Sewing Bee 2024 thread 2 - 5 down, 7 to go!

[SoupDragon]

The other thread was getting too slow (and we were running out of space faster than the thread on a bobbin)

What on earth! Want a crap decision!
Ailsa’s reaction though! She wasn’t expecting Alex to go!

What in earth is Suzy wearing in next week's trailer? It looks like a drawstring bag.

Whilst Alex might be the better sewer, her MTM was the worst by some way and she was middling on the others.

That's the way it goes in knockout competitions.

Almost. About 2 minutes after Pasha paraphrases this not being her thing. I expected it to come from Ailsa, who was loving it.

They all had a good giggle, this week, which was nice to watch.

Based purely on this week, I do actually think Alex was the right choice to go. She threw it away with her Made to Measure really. If she'd chosen a more bling fabric I think she might have sneaked through, despite not finishing.

Agree. Her inspiration was totally male diva, I was expecting her to do something like a Nudie Suit but the end result didn't meet the brief.

I was thinking about which diva I would pick, probably an opera singer, and remembered going on a backstage tour. Costume department made it clear the costumes didn't have to look good close up, they needed to look good on stage.

I've made stage costumes a number of times as the finish doesn't need to be so great so they are a lot more fun. Problem is that they don't translate so well to the Sewing Bee as they will expect them to be well made and pick them apart if they aren't - a safety pin to hold something together really isn't an issue on stage.

Late to this as I watched the football , not sure why they bother with the first 2 challenges as they have very little input on the final result . The way it’s going Suzy will win the whole thing and that would be a travesty .

The whole Luke pronoun bollox is really messing with my grammar-dar 🤯🤯🙄 I
It was a tough call for GOTW this week 🤩 they were all brilliant 🤩

Right choice for GOTW, sorry to see Alex go as Suzies was equally badly sewn but her M2M just didn’t fit the brief. She said it herself - her idea of a stage was at a different scale to the judges, who were obviously thinking O2! I mean, der, we are talking Divas, who don’t tend to play the local Memorial Hall.

my biggest frustration was seeing the pigs ears they were making of putting in the zips on the fringed dresses. Why oh why do they do that stupid open seam way of putting in zips? It’s really really hard to get it lined up properly, it’s actually faster and easier to do it on a tacked seam, with a much better success rate.

The zips would have been fine if they'd kept the fringe out of the way, like some of them did.

I have seen the tacked method for an invisible zip, but it's not faster (by virtue of the fact that there are extra stages), so I can totally see why they did it how they did. Invisible zips are easy to put in quite quickly once you know what you're doing, and if you're on the Sewing Bee, making sure you know how to put in invisible zips would surely be something you'd make sure you could do. It's the one zip type that will definitely be used at some point.

Luke's m2m was fantastic. Looked well sewn and was totally lady gaga. Alex was the right choice to go , she unfortunately had such a bad week. Great sewing skills from her though.

At this stage I'm thinking that Ailsa will win. After some ups and downs she's becoming more consistent.

Alex was the right one to go although I wanted Suzy to go. Why on earth Alex chose a male country singer that most people have never heard of as her "diva" and then made a pretty tame outfit goodness knows.

The way Patrick and Esme fawn over Suzy I can see her winning and I will be kicking the tv screen in if she does!

I have seen the tacked method for an invisible zip, but it's not faster (by virtue of the fact that there are extra stages

ah, is faster for me because I do it once and am usually happy with it, I’ve never done it the other way without having to redo it, which takes longer overall. I also think it has advantages in a situation where lining up the pattern(fringing) is key. It’s a trade off isn’t it, speed v quality. Sometimes the short cut pays off, sometimes it doesn’t. I’m not good enough for short cuts to work for me and I hate spending time undoing and re-doing.

As for practicing zips (and other techniques), some do, some don’t. I think it reflects the nature of the sewers. Either methodical and prepared (the technical sewers, we don’t have many this year) or inspiration based who are more likely to wing it and think on the fly to cover up fix any problems.

I still think Pascha for the win.

Now Alex has gone, I think it has to be Pasha for the win.

It was lovely to see how much Luke enjoyed this week. Up until last night I would have been happy with him going, and now I want to see what else he can do.

@ThreeWordHarpy - I don't think the way they all put it in is a shortcut way - that's the 'normal' way of doing it (I've seen it taught that way in workshops, and it's how all the pattern instructions usually say to do it).
You can still carefully line it up doing it that way - just put in one side, then mark key points (waistline/fringe lines etc) and then put in the other side. Unpicking shouldn't be needed!

Of course the tacked way might be quicker if you don't need to unpick, but I can see why they wouldn't go for that method when doing it against the clock.

@TheTripThatWasnt I’ll take your word for it that’s how it’s usually taught - my teacher obviously has differing ideas, and it seems such a foolproof way of doing it (that even a duffer like me can get right first time) so I’m surprised it’s not more common.

Yes indeed! There will be a flurry of insurance claims for broken TVs.

I can do it your way for a normal zip but all the instructions for concealed zips (which weren't invented when I did Textiles at school) tell you to do it the way they did.

Disappointed to see Alex go and Suzy stay. I like Suzy but she isn't very good by comparison.

Really enjoyed this episode, though very sad to see Alex go because her sewing skills are far superior. If she really wanted to do a men's cowboy outfit, she should have done it more blingy and made fewer garments so they could have been perfect.

Luke's design was fab but it was a poor fit on the boobs and the back, but Patrick and Esme never point out his errors. Suzy's design was great too but she doesn't have the sewing skills to match. I think a new programme is needed about fashion / outfit design so they can compete in a different competition to the sewing bee, it's different skills.

Pasha for the win still for me.

I assume Luke didn't make the Gaga hat did he?

I have 2 fringed dresses (one bought to go to Berlin for new year's eve party with a 20s theme - NYE 2019 - with gambling tables, telephones on our tables and a very risqué stage act. And a band and a lot of charlstoning was done in my fringed dress. I have another from the NYE before when we went to a 20s themed party in Düsseldorf (Berlin was better). IME Washi tape is the way to go putting a zip in a fringed dress - it's not super sticky so you can take it off easily, but it keeps the fringes out of your way when sewing.

Invisible zips are something i have never tried but i really must. they are so much better on many things. I would expect Bee contestants to be able to do that with their eyes closed.

The loungewear thing swas stupid. Didn't rate any of them. Loved all the M2M but Alex should have gone for a Vegas Elvis look if she was doing a man. Loved Suzy's concept, I'd totes wear that. It was a bit of a home-tie for Luke, and i think GOTW was deserved there. Pascha's was great, but not enough wow for me.

Judged on this week, the correct sewist left.

Re the tacking, I think we have discussed it in previous years, but I was taught to tack everything. I still tack awkward pieces likr collars & sleeves - and zips. It's so much easier to tweak and a lot easier to unpick than a machine stitched seam.