Sewing Bee

[Cocolapew]

New thread for this weeks 🙂

Sorry to see Lauren go - she has the most lovely smile. Timing seemed to be her enemy tonight with the first and third tasks; I really liked her transparent transformation.

Oh Lauren! I was crying too. She's so lovely and I was so sad for her.

Yes, Vicky's jacket was way too short. She got lucky this week.

Aww. So sorry to see Lauren go - but it was the right call I thought.

I can absolutely see Harry Styles in Vicky's jacket - just the right look for him. With added pockets.

I do think this is hard if you don't have a male in your life as I would have no idea on length or the rule of thumb.

While I wouldn't have known the rule of thumb, I'd have realised that smoking jackets are generally on the longer side and I'm sure a pattern would have made it clear. I also might have looked around the other sewers and realised that maybe I was getting the length very wrong. I'd forgive her error if what she'd created was a jacket that was a standard size but it wasn't even that. The model looked like he was wearing a jacket that had shrunk in the wash. Great fabric, looked lovely but very wrong and lacking in pockets. If Lauren hadn't had such a mare Vicky would have gone. I was surprised that Vicky thought that she'd done a good job when talking about it afterwards. Tony, at least, had the good grace to look as though he felt he'd dodged a bullet and was clearly sad that Lauren had gone. Vicky was in Vicky world where it doesn't matter how much she messed up it's fine because she thinks she's done a good job.

Sorry, that sounds nastier than I intended. I have nothing against Vicky and sometimes I warm to her because she's quite funny but she annoyed me tonight. by half arsing the job and then thinking that half arsing it was just fine.

I really want a smoking jacket now. I'd wear it with silk palazzo pants and swan about the house like the Queen of Sheba.

Vicky knew it was too small right from the first fitting and did nothing about it other than to tell the model not to rip it - that’s hardly the answer in a made to measure challenge . I think this series has been a bit rubbish with all the ridiculous challenges .

Just watching the smoking jackets bit now and Lauren's is really not good. So Vicky got away with her far too short one. I'll be v surprised if Asma doesn't win the whole thing, she's consistently good and v keen eye for details.

Pretty certain it's COS.

I don't think many men possess or wear a smoking jacket! My husband for one would be utterly clueless about standard sleeve length. The internet, on the other hand, must be full of this kind of information. I thought Vicky was very lucky that Lauren had such a bad week. Very sad to see her go. She seemed absolutely lovely and I love the way she dresses - so elegant in a simple, pared back way, beautifully put together.

Sorry I wasn't clear - I think the rules apply to men's jackets generally, certainly the sleeve length one.

I’ve been married 20 years and can count on one hand the times I’ve seen DH in any kind of jacket. I’d know it should have been longer but not the whole rule of thumb thing.

Smoking jackets make me think of Thunderbirds. There were a lot of smoking jackets worn by the original show Thunderbird puppets.
I loved the pattern challenge. The shower curtain challenge I didn't mind as having read Esme's book they did do a coats from shower curtains thing. I think Aasma's was the best and suspect Esme didn't put it top because it wasn't the sort of thing she'd have done. I think she has quite fixed ideas

Fair enough, I imagined it would be easier but guess I was wrong.

I think Esme's ideas are a bit too fixed. She sometimes overlooks good design for personal taste and I don't think she should.

I agree @Binglebong - Patrick has mentioned a dislike of purple and scalloped edges often enough in the past that I remembered before he mentioned it yesterday, but he looked past it and judged Asmaa and Mia's without taking his personal preference into account.

Esme has clearly marked people down in the past purely based on the size of a bow, and seemed to prefer Matthew this series because of his style rather than sewing ability.

I liked May Martin as a judge because she was always most interested in the sewing quality

It feels that , while Esme obviously cares about the sewers , she's not enjoying doing the show anymore.

After watching yesterday I've come to the conclusion that the reason I'm not enjoying this series is because it's not what it was in many ways. They're not given enough time to make something to a wearable standard , which is really wasteful , as some fabrics cant be hanndled too much and unpicked. The themes are not as interesting as they were - I feel like it's okay to repeat things from previous series. And I miss the music they played during the first few seasons.

I'm not really watching it at all. And haven't watched on catch up like I usually would. I'm
Bored if the whole format of all of these programmes now.

Asmaa is definitely the best technically and she's very steady as well. I can't see her having a wobble and she'll win.

Those smoking jackets were a bit of a disaster though! There really isn't much that's fit to be worn in this series.

Love, love Sara's blouse. It would be perfect for me with my Nosferatu hands.

I was surprised that Asmaa's jacket won garment of the week because I'd have gone for her frock from the pattern challenge. While her smoking jacket was the best of the smoking jackets none of them, including hers, looked particularly great. The models were all fine figured, the sort of men who could make most things look good and even they weren't able to make those jackets look good.

she was making me really really cross. Super cross. It is actually quicker to make a lining than bind all your seams, for starters.

But bloody hell - she was just so disorganised, it was as though she really didn't like the challenge and decided to half-arse it. I got no sense that she was trying in any way to make a garment that could be worn by anyone.

Out of all the garments only 2 came remotely in question for GOTW. Asmaa's dress (with bouncy seams - i wish they would all just bloody press properly. It takes seconds, and they obviously do press some of their seams) and the smoking jacket. It was the only one that looked even half professional. (agree with Patrick about the shawl collar being too small at the bottom)

When i think of contestants who have not won, over the years, and i see that 2 people are going to be in this week's final who would have gone out in week 7 any other year, i wonder if this is going to be my last Bee?

at least - at last - most of them seem to have remembered what a bloody walking foot is and used one.

but they know from the outset what each week's made to measure will be, that's how they manage to know what, say, 90s week should roughly be about.

So you'd look at 47 pictures of smoking jackets and know they come to mid thigh, have pockets, often have a shawl collar etc etc.

(i disagree with Esme that welt pockets are typical. For the kind of smoking jacket they showed Daniel Craig in, maybe welt pockets with a pocket flap. But in the Noel Coward style ones? Asmaa's were correct, folded over patch pockets with the lining the same as the shawl collar lining)

(sorry, reading and posting as i think of things)

None of the Pattern Challenge dresses sat properly on the mannequin's back - the curve of the "strap" piece (which looked lovely in the pattern, and I'd deffo try one if i could go bra-less or could get a racerback bra for my melons) didn't lie flat on any of them, even Asmaa's.

Also the example one had a puckered side seam which pulled up the hem a bit at the bottom. Not quite as "bouncy" as Asmaa's - but Patrick at least would have pulled that up if a contestant had submitted it.

I thought all the pattern challenge dresses looked just marginally too small for the mannequins, which was a shame. I know it was the quarter final, but it did feel that this pattern challenge was a beast.

My favourite smoking jacket was the tropical one (Vicky's) - just a shame it was made for a bloke six sizes smaller. 😆

No one seem to press properly. I suppose they never have time for this, but the way I know is that you first press the closed seam, to fix it, and then press open. No bouncy seams, ever.