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)

Esme's hairstyle is exactly the same 😅

Childhood photos - I think my Mum would only take photos of us at religious stuff, dunno how I'd do knocking up a first communion dress ,,,

I like Marcus, he seems so unassuming.

I'm getting so irritated by the poor quality sewing and inability to finish a task this series.

I say this as someone who can't sew.

@NashvilleQueen me too. Though I knew when they were asked to sew a lined jacket in a tricky fabric they were going to have a mixture of nice but unfinished and finished but crappy garments. 3 hrs is only enough for that task if you've done it before.

The Suzy thing is frustrating me too. She's great , her ideas and willingness to learn make her a fab sewist/sewer. She lacks the experience of the others though and doesn't push herself as much as others that have been sent home.

I'm not sure Suzie is all that willing to learn, though. She should have checked her fabric and, even if it's not see through, there will be lots of seams so she could have underlined it to quickly mitigate both of those issues. Her patchwork could have had much smaller pieces if she had strip pieced them - not even a obscure technique but one of the most touted beginner/ quick and easy techniques on the Internet.

I think Suzy is an "intuitive" sewer rather than taught. I think she's used to leaping in and then solving problems as she goes. I don't think that approach works with tight time restrictions.

As someone who can sew that's one of the reasons I resist my friends' attempts to make me apply. I don't want to do a rushed job and make something crap.

It would be interesting to try and make one of the challenges within their timeframe (but without the interruptions and stress of it being on TV!)

I was talking to a friend who isn’t a sewer at all but enjoys watching SB and has seen previous ones. Her immediate comment to me was ‘nobody's finishing anything! They’re not very good, are they? This series has really gone downhill'.

I don't know of that is down ti the level of sewers or tightening of timeframes.

@CaptainMyCaptain indeed , if I was on the show I'd do what I could well in the time frame and finish it at home once the garments were returned to me. Sure , you won't win that way , but you'll have useful items to wear or give away.

Sewing slowly is much nicer! I've been working on a blouse for two weeks (an hour here and there) now. I'm loving it.

Same! Every year I get so many people telling me to apply. Thanks, but no thanks!
Although my usual push-back is that I would find the MTM really hard. I have learnt how to make things that fit me (often by careful pattern choice), but fitting to someone else is a whole other ball game. There has been a lot less focus on fit to the model this year - either because of the choice of garment chosen, or just Esme/Patrick being a lot less fussy, it seems.

I love slow sewing, too. I get huge satisfaction out of topstitching slowly and meticulously so that I can look at it with a smile on my face. Some of the topstitching and otherwise visible stitching on the contestants' garments that they've made at home, with all the time in the world, has made me cringe. If you can't sew straight, don't do it in contrast thread, ffs!

And on that note, I have a wobble to unpick.

I enjoyed Pasha's pointed comment, "This is supposed to be a made to measure." @TheTripThatWasnt

oooh - I missed that! Was that last night?

Yes, she said it when she decided to the extra tier to her top because she felt it was a bit short.

I think the judges have just realised that these sewers ( or most of them ) cannot fit things properly on the models , it’s difficult enough to find a garment worthy of GOTW without expecting them to fit . I know it didn’t win but I really can’t see how they considered Marcus garment good enough to be considered , the badges were hanging off ! Suzy is getting away with nothing fitting because that is how she wears her clothes so it’s being considered her thing but it does seem like a cop out .

Ah yes - I remember that bit. And then Patrick said it wasn't needed!

It was needed. If he couldn't see the difference he needed a specsavers visit.

They have had sewers before who tried to fit things but the issue is the time.

It's also fine if you have a model figure but not if you are curvy.

I think it was last year in the jumpsuit episode, they give you a model that's your shape so you can use the garments. One bigger contestant had had to do a FBA, sway back and other adjustments in the same time as others had just followed the pattern.

Unfortunately hers looked awful but given the time constraints how could it not?

I think that's Vicki, from last year. I think last year they asked the sewers roughly what kind of bodyshape they wanted to sew for, and Vicki wanted to have a plus-size model. The model was a LOT taller than her though, and quite a different shape, and I'm pretty sure she (Vicki) wouldn't have been able to wear the MTM clothes herself. And of course the men are often sewing for women...

I'm going to one of her workshops later this summer, so maybe I'll ask her!

I went to a workshop with Mark, from one of the earlier series (maybe S4) last year, and he spilled a few beans about the filming etc, but not many...

I've just shortened the straps on my DD's prom dress and I have a new found respect for any of the contestants who sew with satin in these timed challenges!

I think this years participants are the worst yet.
No one ever finishes a garment.
Nothing spectacular like previous ones.

Yes. That too. Ì make clothes to fit my own body. I also have no interest in making sportwear or ball gowns.

Stuart Hillard was a guest on the House of Alistair Sewing Bee Natter, last year, and talked a lot about the whole process.