The Great British Sewing Bee is back soon! (SPOILER ALERT)

Smocking!! Reminders of childhood. I had two very favourites I used to wear both made of lawn which was a good material for smocking. Our smocking used to cover the whole of our chest to our waist though. They were bought though - mum couldn’t sew for toffee.

I loved the smocked dresses though they are never given enough time!
I wasn't so impressed with the fancy dress from sleeping bags. It goes against the grain cutting up perfectly good things to make others or is it just me?
The dungarees were not brilliant. They had plenty of time but they didn't fit properly or maybe dungarees don't look that good on anyone even lovely little children..

Yes I think that grammaretto in fact they were better as sleeping bags imo

It does seem a shame that the programme is reinforcing the idea that in order to sew you have to be female or gay. I am intrigued as to the process of choosing the contestants in the first place.

I agree that the dungarees were not their finest hour - mostly did not seem to fit very well. But they are tricky to get the fit right. And the smocking was not very impressive - my mother used to do it by hand and it was immaculate. The smocked dresses did not seem to hang well either.

OK - I have finished grumbling!

Armchair critic is my forte!

Smocking on little girls’ dresses still looks as delightful on Princess Charlotte in this decade as it did when my daughters were young. The Sewing Bee contestants made some lovely garments.
When I made a smocked girl’s dress for “O”Level Needlework we didn’t have machines to do the decorative stitches of embroidery between the ruching, I did it by hand.
I don’t know what happened to the dress, sadly.

Yes Luckygirl - I noticed that not all the dresses hung well.

Agree that (time-consuming) hand smocking is much nicer. I used to do this for my children when they were small.
I do wonder about how the show is actually shot though when the contestants are apparently choosing the fabric immediately before they begin to sew, yet the children modelling them a few hours later are wearing coordinating tee shirts and accessories?

Good point genie10. I don’t know the answer.

What did you make of this week's offerings? Are you still watching? I actually love it. DD, who trained as a professional seamstress does not. It makes her wince.
I shudder at the time constraints and felt so sorry for the poor girl who went out this time. She was in tears but the sight of the rugby shirts lined up was impressive as were the tennis dresses but I can't remember what the transformation challenge was.

I once tried to make shirts for my boys with collars and cuffs and interfacing. By the time the first was finished he had outgrown it.

Really enjoyed this weeks episode and I will never make a rugby shirt! It looked a bit tricky but the end results were very good considering they are time limited with their sewing.
Not sure I can spot a winner yet though...any thoughts?

I think Nicole will be hard to beat unless she messes up.
The men who are left are all pretty good but there's not much between them. I am sad that we will lose the characters who are such good tele! Therese, Claire, Hazel? I can't remember them all by name.

I think Ali, the paramedic and Claire? the 1940’s dresser seem pretty good. Also Therese, the lady with the long grey hair is great at certain things.

Not sure about Nicole. Yes, she did very well this week, but can she keep it up?

This year, no one stands out as so much better than others.

How did we rate it this week?
It is getting harder! I'm sure you'd need more that a few hours to make that corset thingy. What a strange garment to make anyway.

It reminded me of the kilt making on a previous series. It doesn't give the project or the contestants a chance to do it justice.
As for who's up for the final: I still think Nicole is in with a chance but look at Therese this week. She did well again.
If you wanted one of them to make you a wedding dress or something like that who would you choose? That's my question this week.
Is there another thread about this? I feel I'm talking to myself.

Genie10, the final garment each week is made from fabric and patterns the contestants have brought from home, hence the models' matching colours.
I love the show. I am a self-taught sewer and appreciate how difficult some of the tasks are in such limited time.

* shysal* are you tempted to apply next time?

The basque had a lot of fiddly, complicated pieces to put together and it was a struggle to get everything done properly in such a short space of time, but Clare made a superb job of it. I tip her to be the winner; she's careful and methodical.

Chewbacca it fitted well too. She hasn't that flair of originality to be able to win. IMHO Everything is based on her love of the retro look. She is technically good though and can cope with the pressure.
We will just have to wait and see.

I would like to see what the insides of the garments are like as I don't think any of them are properly finished. Also I would like to see something simple such a skirt or shell top made using couture techniques, that would sort out the sheep from the goats.

Well, I thought Ali was pretty good until this week when she was eliminated.

I really think no one stands out as the obvious winner, in the first series, an elegant older lady was the winner but she stood out as a marvellous sewer from episode one.

Yes I think the time limit simply produces poorly finished garments which doesn’t do the sewer justice - or the garment for that matter.

Yes I’d like to see how couture garments are made. I suspect it is all about the fit. I do know that the Queens garments are made with one shoulder higher than the other (not sure how) because that’s how she is made. If you watch something like The Crown, and look at the clothes you can really tell the difference , between that and the Queens garments.

calender that elegant older ladies little girls dress is used in the opening titles

There is a great deal of hand finishing in proper haute couture garments - it can take ages to finish a garment as the inside should look as good as the outside - nothing overlocked, all French seams, silk linings and hand made buttonholes. I loved studying couture techniques but a couture garment is not something you can knock out in a couple of hours. The thing that annoys me about SB is not giving them enough time, and then the judges moaning about it not being finished, and then waxing lyrical about something that looks quite shoddy to me. If you want to see couture garments being made there is a Chanel YouTube video about the inside secrets of an atelier- it’s amazing the detail , hand beading etc.

I love the programme although I can’t see for toffee and I really think some of the things they make are awful some are lovely though I can’t remembe4 all the names but the older lady seems to be moving in the right direction
I didn’t like the way the 1940 s lady ask to use the same material as the other lady who I rate a lot more than her
Sorry can’t remember any of their names that’s awful isn’t it

Ok checked it out should have done that first Nicole is the one I rate and Matt who makes the drag outfits