Great British Sewing Bee is back

[Pippedydeadeye]

The tank top bow tie guy seems a bit of a knob.

[overthehill]

Some of the panel-matching is phenomenal. I loved the Serena Williams jacket and the indoor climber woman jacket. (And quite a lot of the others.)

[Hazey_Jane]

Oh poor Richy, I really liked the concept for his jacket and wanted it to be better

[overthehill]

Oh poor Richy, I really liked the concept for his jacket and wanted it to be better

Yes, I wonder what went wrong with the measuring. His wrap dress, last week, was one of my favourites.

[Hobbes]

From the preview at the beginning there’s some absolutely amazing and gorgeous things to come!

But for now I’d like to shout at Chichi: you’re on tv, millions of people are watching, get your frigging nails sorted, you skank!

Honestly, would you go on tv (or anywhere!) with chipped / missing / work off nail polish?

A skank (a person, particularly a woman, of low and sleazy character) for having chipped polish, really? Any comments to make on her sewing ability, which is, after all, what she’s there to be judged on? Or if we are just pulling their appearance apart then don’t forget to save some vitriol for the men, equal opps and all that!

Anyway, just caught up, so pleased it’s back on. I don’t mind Sara Pascoe, she does seem very warm with the sewers, which is lovely.

I think the standard is high this year, they are all pretty good. There’s usually one contestant who gets in my nerves, but haven’t had that this year, which is nice!

[Turtle Bean]

Almost all of those jackets were just fab.

[rosy]

I’m getting a bit annoyed at these sewers who have never done basic techniques before.

[overthehill]

I’m also a little fed up with mediocre men who took up sewing in lockdown thinking they are Sewing Bee material (do you see what I did there ).

Strve comes under this heading too. He's not having a good week so far.

I can't talk though. I love the look of shirring, but I've only ever done a sewing sample in college.

[Sky]

So many sundresses! I would've liked to have seen at least one playsuit.

[overthehill]

I'm always surprised by the amount of contestants on GBSB that use a rotary cutter for dressmaking. I much prefer a good pair of shears. What do you use?

[Sky]

Sweatervest Boy's outfit is pure Princess Jasmine.

[rosy]

I'm always surprised by the amount of contestants on GBSB that use a rotary cutter for dressmaking. I much prefer a good pair of shears. What do you use?

Fiskar’s shears. I use a rotary cutter with a ruler for quilting, but not for dressmaking.

I think both garment of the week and the elimination were correct decisions!

[Livilla]

I have just started watching this, how have I managed to miss it for so many seasons! I loved last week’s episodes (so many fab sports jackets) and loved some of the garments tonight. Brogan’s shirred dress was streets ahead of the pack, and I loved her slinky flared trousers and ing-tie top, I thought she had garment of the week in the bag (is that always chosen from the made-to-measure round?) but the AirFrance outfit was also great. I also loved the judges’ critique - they were spot on in pointing out that red piping would have improved Marni’s look, and the red trims on the peacock set needed to match. I would never have thought of that, but they were absolutely right.

The eliminated contestant deserved it just for winging it so badly!

(Oh and like Rosy I only ever use shears for cutting out pattern pieces, and rotary cutters for patchwork. I love the feel of cutting through fabric )

[Margo]

I’m catching up now. I remember having shirred sundresses when I was young, Mum used to run them up for me. One piece of fabric, shirred at the top, two little thin straps et voila! And we called it sherring, not sheering, but anyway. It is tricky to do, I made some summer tops yonks ago and remember getting frustrated with it!

[overthehill]

And we called it sherring, not sheering ...

I'm so glad you said this. I can't remember where I first heard the word, but I'm sure it was either my secondary school 'needlework' teacher, or the fashion designers I worked for in my early 20s. Anyway, I've always thought of it as 'sherring'. After all, it's done with 'Shirring Elastic', so 'sheering' doesn't make sense to my ears. But absolutely everyone I've encountered here says 'sheering', so, I assumed I was wrong and fell in line.

[Margo]

I encountered it in the 70s via Mum and my needlework teacher Ms Dubois.

[H1ppychick]

I knew it was spelt shirring but we always pronounced it shurring not sheering.

I made a shirred sundress at school*, I don't recall it being particularly difficult, I had more of a problem with the French seams on the nightdresses we made.

I totally agreed with the garment of the week and the fact that Richie just made his up, and THEN DIDN'T PRACTICE IT, pissed me off.

*I hasten to add that I went to an all-girls grammar school and this was the early 80s when in first and second year senior we had mandatory Needlework and Domestic Science classes on the curriculum. We used old treadle Singer machines

[Marth]

I thought Richie's effort was rubbish but I really loved the Air France outfit. Well deserved.

They are all so good!

My sewing teacher has just met one of the producers of the show and he told her that Esme and Patrick are great fun and love going out when they are making the show.

We have told her she must befriend him so he can be our friend as well.

[Turtle Bean]

Patrick and Esme seem to have a great relationship, I love them.

I thought Richie should have gone last week and I'm glad he went this week. It's quite arrogant to not practice and his fitting has been awful.

I think Marnie might be my favourite.

[H1ppychick]

I thought the fitting on the yellow linen thing (was that Angela?) was equally awful, to be fair, and I didn't like her culottes, the shape was unflattering and the fastener flap looked dreadful. But she did win the transformation challenge.