Sewing Bee back tonight

[Dottiethekangaroo]

I have just seen this in the newspaper. I am so excited, brand new host too.

It's a shame they don't have a "technical" team to help with machine based issues like the buttonhole one. Especially if the sewers are unfamiliar with the machines used on the show. I've only ever done a couple of buttonholes on my machine. It has the guide thing for automatic button holes that I think Janet was using. The first time, I didn't realise I had to pull down the little black thing so the machine knew when to stop sewing - I wonder whether Janet's issues were based around that or she hadn't put the right button in the size thing at the back of the magic button hole foot

I think Janet irritated Esme because she wouldn't do what she was asked to do. That always irritates her! I imagine she is used to students who have to do as they are told when following a brief. I don't think Esme was more irritated with her than with anyone else though. She often appears irritated with everyone. She is quite blunt!

I agree that the helper person should be a technical person to help them with the machines not a comedian. They shouldn't give them tips but should just explain how to work their machine so people used to older manual machines aren't disadvantaged.
I can't remember how Janet got on with the buttonholes in the skirt last week.

Not doing as you are told is always a bad thing in this programme. Janet substituting random material for the tablecloths she was told to use was just silly and being awkward for the sake of it.

@SoupDragon I think Janet's buttonhole issue was because the placement wasn't on a flat piece of fabric. The foot had to cope with seams and edges, and that can make them tempramental. But (if the editing is to be believed) she had time to resolve that, by repositioning it slightly, or adding a loop of ribbon instead of a buttonhole. I'm pretty sure the pull-down thingy (no idea what it's called) was down, so I don't think that's the issue. Even if it was, the machine soon tells you about it - it sews up the first edge of the buttonhole and then realises something is up and gives you a long bleep noise (I have the same machine, which is pretty good at buttonholes).

The Foldline blogpost with links to the patterns is up thefoldline.com/2024/06/05/great-british-sewing-bee-2024-sewing-patterns-s10-ep3/

Interesting to see the pattern for Lauren's white chiffon trousers. I'd have disliked them a lot less in different fabric.

Yes, they're not top of the line machines, by any stretch but they're capable little workhorse machines and better than many of them appear to use at home. In previous years, contestants have done some beautiful work with them, including perfectly acceptable buttonholes.

With that binding in place, the buttonhole foot will have struggled to stay level as the fabric moved. As well as alternatives, she could have placed a piece of scrap fabric at the edge to keep it level and she could even have made use of the extension table that comes as standard with those machines to steady it all a bit more. She had nothing up her sleeve, though, and kept on doing the same thing over and over.

@2Rebecca Agreed. She just seemed to think she could get away with it and it just doesn't work like that. Same with her Riviera oufit, nowhere could that be described as chic (DH wondered aloud if she'd got the French Riviera mixed up with Benidorm). After her struggles with buttonholes I think I would have sewn a couple of press studs on to close and then put the button on.

Her little innuendos were tiresome - I'm glad she's gone I have to say.

I think Don and Marcus are the next vulnerable ones.

They do and they do the real judging, as well, so Esme will know where to stick a finger and be "surprised" by some unattached elastic and Patrick will know that tucking a shirt in will reveal a saggy, badly pressed waistband and too short crotch.

The buttonhole was a user based issue, though.

GOTW was a great choice I thought.

Janet was entertaining but the right decision. At least we won’t have to see any more home-drawn sex pictures 😂

and they do the real judging, as well

Wait, WHAT??!

Just read the Fold Line blog. I'm not convinced the Pine Cove pjs are a good match for Janet's design. I have that pattern and don't think it looks like it except for a wrapover top. It looks more like Nina Lee's Picadilly pjs which I've also made. Janet just made the top more wrapover , extended the piping and kept the edges square rather than scalloped. A button and buttonhole must have been her own modification and I think it was a poor choice for where she placed it. A popper would have been better that near the edge.
If the Fold Line pattern is the one Ailsa used she modified it really well adding the back pockets and having pleats and darts rather than gathers

Interested in the buttonhole experts. It sounds as if Janet was saying 'machine won't do it' without realising she was making a mistake by asking it to do the impossible

@2Rebecca I've just had a look at last nights sewing bee again and noticed Alisa was using a traced or self drafted pattern, so it could be that it was very loosely based on the foldline's suggestion.

I agree about the Pine Cove PJs. It's very square - Janet's had much rounder edges

Vogue V1910 looks more like Ailsa's trousers

They don't have the back pleats of 1772 but do have welt pockets.

There are a few video tutorials for going all out wide and pleated using slash and spread, so there is a chance that she could have added some of the volume, herself, to get the effect she wanted.

Maybe I'm confused about what Riviera wear looks like but I was thinking classy, stylish, chic.....some of these offerings are not that! It's a shame when so many misinterpret the brief or run out of time, I want them to do their best. Ailsa has certainly bloomed.

Anyway, Janet you were amusing but a bit too saucy seaside postcard for GBSB.

I was thinking either 1930s beach pyjamas or 1950s summer glam.

Either early Coco Chanel sportswear or 1950s Brigitte Bardot.

I think the comments of 'it's nice but it's not French Riviera ' were all spot on.

Looks like there’s a Burda pattern that’s rather like Ailsa’s very wide pleated trousers - this sewer blogged about them (she made the shorter culotte version). This is what made me think of Japanese Hakama trousers.

Glad Janet has gone. Her jazzy dinner lady tabard would look amazing on the Côte d'Azur.

Ailsa's trousers were spectacular. She struggled badly the first couple of weeks so it's great to see her nailing it finally.

Janet... well. That thing that she made in the made to measure was just appalling, so badly judged and not Riviera in the slightest. The others all got the theme, and if you're not sure what Riviera glamour is, wouldn't you ASK a friend or relative, or google it?? Following instructions also seemed to be a massive issue for her, glad she's gone as I hated her.

It's a shame they don't have a "technical" team to help with machine based issues like the buttonhole one.

I think there must be a technical person behind the scenes. or a team of them. Threading up an overlocker is tricky and time-consuming. I'd wager that once they have chosen their fabric for a pattern challenge, and thread, someone is threading machines for them, unless like for last night all the fabric was cream/white.

They would also argue that it is a competition and things happen. If you're sewing at home you wouldn't have a technical team on hand either.

If you're sewing at home you are using familiar machines though.

True.

As for French riviera glam - I would say Pascha's trousers and a Breton top, or a full circle skirt with a wide belt (bit simple to sew though), maybe a silk shirt dress. Very french, very chic. Don's was a good idea - simple top, nice trousers. Others like Georgie's I liked, but not riviera.