Great British Sewing Bee is back on 15th July

[BlackAmericanoNoSugar]

I'm looking forward to it.

Will? No its not.

Well that went better than I expected!

A couple of dodgy sewers, but most of them look as though they can do the basics, and hit the time challenge.

A positive start.

The black and white dress should have been GOTW.

A good start I think .
The pressure will be on with 2 going home next week.

I was thinking about the GOTW. The pleated shoulder bits had been made already at home. All he did on the day was make a fairly basic dress and the pleated belt. There were more deserving makes to win.

He definitely made them on the day. He had a paper model made but he started the pieces for the dress from scratch, adding interfacing to the yellow fabric before folding and ironing.

I think the GOTW was incredibly unfair it’s supposed to be a sewing competition judging sewing skills not a design competition and completely unfair that he ‘engineered’ those sleeves at home- probably by de constructing a paper lampshade and watching YouTube videos.
His actual dress was incredibly basic.
I also loved Saffie’s pleated dress but think designing a fabric and having it made (which must cost a fortune) is a bit cheaty.
I’d love to see Gaynor or Caz win to champion a life time of skills in actual sewing.

For the bingo I add privileged hobbiest( usually young) with the luxury of time and resources.

It was the best garment.

Yes. You saw him making them from a pattern.

I wish I'd done that last night. That 'funny' bit at the start about 'keeping in shape' was exceptionally painful. I generally like Sara Pascoe but her 'funny' bits were also awful.

enjoyed it. glad someone mentioned the GOW guy looking like Will. it was bugging me who he reminded me of. why they had to have a guy in a dress lost me though.

They all have the opportunity to practise at home and indeed design their own fabrics if they want to, there is nothing cheating about it. The winner worked out how to do the sleeves at home, but he made them from scratch in the studio.

@Internautfair enough I was commenting based on a pp who said he made them at home.
I do stand by my comment about design being judged over sewing skills though.
I think a happier medium should be found that covers both- Gaynor's dress was boring but beautifully sewn.

I think Gaynor could win , she's calm and very capable. She reminds me a little of Anne who won the first series. I think Caz will be a finalist too.

I genuinely do think they are all very good though. Each of them show sewing skill on their Instagram posts. I'm really interested to see how it all unfolds.

I think Caz is a very strong contender. Her top stitching was very good. And I agree that there needs to be a middle ground between design and quality sewing.

Oh did he? I take that back then. I thought he said he made them before.

Perhaps he said he had made them before i.e practice ones. (Past historic tense? Some will correct me if I'm.wrong)

it was a better Ep1 than the last series I think. Enjoyed the range and thought some real skills. I was ready to be sceptical about the man who had only been sewing for a year but he was actually very competent.

I did think Esme looked a little frail for the first time which made me feel sad. She’s such an icon.

One of the segments did not quite sit right on the bustline with matching seams which was evident on the black/white contrast. Was not taken by the transformations so far.

Can anyone explain how the tie blouses would manage not to gape

@LIZS I think most tie front blouses do gape. The only one I've seen that doesn't is the fabric godmother tie front blouse/dress. That one has a panel behind the bows. I think the tilly and buttons Nell blouse and dress might have better coverage too , but I've only made the button up version so I'm not sure.

I commented that you'd have to wear a vest.

I think the GOTW was incredibly unfair it’s supposed to be a sewing competition judging sewing skills not a design competition
It looked impressive but wasn't sewing -stiffening fabric so that it acts like paper, then doing origami on it. Then attaching it to a simple dress that didn't fit well.

My gotw would be Kit's transformation. I initially found him annoying but he's very good.

I really liked Gaynor's dress and I’ve bought the pattern to make one myself.

ETA I also thought the pleated-shoulder GOTW was a bit of a gimmick as the actual dress was just a not-very-well-fitted black sack.

I’ve made a couple of tie front blouses, one I wear a contrasting vest top under, the other is a Stylearc dress and top pattern (maybe Porter?) and there’s a placket behind the ties that covers your body, I suppose two different types of top just both tie at the front. I wouldn’t have worn the ones on GBSB without at least a crop top under (full vest in my case 😂)?

If Anne did what she did then in a series now she wouldn’t win , it’s a very different show now ( we rewatched all the series a couple of years ago) . Back in the day it was a sewing show now it’s a sewing and design show being the best sewer but making seemingly ‘ordinary’ outfits doesn’t make you a winner .