away about glass blowing which someone mentioned. Waaaaay more interesting than you would think. Much better than Forged With Fire on Sky, which is about blade making. That's a bit boring for me, though people love it. Turns out blacksmiths don't have much personality, who knew!!

Noooo!!! That's devastating

Matt should have gone. His Marilyn dress was the best but his transformation challange didn't use any of the junk, and it looked a a damaged window display from Anne Summers. And his fitted dress was poor. Bloody annoyed, I loved the cobweb dress. It should have been garment of the week.

I still don't understand the hems on those dresses. I understand that they dropped but I can't quite get my brain to work out why they didn't just get longer all over.

SoupDragon

To get technical, it's to do with the grain and cross grain of fabric. If you have a piece of non stretch fabric, there will be zero give if you pull it straight down on the grain, but if pull it diagonally on the crossgrain it has some give in it. It's why bias binding is cut at a 45 degree angle.

With a circle skirt the whole thing will have different amounts of stretch in it depending on whether its on grain or cross grain at that point because its 360 degrees of fabric. So you are supposed to let it sit and find its level before you hem. Hence it being a daft task for the time limit.

I think it was the right decision.

I'm still sad to see Liz go though.

I tend to "score" it numerically. So Liz got 9 (4/4/1) and Matt got 7 (1/3/3).

After coming last twice there was no way she could do enough to stay in contention.

I think Liz has been more consistent over the series than Matt, but at the same time he's pulled off some great garments where Liz's have been good but not stand out.

I think Clare is technically the best wrt her skills and it's hers to win if she can hold her nerve and get her timing right but both Matt and Nicole have more flair and are capable of pulling it out of the bag (if Nicole doesn't bugger up on fabric choices and Matt pays attention to detail and finishing).

it looked like a damaged window display from Anne Summers shouldn't laugh because I would be useless sewing under time pressure but

Soupdragon well if Clare does win Sewing Bee she might qualify as a "celeb" which means she could be recruited for Strictly. Why not? (I never recognise half the people on that show anyway.) She'd be a lot more interesting than some previous contestants and she could help with sewing on sequins as well ...

I too think that Matt is going to do a "fabulous" drag dress and win. I hope I'm wrong. There were too many times where he should have gone home and didn't.

I would like Clare to win; she is technically the best sewer by far, in my opinion, and it's meant to be a sewing competition, not a fashion design competition.

With a circle skirt the whole thing will have different amounts of stretch in it depending on whether its on grain or cross grain at that point because its 360 degrees of fabric.

I do get the grain and stretch but how does that work with the pleated fabric? Was it pleated in a circle? I think I need to watch it again 😂

Has anyone seen "Next In Fashion" on Netflix?

Yes - I thought it was brilliant! Haven't seen the other one though.

Why was Next in Fashion cancelled Elspeth - I thought it was engrossing.

I've watched tow episodes of Forged in Fire (to give it a chance) but couldn't get away with it. I suspect it might be a Man Thing, making stuff to chop heads off with.

I'm going to look into "Blown Away" though.

Soupdragon, I think there's a site which was referenced which has patterns from GBSB- if we are lucky, they might have the Marilyn dress up.

It should have been garment of the week

I agree - but I don't think they could give Liz garment of the week and then throw her off the cliff.

Politics - it's all politics.

I want Clare to win, and failing her, Nicole.

But I bet it's Matt . . .

I do get the grain and stretch but how does that work with the pleated fabric? Was it pleated in a circle? I think I need to watch it again 😂

So the fabric is not pleated in a circle it's pleated "straight".

So the problem is when you cut the pattern pieces as portions of a circle and attach the fabric to the bodice with the pleats falling vertically it's inevitable that the grain of the fabric will be different over the pattern piece.

If you were cutting a rectangle it wouldn't be an issue as the attachment ensuring the pleats fell vertically would always be on the same grain.

That's why you need to let it drop and self level before doing the hem to let the fabric naturally adjust and then you can compensate for it.

Nobody knows why but theories abound that it was just a bit too expensive. Also Netflix is terrible for cancelling things after one season. Notorious. They just churn 'em out.

Blown Away is on Netflix also.

@Bouledeneige

Binglebong given your name I thought you might quite like DING DONG. If you wen on it and excelled she could say 'DING DONG BINGLEBONG!"

Really really really sad to see Liz go. I loved her flapper dress & thought she deserved to stay. I've loved her style throughout & think she should have had garment of the week more than once