Episode 6 The Great British Sewing Bee

There was a time when most of us made our own clothes

and the sewing machine was as prevalent in the home

as the television is today.

So, for the quarterfinal, we thought we'd take our sewers back

to that time, to use techniques that our grandmothers used.

We never said this was going to be easy.

Last week, the sewers had to prove they could handle difficult fabrics.

That's going to be a brute!

For the first time, Tamara was awarded Garment Of The Week

for her nylon anorak.

This is a jacket, I'd be very happy to wear myself.

Leather was David's undoing. I think they'll hate it.

But velvet was too much for Jenni,

who bid an emotional farewell to the Sewing Bee.

I love you, guys!

Now, the five remaining sewers are being taken back in time.

I will never use a 1930s pattern again.

To face the most brain-teasing pattern yet.

It's almost like it's in Morse code.

The biggest alteration challenge so far.

I'm being ambitious, but I think it might be a risk worth taking.

And the heftiest made to measure garment that pushes them all.

I've got a lot to do.

But who will produce Garment Of The Week?

It's pretty ingenious.

And who will fall apart at the seams?

Oh, Lordy!

Our sewers are about to bring history back to life.

Welcome to the Great British Sewing Bee.

The five sewers return to the sewing room

to stitch their way to a place in the semifinal.

Oh, I love this!

I can't tell you how excited I am to be in the quarterfinals.

I feel like I'm buzzing.

Woken up every morning, dreaming of some sort of sewing sleeves,

or broken sewing machines.

I need to keep my eye on Chinelo,

we're very similar in the way we think about using fabrics.

Lynda, she's technically very good

and David, the underdog, is, like, really climbing.

We're all sort of neck and neck, I think, so it's difficult.

How are you? Lovely to see you all.

You might have noticed that, on your stations,

the very fancy, big, clever sewing machines have been taken away

and you now have much more basic ones from the 1930s.

Have any of you seen or worked with anything like this before?

This is the sort of machine my mother had when I was little.

So, you're happy working with it?

Very happy. Anybody else happy working with this?

Had it at school. You had it at SCHOOL, Heather!

OK, so you two are fine, the other three, you look slightly horrified.

This week it's all about making the clothes we USED to wear

using authentic methods and techniques.

May, what have you got?

This week, we want you to make a blouse based on a 1930s pattern.

And you'll find, once you open up the envelopes,

that the pattern inside has none of the usual markings.

You will need to very much engage the grey matter

to make this one work. You have four hours,

good luck, your time starts, now.

Drapery fabric. Drapery fabric.

To reproduce a 1930s blouse,

the sewers should choose soft, drapey material from the haberdashery.

I've gone for something similar to silk

in the way that it drapes, but it isn't silk,

so I'm hoping that's a good choice.

It's an authentic choice.

During the 30s, most home sewers would have used cheaper

and more available alternatives to silk,

like a man-made rayon or viscose.

I don't want to give myself too much of a challenge, fabric-wise,

cos this is going to be quite a challenge, anyway.

Why historical clothing? Why make them go back?

The traditional techniques are really relevant for today's sewers,

because they're the basics of construction.

A lot of the time, today's sewers rely too much on technology.

We want to see whether they can recreate clothes,

using the skills that traditional dressmakers and tailors employed.

I've not made blouse before, so, yeah, I'm a little worried about it.

The blouse pattern was part of a line of Hollywood-inspired designs,

endorsed by the stars of the day, in this case, Bette Davis.

The pattern is complex.

It comprises a back piece

and a front piece, which is gathered at the waist and neck.

A two-piece collar, made of four sections

is attached into the neck hole.

Inserted sleeves, which are gathered,

and also, there's a shaped peplum skirt at the waistline.

As if this wasn't complex enough, the vintage patterns

look very different to the patterns the sewers use today.

I've never, ever used a pattern that has nothing on it like this before.

Until the 1940s, dressmaking patterns didn't have any markings

apart from a few holes. It's almost like it's in Morse code.

Like, dot, dot, dash, dash.

I think there will be an initial amount of confusion,

because they don't have seam allowances,

they don't have grain lines.

The basic shapes are the same, but all of the markings

that are on that pattern that guide them on where to stitch

and where to lay that pattern have all been taken away,

so they need to think very carefully.

It's going to test their absolute basic understanding

of pattern and fabric.

To give them a fair chance of following the pattern,

Patrick and May have included a crib sheet

to help everyone read the codes.

Three dots forming a triangle means the cut should be on a fold.

On a modern pattern, it would just say, "Cut on a fold here."

It's fascinating that, obviously, when this was current,

everybody knew how to sew.

It assumes you know absolutely everything.

Absolutely, because they're all home sewers

and that's how they got their clothing.

How are you finding the pattern?

This is very OK for me, this is usually the way I work, anyway.

Is it? It is, it's just...

What, with less information?

Yeah, because I would have cut out my pieces

and I just put it together from my head.

So, this is better suited for you,

because you never work from a modern pattern.

Exactly. I usually wouldn't have instructions.

For instance, I could have looked at that top and made it.

Could you? Without the pattern, yeah. Shut up!

Yes! Chinelo, can't you move in with me?

Once the sewers are confident they understand the pattern markings,

construction can begin, starting with the side seams.

Stitch sides, leaving left side open between large circles,

that's the next thing I'm going to do.

To give them a true 1930s home sewing experience,

the sewers have been given the same model of antique sewing machine

in a variety of colours.

The machine are capable of a straight stitch, but not much else.

I'm just stitching the front to the back,

this is basically what I learned on at school,

when I was eventually allowed to use one of the electric machines,

because up until then we all had to flog away on the treadle machines.

What I REALLY wanted, was to use the one and only electric sewing machine

and this was it.

When those machines came on to the British market in 1935,

they were really expensive.

It would cost the average person about six months of wages,

but still they flew off the shelves and became the must-have gadget.

That's because the person behind them

came up with a revolutionary repayment scheme,

that would change the way we shop forever.

Production line engineering developed during the war

and the supply of electricity into houses

combined to revolutionise the post-war sewing machine.

The new technology would bring industrial quality dressmaking

to the domestic market.

The Singer 201 was fast, it was smoother, it was quieter,

but much more importantly it was very, very reliable,

you could go through multiple layers of cloth,

you weren't messing around with the tension all day long,

the thread just slipped through,

hardened steel teeth that pulled the work through it.

For the first time, they had a stitch length dial

and if you put it on eight stitches an inch,

you got eight stitches an inch.

The Singer 201 was supplied as a manual treadle machine

with an add-on electric motor,

which allowed it to sew at over a thousand stitches a minute.

Three times faster than a manual. But costing upwards of ?13,

it represented a massive investment for home sewers.

People say the 201K was the most expensive item in the house,

besides the house itself

and that was way too much money for most normal wages.

But despite the cover price, there was one way,

that the 201 was made affordable.

A revolutionary hire purchase scheme,

first devised by Isaac Singer and his lawyer, Edward Clarke.

What did this system mean for people?

The first real benefit was for poorer people, undoubtedly.

Rather than just having a one-off payment,

you could save up for the deposit

and then she could gradually pay it off

with fairly modest, I think, monthly payments.

Did people ever group together and buy a sewing machine

as a collective, if you like?

Clark, who was the financial brain and legal brains behind Singer,

he'd already thought of a scheme where groups could do that,

they could buy one in a village or a street or as a big family,

so there was one sewing machine and it could be shared.

Between the wars, when millions of men found themselves out of work,

the Singer hire purchase plan provided women with the opportunity

to earn a living from home.

For women it was particularly empowering.

Not only could she make clothes for her family,

but she could probably also make clothes

and sell them to the better-off,

so she was earning money at the same time.

So this gave women freedom, really?

For the first time, I think, it gave them a true sense

of being independent. It was a new world for them.

By the 1950s, almost every home in Britain had a sewing machine,

enabling families to make all kinds of garments and fast.

Not only that, those skills were passed down the generations

to sewers, like the ones in our Sewing Bee.

When I walked in and saw that sewing machine,

it really brought me down to earth with a bump,

because it just reminded me so much of my mother.

Where's your mum? Is she on the wall? There's my mum.

We always, always, until the day she died,

had a sewing machine set up in the corner of her living room. No!

Two-and-a-half hours remain to finish the 1930s blouses.

Now they're joined at the sides,

they need to be gathered at the front of the waist

to create fullness around the bust.

I'm just doing a running stitch on the bottom of blouse

to make sure the gathers are even.

Lynda's doing hand gathering,

Heather and David have both done machine gathering.

Oh! I found reverse!

If I was under the time pressure that they're under,

I would probably machine gather.

I really love hand-stitching so any opportunity I find to do it,

I do it.

Crikey! Is it really fast? It is, very fast.

That's that bit done.

I'm attaching the sort of blouse top bit

to the bottom skirty bit.

I think they call it a peplum, but I'm not sure!

The gathered bodice is attached to the peplum,

which should sit flat against the body.

I'm just making a mark on here, so I know how wide to stitch.

There's your gathers. Straight bit, straight bit, gathers in the middle.

I don't know if that's the result I'm supposed to achieve,

but that's what I've got.

Sewers, you've got two hours left.

You're halfway through.

SIGHING

Which side have I got to leave open?

The left side's that side.

The blouse has an opening at the waist called a placket.

They were commonly used in 1930s garments

as a cheap alternative to zips.

In its simplest possible terms, the placket is just a flap of fabric

to which you will attach your fastening

and the placket also serves

to fill in any gaps between the seams.

OK. All right, hide this.

The perfect placket.

Creating a placket opening isn't familiar to everyone.

Tamara?

I need your help or opinion on something.

So, literally, what I've got to do is cut this bit here?

I think that's right, yeah. And then just top-stitch along there?

I think so, yeah. I'm still trying to work it out, to be honest.

I don't really understand.

I don't know what a placket is.

Hopefully what I've done is good enough.

You got to cut that with the pinking shears. Yeah.

And then you fold that back over to the seam like that.

You sew across there and then you turn it through. Then turn it out.

Oh, OK, I get it. Thank you. I think!

I tell them all what to do. I might be wrong!

Just getting this little placket sorted out.

I'm hoping this is correct.

Oh!

Just as they've mastered one new technique,

the neckline of the blouse requires another.

Shirring on the front, isn't it?

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.

So, these lines have got to be the shirring lines. Yeah.

Shirring gathers up fabric by using elastic on the bobbin.

So, the bobbin now has my elastic in it.

So, I guess I need to have some threads free here?

Maybe you have to pull on them or something.

The shirring should be sewn in long, neat parallel rows...

The more lines you have, the more gathered it is.

..along just one section at the centre front of the neckline.

I think that's looking shirred.

So, now what I need to do is try and keep the tension the same

through this next row.

The lines need to be evenly spaced...

One, two, three, four lines.

That's line one.

..and gather just the right amount of neckline...

It's not easiest thing in the world to do.

..to get the perfect fit.

David hasn't shirred nearly enough of the front of the top,

his shirring's too short so he's got a big gap

and now what he's having to do is go back and shirr over the top

of his original shirring to try and bring that neckline in.

It's going to look messy. It may not even work.

Frankly, it could be a little bit of a boo-boo.

I shall never, ever, EVER

use a 1930s pattern again.

Sewers, you have one hour left, one hour.

Well, I better get a shifty on.

Shirr the front of the blouse. Where's the rest of this?

I've never made a collar like this before.

Seem to sew these together and then there's two there.

You doing your collar? Yeah.

You got four bits? Does it say in the pattern to do four?

No, but it's common sense. No.

Thanks very much! For a woman!

To help the sewers match their collar

to the neckline of their blouse,

the pattern includes little points called notches,

which mark the joining position on the seams.

Normally I wouldn't bother with these,

but because this is such an old pattern

and I haven't got much instruction, I'm going to mark it exactly.

When I was joining the collar bits together,

I chopped off the markings, the notches

and it's made it really difficult for me

to find out where the collar should be.

My mother would say, "Calm down, for goodness' sake,

"it's only a blouse, it's only a collar!"

That's what my mother would say now.

I'm just sewing the side seams of the sleeves together now,

and then I'm going to attach the sleeve to the shoulder.

This is tricky because what you don't want to do is get rucks

and puckers, very difficult to say,

in other places other than where they should be.

I'm gathering my sleeve into the sleeve end,

but I'm not doing it the traditional way.

This is how I would gather sleeves.

Don't know if I'll be able to get it done, but I just have to do my best.

What they have to be careful of, is that they gather

only between the points on the pattern

and that they carefully put that sleeve in the armhole

and we want all the fullness to be at the top, so that it puffs.

Have you matched your dots, Dave?

No, no.

What will the judges say about that?

I think they'll have plenty to say

without worrying about matching the dots!

Sewers, you have six minutes!

There's no way I can fit a sleeve in six minutes.

Any button will do!

When it's stitched up,

this button will go through.

I've got a minute just to get this button on.

Stressed. This looks lovely.

What is this?

Don't start! Patrick and May might see.

You've got to do something about this.

You've got to do something about it, fast. What have you done?

I didn't do anything! Oh, yeah, I did that, yeah.

You've got 30 seconds!

I can't believe we've got another challenge after this.

OK. That's it, times up. Well done, all of you.

Don't even thread that needle, I don't know why you'd do that.

Five blouses produced from a 1930s pattern in just four hours,

but what will May and Patrick think of them?

We have a beautifully flat collar,

but we've got quite a big gap in the middle.

I know, it expanded, I don't know what happened!

I think this was a case of, when you pinned it together

and put the facing in, you have to handle this carefully,

because your shirring has obviously tried to escape.

It's even.

If it had just been together, it would've been spot on.

We have got a hook and bar

and we have got a placket.

It's not 100% as requested, little off at the centre,

but otherwise, it's a perfectly wearable blouse.

Well done. Thank you.

We've got some good set in sleeves with the fullness at the top.

The collar is fairly even at the back,

but it's just pinging away from the body, unfortunately.

We've got a faced opening and you've neatened the edges of that,

well done. Some really good points on blouse. Well done.

Thank you.

The first thing to notice, obviously,

is you've had a lot of trouble with this collar.

What's happening is, it's coming up and bouncing over,

because the seam is too tight in the inside. Yeah.

Also, all of your shirring is skew-whiff.

It's all on one side of the collar, pretty much.

Where's the placket? Not stitched down to the underside.

The level of finish of it is not terrific, I'm afraid.

The first thing I notice is how beautifully flat

the collar is sitting around the neckline.

This, to me, is the most important part of any garment, really.

This is where we're always focusing, and this collar is beautifully flat.

The shirring is neat, sitting in the centre

and all of this fullness flows straight through into the gathers

at the waist, which is exactly the way we want it to sit.

Well done.

The collar, unfortunately, is very uneven, very much bigger

on the right side than the left side.

So you've made a placket? I did!

Just need to put some fastenings on there.

You've made a feature of these pins throughout.

We've got pins at the back neck, pins on the sleeves

and pins on the side seams.

They all match, Patrick! They match!

I've seen you do better work. I know!

And I think we'll just leave it at that. I think so, too.

Thank you, Lynda.

Patrick and May will now rank the blouses from five to one.

Number five, sadly, David.

There were just a few things that could've been better.

Fourth, and not terribly far ahead, Lynda.

Third is Tamara.

You've got a very big gap in the middle at the front

where your collar sits.

Second place...

Chinelo. A really good sew overall.

Just a few areas where it wasn't quite neat enough

and that collar pinging up at the back, I think, has cost you.

So, Heather, you came first on this challenge.

A huge well done to all of you.

Go and have a relax

and when you come back we'll give you your next challenge. Off you go.

# Forget your troubles, come on, get happy

# You better chase all your cares away... #

I loved that vintage sewing machine.

Lovely memories for me,

and my goodness, coming first as well. What a bonus!

I can blame my tools all we like,

it was down to my performance which is why I was last.

You know what? I still don't know what a placket is!

Time always gets the better of me.

I talk too much, I mess around too much.

But, at the end of the day, I'm having a fantastic time, so...

Now brace yourselves because the next challenge

isn't going to be any easier.

The judges want to take the sewers back

to the time of "make do and mend"

to see who can produce something new from something old.

We've given you a man's suit.

We would like you all to re-tailor these garments

into one useable, wearable piece of women's clothing

that fits on the mannequin.

In the post-war years this was all that some people had

somewhere tucked away in a wardrobe, so see what you can make us.

This is your hour-and-a-half to make do and mend. Off you go.

The sewers can choose any of the suits on the rails...

Cor, that's a big bloke isn't it?

..take it apart...

I wouldn't be asking him out on a Friday night!

..and reconstruct it

into a piece of clothing to fit their female mannequin.

I've got something in my head.

I've never done anything like this before,

but tell you what, it's good fun.

Feels wrong cutting into a suit

because I wear suits all the time at work. It's almost like,

"Right, I've had enough!

"Cut my suits up, I'm not going to work again!"

Well, there's nothing to do but get the seam ripper out

and hope inspiration bites somewhere along the line.

I'm just cutting it up. I'm not following the suit at all.

I'm, like, using my freehand cutting style,

making my own pattern out of the suit.

This is the first time the sewers have been limited

to only using the garment they have in front of them.

In previous weeks, our sewers have used the haberdashery to create

all of the effect in the garments

and what we want to see them do this week is use their tailoring skills

to re-engineer something, still create that dramatic effect

but without the crutch of all that embellishment and trim.

You've got an awful lot in a suit.

You've got buttons, you've got pockets on the trousers,

you've got a lot of fabric, you've got a lot of processes in there,

which, if they're careful with the suit, they can recycle them all.

What are you making? I am making a pencil dress out of this.

I'm just looking at this suit as a piece of fabric.

I'm going to extract the things that I want from it

like the collar, I want to use.

So it's going to be like a sort of tailored dress

and I'm just going to make the collar the feature.

Have you got enough time?

I'm being a bit ambitious for time, to be honest,

but I think it might be a risk worth taking.

You're excited, I can tell. It is emanating from you.

While Chinelo's deconstructing the entire suit,

Tamara's just using the jacket.

I'm going to do like a backwards tuxedo.

You see these V shapes here?

I want to incorporate something in the lines at the front.

I actually want it quite loose. It's just the front I want fitting

because I want it to be sexy and gaping at the back.

OK. What about - I hate to use the word - side-boob?

Oh, yes, well, that'll be taken in.

It's on backwards, Tamara. I realise that!

I'm making a halter neck from the main fabric of the suit.

I want to keep the fact that it once was a suit as part of the design, if you like.

I've got a great picture in my head.

What actually gets produced are two different things.

I think I'm going to make a little top. Are you?

With some nice darts in. Yeah.

Simple and beautiful. I think they'll love it.

'Lynda is the only sewer using just the trousers.'

What is this? That's upside down, my love.

Never mind! Is this a gorgeous skirt?

This is going to be a pinafore slip.

It's going to be a bib on top. Oh, divine!

Should you just be doing that, David, just ripping?

It's great. Very therapeutic. Want to try some?

Can I rip it? Hang on. You pull it.

OK, if you cut me, I will kill you. You should know that,

on crutches or not on crutches.

Are you sure we should just be doing this? Nobody else is doing this.

Other people are, like, being a bit more careful.

This is reminding me of my school skirt.

We had to wear gymslips in the summer.

When I was about 13 I decided, no, I'm not wearing gymslips any more.

I cut it like this and I cut it into this tiny little skirt,

instead of a big gymslip with a zip.

I was naughty. I used to mess about

and tie people's shoelaces together and stuff.

You can imagine that, can't you?

Sewers, you have one hour left. One hour.

I'm putting in darts to give it shape around the bust line

and I'm going to do it before I do any of this seaming.

I actually quite like the length. I might make it a dress.

We'll start with the darts otherwise I'll get confused.

Whilst some of the sewers are using darts to shape the waist and bust of their garment,

others are using them as a feature.

I'm just going to try and put in the tiniest little darts just as a decorative measure

so that it'll look like it's supposed to be like that.

Heather has been thinking along the same lines.

I'm going to try and use all the darting as a feature.

There's going to be an asymmetrical back on it.

An asymmetrical back? Love it!

It looks like something we'd all want to wear. Super chic.

These are pleats and darts and what I'm going to do

is actually stitch them on the outside of the garment

instead of the inside so you can see them.

I'm going to top stitch them.

I've got to cut into the jacket and I really didn't want to.

My straps are just going to be rectangles folded over,

hemmed, turned the right way and pressed.

Oh, what a waste of a jacket.

Sewers, you have 15 minutes left. 15 minutes.

I've shaped my garment so I've completely restructured it.

Tamara is using the cuffs to create a ruffle across her top.

And I just wanted to use a bit more of the suit.

What should I do with the collar at this point in my life?

Is it going to be tight? Yep.

David, this bit is gorgeous.

I just want you to put... This feels...

A little empty? Correct. You're a policeman, for goodness' sake.

It's gorgeous, Lynda.

Yeah, you'd wear it, wouldn't you, Claudia?

I'd wear it with a black polo neck.

Yeah, and kinky boots.

You've got one minute 30 seconds.

Love a good bodge.

This girl really needs to go on a diet. She's too fat.

Oh, God, I can't watch. That's not going to fit, is it, David?

Yeah, yeah, it's going to fit.

Never had any doubt it would fit.

Right, that's it. Time's up.

Don't touch it.

OK, everybody, let's take them to the front and jumble them up. OK?

# Got a brand-new suit

# Got a brand-new tie

# Got a brand-new twinkle in my eye. #

Patrick and May have no idea

which sewer is responsible for which transformed suit.

Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Well done, everybody.

I'm mightily impressed by everything I see in front of me.

Have a closer gander.

It's pretty ingenious actually.

It's extremely well-shaped.

Sleeves chopped off, brought up and reinserted.

We've got the revere coming round the back here, look.

There's the button from the revere.

It's a really good idea, using the trouser leg and shaping up. Yep.

Clever. You're impressed? We are impressed, yes.

One of the simplest transformations but a wearable top.

It fits the mannequin well.

Quite a simple design altogether.

It's one central panel

and two panels which form the side and the back.

It's actually a very straightforward piece of engineering

and quite cleverly done.

We've got some insertions here. OK. Some shaped insertions.

Extra darting to give it bust shaping

and we've got these darts down here which were in the original suit.

It's neat, it fits the mannequin well,

it's definitely a big transformation.

It's an effective little pinafore dress. It is.

A seam that's been matched all the way up the centre front.

That looks like the bottom of a trouser leg by that tape there. You're right. It is.

We've got some rouleau fastenings.

Neatly sewn, fits the mannequin well.

That works incredibly well.

This is a substantial piece of re-engineering

and it doesn't fit perfectly.

Row of three buttons.

We've taken both cuffs apart and used both cuffs to create this.

It looks transformative

but it is just the suit jacket turned back to front,

sleeves and shoulders out.

I'm not convinced it will stay on terribly comfortably but...

I think it's a really interesting use of the fabric. Yep.

May and Patrick now reveal

who they think has made the best use of the suit

and exhibited the finest tailoring techniques.

This one just makes me smile.

I love it, absolutely love it. Happy with that. OK.

So in fifth place please come up...

In a line-up of pretty radical transformations,

we felt this still retained a lot of its jacket-ness

and I think the fit over the bust wasn't terrific.

And in fourth place...

David.

A really good transformation and the only thing we could say

was that looks a bit like a jacket still.

I did want to keep the fact that it was a jacket.

If I was going out for a night on the town and I was a young female,

I'd think, "Look! Showing off what I've done."

That's a dream picture in my head, just so we're clear.

I've got disturbing images.

David, thank you.

In third place is the very beautiful tailored boob tube.

There were more complex and more creative ideas,

but really well-executed and really well done. Thank you.

Is Lynda second place? Yes! Lynda?

Really great transformation, lots of shaping, lots of processes.

Thank you. Well done.

So the winner is Chinelo!

I'm so happy! Finally. Yes!

I mean, just terrific. It made me smile the moment we walked in here.

Brilliant. Thank you.

A huge well done to all of you.

Go home, have a nap, have a cuddle.

We will see you tomorrow for the big challenge. Thanks very much.

I'm so excited, honestly, to finally come first in the alteration challenge.

I've hogged second place for ages so I'm so happy to be first.

It was a shock to come last

but, you know, after my heart sunk to my boots I thought,

"You know what? Pull your socks up and get on with it."

Not great results, to be honest. Last and second from last

which means I have to work doubly hard tomorrow.

A brand-new day and just one challenge to go

before one sewer will be sent home

How have they all done? May?

Lynda, who's been our most consistent,

her blouse wasn't very good, which was a real surprise.

David needs to really excel today or he could be in a bit of difficulty.

Of everybody yesterday, I think Heather had the best day,

but Chinelo also I think acquitted herself pretty admirably in both challenges.

Tamara's blouse was in the middle of the pack.

She needs to do well on the next challenge.

With a place in the semifinals at stake,

there's a lot riding on this last challenge.

As usual, it's all about fit.

The sewers will be recreating an historic item of clothing

and must make it fit a real person,

so their models have returned to the sewing room

Good morning, everyone.

Today the judges want you to make a historic coat.

This could have come from an old pattern

or maybe a beautiful photograph of an old coat that you've always wanted to make.

As well as fit, the judges will be looking for authentic techniques.

Sewers, you have six and a half hours and your time starts now.

The sewers have done lots of homework for this task.

They've been researching old sewing methods

and sourcing appropriate fabrics, which May and Patrick

have suggested they bring to the sewing room pre-cut.

What we want to see from our sewers this week

is a return to substantial fabrics.

Construction techniques that mean that a coat will last,

so canvassing, hand finishing on button holes,

anything that makes the coat something that you will keep in your wardrobe for years.

Where might our five sewers come undone?

You need a coat to have a really beautifully clean edge

and a really good finish to it,

and some people might find that hard to do because it's quite bulky.

The sewers have practised making their coats at home,

but now they must try and achieve the sharp finish the judges are looking for,

and ensure they fit their models, all in just six and a half hours.

That's the back!

Tamara's chosen to make a coat her mum made for herself back in 1967.

It was one of the first complicated patterns she'd attempted. Oh!

She told me all about it and we had a look through

all the vintage patterns together, so it was quite nice.

Tamara's homage to her mum's coat is a classic '60s shape,

fitted at the bust with princess seams and an empire line.

It's lined with contrast fabric

and finished off with matching bound buttonholes.

Tamara's making her coat in a bright yellow wool.

My grandmother and my mum found all of these 1960s pattern books,

which are amazing.

The type of fabric that they used is very similar to what I've got.

Quite a heavy wool. As I make this coat,

I'm thinking of my mum going through the same processes as me.

It's like reliving the past.

Lynda's also been inspired by her mum.

The pattern I've chosen really reminds me of my mum.

The coat really brings back memories of that time,

and when I was little

In this photograph, she's actually pregnant with me

and in that photograph there,

she's actually wearing almost the same coat.

Lynda's 1950s wool flannel coat has a shawl collar and full skirt.

Have you quite enjoyed this task? I've loved it.

I've been upset but I love it. I'm upset about my mother.

She would love to make this. Would she?

She would, yes. Because also she was a brilliant seamstress. She was.

A tailoress, actually, so this is her thing.

She made everything but when it came down to what she loved

and did the best, it was tailored things like this.

Good luck. See you later.

After the war, fabrics weren't rationed any more

so that point of austerity was over and done with.

Christian Dior came in with new fashions of using a lot more fabric

in a much more flamboyant and luxurious way.

I have a photo here of just how much fabric one can put

into a swing coat. I mean, awesome or what?

Just beautiful.

Heather's 1953 swing coat

is a voluminous three-quarter length design

with contrast drape collar, patch pockets and turned-back cuffs.

You have the same fabrics but you've just got red and black? Yeah.

What's the fabric composition?

It's a cashmere and wool blend and I'm going to line it also in silk.

You will have to make sure of course

that it's hanging perfectly level and horizontally all the way around.

The New Look Heather is referring to

was launched by Christian Dior in 1947 in Paris,

and it had an enormous impact on the fashion world.

Chinelo has also been inspired by the Dior full-skirted look.

Is this the photograph?

This is my inspiration.

Oh, it's beautiful. Absolutely stunning.

Chinelo's 1940s style coat

is fitted at the bodice

and flares out at the waist.

I've never made a coat before.

I have attempted to make something like a jacket,

but I've never made a proper tailored jacket.

David's been inspired by something rather closer to home.

I've decided to make a 1940s police coat because I'm a policeman

and I just thought it would be nice to go back down memory lane,

although I wasn't even born then.

The police coat David's making

has a high collar, side pleats,

breast pockets and original buttons,

all the result of his own research.

Quite enjoyed phoning up the old men at the heritage centre and they were like,

SQUEAKY VOICE: "Ooh, yes. It's very much like this. They had pointy pockets and everything."

If they're watching, they might be slightly upset at your impersonation. I'm just saying!

They were very helpful.

They were very helpful? Good boy. This feels ridiculous. What is this?

It feels like a carpet. Very heavy wool.

Well, it's not far off it. It's really, really heavy wool.

For the coats to be robust and retain their shape,

they need to be structured inside with extra stiffening fabric.

Canvassing, apparently.

Around the room, we've got different sewers doing

different types of structural canvassing inside.

This canvas provides stability and the ability

to shape the garment.

If we took all of this out,

what you'd find is you've just got cloth draping on the body.

The point of tailoring is there is an internal structure

which creates all of this shape.

So much work goes into it.

This is hair canvas, and it's very springy and resilient,

so this is going to give body and substance and a little

bit of spring to it, so it will keep its shape through the front line.

Tamara's giving structure to her coat with

interlining, which she is tacking to the inside of the coat.

Normally, I would iron this on, but because I'm using '60s methods,

I'm hand-stitching.

So I'm just using really long stitches in a contrast thread that,

when I'm finished doing my machine stitching,

I can pull this thread out. You won't be able to see it.

'Chinelo might be making a 1940s coat, but she's not sticking

'to the 1940s methods.'

What is this, by the way? This is interfacing. I'm cheating

a little bit, because they would not have used fusible interfacing,

but as we've only got six and half hours to do this,

I have to cut some corners. Yeah.

Are you worried that you've been slightly too ambitious on this task?

I have definitely been ambitious on this task,

but that's what got me first for yesterday's challenge,

so hopefully it'll pay off again today.

Two and a half hours down, four to go...

SHE EXHALES

..and at last, some construction begins.

I'm doing the side back panels,

which hopefully will give it a nice fit around the kidneys.

The biggest challenge the sewers face is the sheer amount of fabric

they have to handle.

Achieving a sharp finish will not be easy.

A lot of fabric bulk here to actually get under the machine foot.

David's fabric is already causing problems.

It's twice as thick as what I thought it was going to be.

I ended up buying it over the phone.

The fellow went, "Yeah, we've got exactly the thing for you.

"Don't worry about it. Leave it with me." And he gave me this stuff.

This fabric's proving to be really difficult to work with,

and I didn't practice with this fabric, either.

It's just falling to pieces the more I work with it.

I could have done with something that wasn't so open.

Heather's collar forms the front of her coat,

so she's strengthening it with canvas and cotton poplin.

This is a poplin interlining.

I'm going to use it just around the back of the collar,

and then I'm just going to face down the front through the hemline.

David's adding a rather more personal touch to his collar.

707 was my first collar number

from when I used to walk the beat in Brixton.

The collar is made from two pieces, and would have prevented you...

..from being garrotted.

According to the history books, anyway.

Sewers, you're halfway through.

You have three hours and 15 minutes left.

The collar is now on. Sleeves are next - we'll see how they go.

To allow for movement in the elbow of his heavy wool tunic,

David's sleeves are made up of two parts, to produce a curve.

The thing that worries me, though, is fitting sleeve heads in, because

it's something I've not had practice at. Could be a complete disaster.

Can you hold your arm out?

Lynda's coat has simple dolman sleeves, which are cut out as part

of the bodice. They're named after a Turkish robe called a dolaman.

I think that's just about right. Yeah?

Heather's more intricate coat includes cuffs.

Now I am going to slip

this sleeve into this sleeve,

and here are my locating pins,

so that goes on that side, and,

obviously, my seam goes on that side.

This is a gathered sleeve head, so you want it to have that shape,

so when it fits into the arm hole, it falls down nice and flat.

I'm just going to put it on him.

Got to sort of work out where I need material

and where I don't need material,

and it's not easy.

With the tricky bodice section complete,

the sewers can finally get to work on the skirt.

I'm attaching the skirt to the back bodice now.

These pieces are the skirt of the jacket,

so I'm going to sew it all together.

Sewing a hem along a bulky fabric takes real patience,

but Lynda and Chinelo have given themselves

the hardest task of all - they both have three metres of skirt to hem.

This is what I was panicking about.

There's so much of it.

The stitches shouldn't show on the outside of the garment,

so Lynda is painstakingly hand-sewing.

When I did the coat at home, the hem took me the longest.

And that's what's worrying me - there's yards and yards of it.

I'm not going to hem it. That's going to take forever.

I'm going to bag it out with top stitch and then press it.

Bagging out involves attaching the lining

to the bottom of the coat, right side to right side.

It's then machine stitched, and turned right-side-out,

so all the raw seams are hidden inside the lining.

Time at the moment is not my best friend.

One hour to go.

I'll be lucky if I get a finished garment

in the time that we've got left.

It'll probably all unravel into a pile of wool on the floor

by the time it gets judged.

How is it?

Well, I'm halfway round the hem, so I'm really chuffed.

You're working so fast!

I'm boiling. My hands are sweating. This is really...

Really hard, to do this quick.

Look! You can't see it at all!

RIPPING

SHE GASPS

Oh, lordy. This stuff is so fragile.

That's where I ripped my coat.

Sad face.

Sewers, you have 22 minutes left.

'As well as using vintage patterns for their coats,

'the sewers have had to research authentic fastenings.'

The buttons make the dress uniform - they've got to go on.

'While David is using a modern buttonhole foot,

'Tamara's using a more traditional method to create buttonholes.'

I'm really trying to make the lips of the buttonhole even.

I'm having a real nightmare with the fabric.

Tamara's also covering her own buttons.

I've done a couple of trials.

I tried to make the button with this, but of course...

Guess what happened!

So I'm using the fabric that I used on my buttonholes.

Five minutes to finish your coats

and your policeman's dressing-up outfit.

I have got a lot to do.

SHE EXHALES HEAVILY

I need to hand-stitch the inside of my buttonholes,

which I have four to do.

I'm putting buttons on the princess line.

And there would've been two on the pockets, except time has got away

from me and I haven't been able to do pockets.

I'm definitely not going to have time to put my pockets on.

If I can't get my buttons on, I definitely can't get my pockets on.

You have one minute, everyone!

One minute to make these beautiful coats.

I've bruised my velvet.

You've got ten seconds!

Oh, good(!)

Heather? I need the ten seconds.

It's so bulky.

That's it - the end.

Ooh! Did you get a prick? Yep.

Seriously? Oh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot to say,

there's some pins down here.

SHE EXHALES HEAVILY

I just think everyone else's is amazing. I love Tamara's one.

I love Heather's. I think that's garment of the week.

Absolutely exhausted by that.

I'm actually quite surprised it looks that good on.

Ah, the medals are for seamstressing,

cooking,

and polishing brass.

After six and a half hours of intense sewing, five historic coats

have been produced, which Patrick and May will now judge.

Lynda, please come forward.

I think it looks good.

From the front,

the collar is sitting very nicely.

The coat's running level

all the way around the bottom.

The sleeve looks nice and slim.

They're both finishing

at the same point on the crook in the hand.

Darts are even.

You've got lovely invisible hems. Lovely?

Well done, because they are really invisible. Yeah.

I think, overall, it looks like

a well-fitted, well-balanced,

well-executed coat. Thank you.

The first thing I notice, David,

is you got those sleeves in.

Well done. I saw you struggling.

They're not in the perfect place on both shoulders.

However, you haven't got any pleating, so well done.

Thank you.

I think the fit is really good.

Unfortunately, something a bit funny has happened with your collar.

This one's sitting prouder than this one. I don't know whether

it just wants... Needs a good press.

It needs a good press to bring it back up where it ought to be.

A tricky garment. I think you've fitted it well.

I think there's a lot of good sewing in it.

Just a couple of areas.

But overall a pretty good stab at that.

Thank you. Well done.

I like it.

You know, it's almost like I'm looking at the next Mrs Don Draper

here. Fit-wise it looks good. The shoulders look good.

Your buttons line up nicely with the holes ,and I like the fact

that you've done your own covered buttons in that silk there, too.

I'd rather not be seeing the under-collar.

Especially when it's a contrast.

When you're doing hems, particularly on such a bulky fabric,

don't turn it up double.

What's happening, it's a beautiful shape,

but we've got this ridge all the way round the hem,

and we've got the same all the way around the sleeves.

I was really rushing to get it all done! I know.

I'm a little sad, because it's so close to being a real knockout.

There's so much that's good in it that's just let down by just

a few little details.

Just seeing that little bit of red

on that front edge there,

that one little thing sort of spoils the front of it. I know. I know.

Didn't get round to doing the hem? No. Just ten minutes too late.

That draped sort of shawl is really effective.

I really like the way it's done,

and you've handled the pockets very

neatly. They're very well balanced.

Sadly, we've got one sleeve head that's sitting quite flat

and the other that's just a little bit proud.

For me, it's a real shame,

because it was that close to being a really lovely-looking garment.

There's a couple of fit things.

I think there's just a little bit of a wave around that bottom edge.

The straight grain on the skirt is running from here, this way,

rather than from here, this way.

So it's just riding away from you a bit.

The other thing that leaps out

is this front edge, here.

This needs to be absolutely flat, but it's lumpy around the edge.

So we've got a beautiful lining, and also,

you've bagged out your lining and

your hem, and you've understitched.

The shape through it is really very nice. It's draping well.

The back is good.

You've left a little bit of back drape there for movement.

A lot of good stuff.

I think it's a good-looking coat.

It's just really control of those edges throughout

that's let you down. It's in the details.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

A huge well done on that extraordinarily difficult challenge.

It's now time for you guys to have a break.

When you come back in, the judges will announce

the best garment of the week, and, unfortunately, they're going to

announce who's leaving the Sewing Bee.

I'm not sure I've done enough.

The girls' coats are just amazing, aren't they?

I just hope I've done enough techniques to pull it off.

Going in to the last challenge, I felt really confident, but then

hitting that wall with the fabric, my confidence just went to zero.

It is a competition, of course,

but we're all incredibly friendly and nobody wants anybody to go.

So this is the tricky bit.

Who do you think needs to now leave?

We had two blouses yesterday, both in polka dots - David's and Lynda's,

neither of which were particularly good at all.

The alteration challenges,

there were a few that were relatively close.

One of the weaker ones was Tamara's, wasn't it? Yes.

That one, we felt, was the least well-managed.

It's a difficult decision whichever way we look at it. Yes.

I mean, I have an inkling myself... Yes. ..but I think May and I

just need to talk about this one a little bit further. OK.

Look at Lynda - already gone. I haven't even said anything.

Well, I can't help it! I'm sorry.

THEY CHUCKLE

Let's do the good bit first.

Our garment of the week this week is...

..Lynda's coat. Oh, my God!

APPLAUSE

This was all about using vintage-style fabrics,

old techniques,

and what you did was perfectly on-point for that.

Well done. Thank you!

So here comes the horrid bit, and we've got to do it.

The person leaving the Sewing Bee is...

It's David.

THEY ALL EXCLAIM

I'm sorry! Come on!

David! Oh, David!

We're going to so miss you, David.

David has been a joy to have in the sewing room.

He has learnt so much every week and it's been fantastic watching

somebody who's much more competent than when he started.

Really upset that David's gone.

I can't tell you how upsetting it is. He's just been amazing.

It really won't be the same without him.

I'm really, really sad that David's gone.

Really sad. I love him. He's been my hero.

I've reached my limit and that's fine.

The girls deserve to be here.

I'm really glad they're not going, actually,

because I'd be quite upset if one of them went.

I just realised, I'm through to the semifinal! Throat's hurting...

from trying not to cry.

Next week, it's the semifinal.

You could cut the air with a knife.

Tamara, Lynda, Chinelo and Heather go head-to-head.

I shall be really disappointed if this doesn't work.

Who will manage a dress with no pattern?

This is the scary part!

Which of them will produce the perfect alteration?

That's not too bad. They're not going to be happy.

Has Chinelo finally bitten off more than she can chew?

These are all sewn on in individual pieces? Individual pieces, yeah.

You're absolutely crazy.

And who will make it to the final?

I really hope I've done enough to stay in.

That's really exactly what I didn't want to do.

SHE EXHALES HEAVILY

If you'd like to sharpen up your sewing skills, please go to...

..for ideas and projects based on the series.