Great British Sewing Bee is back on 15th July

[BlackAmericanoNoSugar]

I'm looking forward to it.

I did once make a dress out of an old red velvet curtain. I didn't use a pattern and it wasn't very good. I think I only wore it once. It was very heavy!

@Sausagenbacon I've not tried that but I did once sew a piece of 1cm thick elastic all around the waistline of the skirt using a zigzag stitch to create a perfect gather before attaching it to the bodice. It worked well. Your suggestion is a similar concept but less bulky so I will be doing that next time!

I didn’t know that Sara Pascoe’s dad was in a 70s boy band - Derek Pascoe of Flintlock

I knew Stuart would go the minute they featured more of his personality and comments this week. What a fun, witty man he seems.

I wish Gaynor had gone. I don't go for the criticism of people's characters and personalities usually but I feel she really drags the mood down. She is a negative Nelly (or edited as such anyway) and I begin to wonder what challenge she would embrace. She reminds me of that person who always pulls a face when someone gets excited. She doesn't seem to ever do research either, unlike , for example, Yasmin. And the fraying was such a misstep. I think she got away with it - I didn't think her dress was at all pop art.

I've never heard of these? (Off to Google)

Just to add re Gaynor ,too -she almost deliberately presents herself as anti creative . And yet the dress she was actually wearing herself was lovely and bold and eye catching.

Me too - long torso and wee short legs. Bane of my life. I did get a fabulous second hand jumpsuit in a charity shop from a John lewis brand called Kin with wide legs and because of the style it fits well and I LOVE it.

She has mentioned it in the past. Apparently he didn't stay with the family and she said she doesn't like music as a result.

Her clothes are always very well made but she isn't as imaginative as the rest. I think she's feeling out of her depth and looks quite unhappy to me. I think she would have been relieved to go this week but she will keep soldiering on with her immaculate sewing.

Yes, I expect she will. I do agree with a PP that the dress didn't actually fit the model, though!

I thought Gaynor was almost hoping to get booted off and would have been happy to go home. She doesn't seem to be enjoying it much.

Esme gets on my nerves the more I watch. Talking of being negative, very often all she can come up with are constant criticisms. She doesn’t really critique the garments. I think she’s had her day.

I think it’s a case of “Good Cop Bad Cop”
with Esme taking the Bad Cop role, occasionally complimenting an aspect of a garment.
Patrick appears more positive but throws in the odd negative comment.

Agree. She said something to her model at the start of the final challenge on the lines of 'I think I'm nearly done here'. Can't see how she doesn't go next week and agree she will be relieved.

For gathering I just do 1 row. I used to do 2 but getting 2 rows within the seam allowance of many patterns with smaller seam allowances than the traditional 5/8 was a fangle and I spent a lot of time knotting threads to get the gathering the correct length. I feel my results are better with just 1 row to focus on and getting that even and the right length

I liked Stuart but it wasn’t pop art. If he had done any research he would have realised that. Gaynor’s outfit was slightly popart. I wish they would have themes for types of clothing eg skirt, coat, shirt rather than gimmicky fast fashion you will wear once

Stuart did research - he mentioned Keith Haring but the rejected the particularities because of time and difficulty. Gaynor had 'heard of Andy Warhol' and presumably looked at or had seen a few pictures.

Gaynor is 72, two years older than me so you would think she could remember Pop Art style fashions from the 60s.l as I can. Twiggy and all that, pvc dresses and boots, they were always in the papers even if I didn't see people walking round in them in my town. She has apparently been sewing since the 1950s so she must have started when she was under 7. I used to create outfits for my Sindy doll at 8 or 9 - probably some pop art type outfits in there! If anything she should have had an advantage over the younger contestants in knowing what the term meant.

I found it very odd that she looked confused about the idea of pop art. Granted she wasn’t in the heart of it all but you would have read about it in magazines. As you say, everyone knew who Twiggy was.

I'm nearly the same age as you and remember those styles being in Jackie magazine etc. I also remember paper (disposable) knickers being a thing for a while. They didn't catch on!

I remember them too!

Esme seems a bit poorly to me. Her breathing is almost COPD like at times.

Yes, she is quite critical but not in the same league as Paul Hollywood at his worst on Bake Off a few series ago when he seemed to just hate being there.

I like Patrick and Esme together, it works for me.

A few years ago as the oldest teacher in a primary school, I was asked to talk to Year 1 about "How toys have changed since I was a little girl". Yes, I literally was a history lesson for them.

I showed them the Bunty cut out dolls and they absolutely loved them and really enjoyed making their own. A fab thing to do on a wet afternoon, even now.

When I have lots of gathering I do one row of zigzag over dental floss. Being careful not to catch the floss with the thread. Ta-dah easy peasy to pull up.

Really enjoying this series. I have sewn for a long time learnt properly in the 60s in Domestic Science at grammar school. Gingham pinny anyone? But was sewing at home long before that.

I usually gather either side of the seam allowance, which reduces the chance of random tucks as everything is constrained between the two threads.