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The Great British Sewing Bee: The Final

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Scroll down for the catch up videos of all the previous series of the Great British Sewing Bee.

 

They say time flies when you are having fun, as such I guess we all must have been having fun watching this series of The Great British Sewing Bee. I say this because it does not seem like long since the series started, and here we are at the final.

Who Is Left?

With only Jade, Charlotte and Joyce left the series was determined to go out in style, focusing their talents on evening wear. For the first challenge, the contestants were asked to make a man’s evening shirt, complete with pintucks down the front on both sides. If you would like to make a shirt, you can find our shirting fabric here.

We did have concerns about Jade in this challenge, while Joyce seemed fairly confident having made shirts for her husband in the past, Jade seemed a lot less familiar with the pintuck foot.

About the fabric

The fabric the sewers were to use was already cut out for them, with the judges looking at their level of precision instead.

As the fabric was already cut, they were given only four and a half hours to complete the shirt, and an hour in many had not finished the pintucks on one side. Patrick explained to Esme and us alike that although they did need to make it as neat as possible, some may run out of time after spending so long on the pintucks.

Meet the people behind the sewers.

While the stitchers were busy working on their shirts, we got to meet their family and friends for the first time. It was lovely to see Charlotte’s children getting involved with the design aspects of the challenges (of which they were allowed to work on at home) and supporting her so thoroughly in her sewing ambitions. Similarly, it was great to see how Jade had managed to channel her energy into sewing after an injury meant she had to give up her promising career in swimming.

Twittering on time

We were live on Twitter throughout the episode and spotted Patrick Grant tweeting this little tongue twister:

How many tucks would a pintuck tuck if a pintuck could tuck tucks.

Try saying that fast five times.

What we think

Out of all the sewers, we were surprised to see Charlotte struggle with this challenge. The collar, in particular, seemed to be a struggle for her as she got visibly more and more stressed, reaching for the seam ripper. When Claudia announced it was time to stop sewing we wished we could step through the TV and offer her a hug… she looked on the verge of tears.

The judging begins

As the judges began to inspect the shirts, we realised just how serious they were about precision: Esme came armed with a tape measure. Joyce faired fairly well, she got high praise for her neat topstitching and the cuffs. Esme did note that one pintuck seemed slightly narrower than the others but this wasn’t seen as much of an issue. The only thing that let the shirt down was the top button, which was slightly off centre, causing the top to gape slightly. This didn’t perturb the judges too much, as she went on to win the round.

The verdicts

Jade was immediately told that her pintucks were narrower on one side than the other, and had it pointed out that there was a gape under the last two buttons. Patrick did soften the blow though, by telling her “but it is a very good shirt, made in a very short space of time”. The fact it was a “very good shirt” earned her second position, which she seemed quietly content with.

Charlotte came last, with the dreaded collar letting her down. Esme noted that her sewing was very good and neat, it was just her mistake with the collar that had made them give her third place.

The second round

For the second round, or the alterations challenge as it is known, the contestants were given a men’s dinner suit and asked to transform it into a little black dress. They were allowed to use extra pieces of fabric in this challenge, but the emphasis must be on the black.

Joyce

Joyce quipped that she used to have lots of little dresses, but over the years her dresses and been getting bigger and bigger. It was so nice to see that even under pressure in the final, Joyce was there to lighten the mood. She created a strapless, form-fitting dress which was made from layers of the dinner jacket fabric and sequins. While the look is bang on trend, Esme was less than impressed suggesting that if you were to “disco dance” in the dress it would end up “around your waist.”

Jade

Jade used her prom dress for inspiration, creating a sweetheart neckline, thin straps and a bit of a split (made from the fronts of the jackets) in the skirt. The judges seemed to like the overall look of the dress, however, Patrick did not understand why two darts on the front were sewn on the outside. Esme claimed she didn’t mind them on the outside, she just wished that all of the darts and seems would have been on the outside, declaring “if you’re going to do it, go for it.”

Charlotte

Charlotte created a halter neck dress, using the lapels of the jacket, winning Esme over instantly. The bow tie on the halter neck, sitting it on the nape of the neck. The halter neck led into a close-fitting dress, with sequins across the bust and skirt. On the back, she had used the stripe of the trousers and then finished off the whole garment with satin bias binding.

Joyce was placed third, with Patrick noting that it was a very dramatic transformation and very fun. Jade looked on edge until it was announced she was in second place, with Esme stating the dress was “sexy with a very nice shape around the bust.” This left Charlotte to be awarded first place. The movement, from the last place to first place seemed to have a visible effect on her spirits.

3rd Challenge

For the third challenge, the contestants had to sew an evening gown, made to fit on a model of their choice. Joyce made a dress for her granddaughter, made from the corset and flowing skirt. For the first time in the series, we saw her getting stressed as she struggled with the complicated pleats that would give the skirt its shape.

Jade

Jade looked like she was going to embark on some DIY instead of sewing. As she was using a beaded fabric, she came equipped with pillars and a hammer. (it was necessary to smash some the beads where she would be sewing, or risk breaking all the needles.) Charlotte aimed to create a flowing, almost Grecian style dress using a glamorous satin backed crepe (you can view our satin backed crepes here if she has inspired you.)

They were all worried

When it came to the judging, we were worried for them all… it was clear to see that the pressure had affected every single contestant. While Joyce’s corset fit well, the judges noted that the skirt was not correctly made, leaving some of the lining showing. When Patrick went to investigate further, disaster stuck… the skirt was fitted to her granddaughter by safety pins, rather than stitches.

The results are in

What the judges said about Jade

Jade lost points for not finishing the train on her dress. The beaded fabric was used as contrasting straps and the train. Patrick was worried that it would fall to pieces if the model was to walk in it for longer than a moment. Esme was also disappointed by the train. Informing us the viewer that in professionally made dresses, the train would have weights sewn into the hem. So that it was constantly held out away from the main body of the dress as the model walked. She was also pulled up on how she had fit the dress to the model’s bust (a friend of her mother.)

The judge’s verdict on Charlotte

Charlotte was complimented on the choice of fabric, with the fabric flowing nicely as the model (her children’s stepmother) walked towards to the judges. They also like the effect of the narrowing straps, which gave the dress an elegant feel. They did not like her zip as much though, satin can be a notoriously hard fabric to work with and it looked as if she had struggled to insert the zip. It was puckered in some places, and the shine of the fabric only highlighted this.

As the contestants waited for the winner to be announced, it was plain to see the fear etched on their faces. For us the audience, it was far too close to call.

If you don’t want to know who won, stop reading now.

 The winner is announced

Rather than name third and second places first, Claudia went straight in for the kill: announcing that Charlotte was this year’s winner. Watching the proceedings were the past contestants, all gathering round to hug her. As the series drew to a close, we learned that she had had a commemorative tattoo, of a bumble bee hovering above a sewing needle.

She also left us with some wise parting words…

 

Charlotte Sewing Bee Winner Quote 2016

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