Great British Sewing Bee is back on 15th July

[BlackAmericanoNoSugar]

I'm looking forward to it.

Me neither, something not quite genuine imo but imagine he's quite entertaining for a while

Yes it could have had more to it.

i think Dan should’ve just done the jacket and trousers, didn’t need the shirt

Patrick really summed up the two big 'no-nos' in this type of programme. Too ambitious, elaborate and finished badly (if at all) or too simple but beautifully executed. Same goes for Bake Off.

Dan could have made a simple t-shirt with a bow tie drawn on instead of the shirt and Gaynor could have added pretty flowers to the top.

I also cannot warm to Kit at all. He reminds me of an irritating twit I used to work with many years ago. Not his fault, of course.

The little girl clearly loved Gaynor’s design, I would have liked to hear the children’s views of
their outfits - the MP didn’t look too impressed!
I imagine it took skill for the skirt to ‘flow’ as it did, which wasn’t really mentioned.
I noticed again how some charged for the fabric and Gaynor was at the back of the ‘queue’. She doesn’t have a ‘look at me’ personality and there is nothing wrong with that.

Love that Caz got emotional watching her model I had tears too, such a lovely moment.

Esme clearly doesn’t like Gaynor, I liked her transformation outfit a lot better than the others but Esme said it wasn’t exciting - was that part of the brief?! Nothing wrong with being a really good sewer, not everyone has to be ‘out there’.

think it’s that her work isn’t immaculate enough to overlook the plainness of the designs

but her work is immaculate. That elastic on the neck of the snowdrop dress was perfect. The fit was perfect. The waist was perfect. It was a bit boring, in the time after she'd finished a few petals round the neck and cuffs, and a little hat would have elevated it to contender for GOTW.

When the pattern challenge came out, Kit said "i knew it" and it became clear why later with his m2m. Clever of him to guess that, i think (but then he should have been better at the shoulder straps) and good to have immediately incorporated one of the adaptive features in his make. His model was brilliant.

Quite probably, but I’d never heard of it before today so had to guess how to spell it.

I've been thinking about Gaynor's MTM. Whilst I agree it was immaculately sewn, I didn't think it truly fitted the brief. It was supposed to be "fancy dress". What she created was a relatively simple dance costume. Fancy dress is more than that in my view. I actually think the same about Kit's dungarees / top. They were inspired by Elton John but all he did was iron on patches which was a bit 🤔
I accept I may be splitting hairs about what is fancy dress but it struck me at the time.

I’m not a sewer I can just about sew on a button and I use iron on stuff to hem but I do love reading all your comments on this thread.

The problem is that most of the people on Sewing Bee mispronounce 'shirring' as 'shearing' so it’s an easy mistake to make if you haven’t ever heard the term. When I was learning to sew (and worked in a fabric shop subsequently where we sold the elastic) it was definitely ‘shurr-ing' (shirr to rhyme with 'fur'). That’s what the dictionary says too.

Just thinking about Gaynor, her snowdrop costume was really lovely but she knew it was too simple. I've been rooting for her since day 1 but it was really a bit unfair on her for them to choose her to take part; she’s inevitably going to fall behind because they no longer really just want excellent sewers, as they did in the early series. They want big personalities (Kit) who can sew colourful garments (Kit) and make for good TV (Kit). So I guess Kit is going to win. Although I’d rather Caz did because I like her and her sewing.

The model for Kit's m2m was super. However, if I hadn't been previously told that it was Elton John's dungarees, I'd have struggled to guess.

I don't think it was unfair to put Gaynor on the show. I'm sure she enjoyed the experience and would have shared her tips and tricks, which is how they all come on so quickly. I loved her MTM, you could see the model was beaming, twirling that skirt.

They want big personalities (Kit) who can sew colourful garments (Kit) and make for good TV (Kit).
It's not that his garments are colourful, he's a very skilled sewer. How many pattern challenges has he won?

But Esme didn’t know that the transformation outfit was Gaynor’s. It was a blind challenge. I couldn’t understand why they liked Kaz’s transformation so much. Unbalanced materials to me don’t really work. I thought initially Kit was one of those ‘fun for tv’ characters but he’s really talented. Creative and a good sewer. Didn’t they say he’s only been sewing for a couple of years too?

Yes, a little petal cap would have elevated Gaynor's. I did think petals around the neck but that might have distracted from the perfection of the sewing there. And, I think Gaynor would be too practically minded to add petals around the cuffs as they'd get in the way.

The child models were adorable.

Well, she doesn't like her sewing. No evidence that she has a personal dislike of her. I think for Esme, exciting is always going to be part of the brief. And a programme of nice people who can sew well but have no flair would be unbelievably dull.

The glasses really made it as an outfit for me, and that seems a bit unfair given that it's a sewing challenge.

Also thought that Kit got off lightly with his terrible 'striped butcher's apron made into rags' play outfit which came fifth. It was worse for me than Caz's armless wonder! He is really good but feels like he's being indulged a bit as the favourite.

But his MTM didn't win and they didn't know the terrible flappy number was his.

I think the judging seems pretty fair and consistent overall. I suspect Caz's tears were partly because she knew she'd screwed up on the first two tasks and if she misjudged the MTM she could have gone home. You really are only as good as your last make.

For me, Kit and Caz are clearly the front runners, with Jasmin and Orla also having final 3 potential, and Stuart and Gaynor both likely to go in the next two weeks. But anyone can have a bad week and crash out, as whoever mentioned Jurgen upthread pointed out.

We were away for the first few weeks and have just finished catching up, really enjoying this series.

I badly want Caz to be my friend.

Even DH laughed when Caz said “it’s a bad day when the horse noises start”. I like her too, I think she’s probably the perfect Bee contestant - an very good technical sewer, great design flair, an easy going, honest and funny personality - but with the ability to pull an absolute shocker which adds unpredictability.

Kit is clearly the best technical sewer and he has an eye for design too, but like others I don’t warm to him as much as Caz. I get the impression he’s presenting a TV version of himself, whereas with Caz I get the impression that what you see is what you get. But he and Caz are the front runners by an long way and Orla and Yasmin are battling for the other place in the final.

If Gaynor doesn't stretch herself - she's clearly decided she needs to make sure she finishes a task so has made sure things are doable in the timeframe - then she'll go. They're looking for someone who grows as the competition goes on, who isn't afraid to experiment.

Esme is mates with Zandra Rhodes - that gives you a clue about what she likes imho.

I thought Zandra Rhodes had died?

It doesn't say so on her Wikipedia page or website.

Look at the beading on that dress and the swimsuits!

Oops. It was my partner who said he thought she was dead and then so did I. I could "see" the news story. Sorry Zandra.