Sewing Bee

[Cocolapew]

New thread for this weeks 🙂

Right person went and right person won the two rounds that matter. Asmaa for the trophy.

Sara's dress for the final looks very nice from the glimpse we got.

Yes @MoirasSaggyBundles It seems like it has shifted from the winner being described as “Britains best home sewer (baker)” to “winner of the sewing bee (bake off)”. I think it’s a subtle move which means the priority isn’t necessarily looking at the best sewer (baker) but who has come out on top in the various rounds/who has the best “journey”.

The trend to entertainment as the overriding principle is one across all TV programmes - even “who do you think you are” is very light on actual genealogy these days, eg how and where did the researchers find some of the information revealed about the ancestors.

Totally agree about the transformations. I rewatched the first series a while back, and the first transformation challenge was "add pockets to this skirt". Another one that series was "change the neckline on this top".
It would be nice to see some more of that - everyone starting with the same RTW garment, and making something of it. It's become more about 'make garments from random stuff'. But even though it is a bit ridiculous, it does mean they have to think creatively and use a different set of skills. The fact that the end result is unwearable doesn't really matter (no-one would wear the vast majority of what goes down a catwalk at the big fashion weeks either).

This.
But they are also blo*dy good sewers.
Asmaa is constantly being told by Patrick how well she sews, how neat her work is.

moira

I couldn’t agree more.

Waiting for them to wheel out some Nans - transforming some tea towels and a pinny into a nana of the bride outfit.

I love programmes like these but they go full bake off/x factor thinking it is what the viewers want.

It isn’t.

Perhaps we should all contact them to beg they don't go down the stupid route. Being able to sew these garments in the limited time is truly amazing to me and not something I could do (I could probably make the garments with a pattern but would need time and plenty of it). I'd like to see transformations that I think I might manage. I recently made a tunic top for myself - the first clothing I have made for me since school in the 1980s. I made it using a hideous old duvet cover before risking my nice fabric to check for fit etc. Facebook is now full of people buying duvet covers from charity shops or ikea and using the fabric to make actual clothes (some of them are very obviously duvet covers) so there is obviously a desire to reuse in a more realistic way......

Again
I love programmes like these but they go full bake off/x factor thinking it is what the viewers want.

It isn’t.

Absolutely. I read endless amounts of posts on social media all saying the same thing, but whenever the producers have their brain storming meetings, no one ever has the radical idea of going back to basics. I suppose there is a place for whacky and fun, but if they could incorporate that into a fancy dress costume challenge and leave it there, that'd be grand. People watch because they have interests in sewing, pottery, baking or singers, not for drama and back stories.
There was enough drama for me even contemplating a trench coat in five hours.

It's fortunate for her patients that Asmaa's so neat, but she's also creative and careful with it. Her GOTW awards are well deserved. It's got to be her title to lose surely?

I liked Mia's choice of fabric for a younger boiler suit and also Tony's actually, especially the orange yoke at the back, orange top stitching and the mesh pockets. I liked his leg length, just wasn't keen on the two big orange pockets from the waist, they were too dominant for my liking and shorten the model's body.

Pleased with the final three.

I'm watching it now.

A trenchcoat in 5 hours?

bloody hell.

At least they didn't want it lined, so thanks for that!

I think all these programmes have a life expectancy. Bake off needs to be put out of its misery and I think this is probably the last round for sewing bee.

Masterchef has had its day too. Australian MC is slightly better but only because they have a constantly refreshing immigrant population.

I'm still enjoying this show - its one of my favourites with pottery throw down in this genre. I dislike the jokey bits but the craft on show is fabulous. I'm particularly impressed with how well they adapt and cut patterns to fit the models - that quite a skill.

In the early episodes I thought Lizzie had a reasonable chance of winning but since she hit the buffers with time management its been Asmaa all the way. I like all the finalists but she's clearly got the winning portfolio across the show. I liked the challenges this week - I love boiler suits so it was good to see their creativity on that. I had the impression the sewers choose the size and shape of their models - Asmaa's to match her daughter and Vicki to match her own? Makes sense if they want to keep the garments for them to be worn.

I don't think Sewing Bee is anywhere near its expiry date. It's got issues, the transformation challenge being the biggest one, but even with those issues I'm still enjoying it more than most things on television. I hope it lasts for many more years.

Another person who absolutely loves the show and hopes they go on for a good while yet.

I agree that the transformation challenge is drastically different from early series, but I don't mind a bit of silliness. The pattern and made to measure challenges are quite serious and practical so I think something very different breaks things up a bit - and whatever the challenge is, it's hard to do anything in 90 minutes, so something off the wall and unconventional is a good option.

I do keep getting distracted by thinking that Asamma must be an absolutely wonderful surgeon!

Same about Asmaa. I will hopefully be having surgery in the near future. It's not the sort of surgery she would be doing but I have thought about how lovely it would be if she was my surgeon. I'd waffle on about how wonderful she is on the sewing while they were preparing me for my anesthetic.

it's non-lined so who would wear it?

Who would wear anything they‘ve made, with a few exceptions?

Asmaa’s blouse, her blue dress, another contestant, im afraid I don’t remember who made a decent skirt and that was that.

i think the being allowed to choose your model size gives you the chance, as Asmaa said this week, for your daughter to wear it, or for you or someone else you know to wear it. (they buy the fabric, don't they?)

Plus if you get one the size you're used to sewing for, it's an advantage in terms of time.

They used to make finished garments that could be worn. The trench? not so much, you'd have to take it apart to line it for starters. but the boiler suits were great. I would totally wear Tony's (my DD would wear Asmaa's - but i wouldn't wear a boiler suit to a gig, no matter how cool)

If i went on the show? I'd make sure i had a hot glue gun in my sewing box for the transformation challenge.

It’s not just the fitting, it was the general quality of finishing.

Whatever size your model the zippers should be fitted in nicely, the edges should line up, the seams should be flat. Your model being size 8 or 18 should not change that.

Asmaa’s boiler suit looked lovely from the front, but had a bad fit in the back. The flowery one fit better.

A few years ago a trainee face surgeon - woman - put 6/8 tiny stitches in my face, after a cut. Impressive. No, not Asmaa, but if she wasn't a sewer of fabric in her free time, she could have been. I had expected a couple of butterfly plasters to hold the cut together but got packed off to hospital.

I thought that, who would want the top half of your outfit dangling down into god knows what when you went for a wee!

Transforming a fabulous boiler suit into a two piece (for the bladder challenged) without losing the aesthetic appeal would be a good transformation challenge.

I'd like to see them do a disabilities week - maybe do a wheelchair-adapted pattern challenge and then for the made to measure everyone would have a model with their own specific requirements. Not sure what they'd do for the transformation challenge though.

Fraught with risks in presenting it well, but could be really interesting and informative, and ties in with a lot of practical work that real-world sewers do to adapt clothes and patterns.

Maybe for the transformation challenge you could adapt a button-heavy blouse for someone who doesn't have use of their hands. Like the suggestion of splitting a boiler suit, it would be a slightly different transformation challenge which focuses on doing a pre-defined but unplanned transformation immaculately rather than bonkers blue-sky thinking, (which I also love):

One of my trench coats is unlined and I love it - its summer weight.