Episode 3 The Great British Sewing Bee

It's the semi-final of The Great British Sewing Bee

and the pressure is on.

After last week's agonising decision about who created the perfect

zip-fly and who rolled the finest silk hem,

we're down to four contestants,

all of whom want to stitch their way to victory

and be crowned Britain's Best Amateur Sewer.

They get a crown, right?

Last time, making a pair of trousers separated the men from the boys.

And you've got the fly the wrong way around.

-Fitness instructor Stuart...

-Oh, cheeky!

..surprised the judges with his tulips.

Love it. Brilliant!

For the first time, Ann disappointed with her patch pockets.

I think you could have been more ambitious.

I think we'll leave it at that.

-And after the silky blouse challenge...

-It's gone Pete Tong.

..and much debate...

-We need to talk about that.

-We do need to talk about this.

..Tilly...

I've lost my pins, I've lost everything.

..and Mark were asked to leave The Sewing Bee.

Oh, no!

This week:

# I'm in the semi-finals. #

The semi-finalists face three more challenges,

set by Savile Row's Patrick Grant

and the nation's most experienced sewing teacher, May Martin.

The fabric itself has got a mind of its own.

But how will they cope with sewing on a miniature scale?

The competition is fierce, isn't it? Fierce.

What can they possibly do to transform this shapeless dress?

I want to do something drastic like chop the skirt off.

And after the most tricky made-to-measure challenge yet...

I've got cramp in my fingers!

..which one of them will be asked to leave The Sewing Bee?

They're just going to crucify me!

-I've not got enough fabric.

-I can smell the tension.

The tasks are getting harder.

Only the best three will make it through to the final.

This is The Great British Sewing Bee.

We're back in east London, where the four remaining contestants

are facing two solid days of sewing.

81-year-old yoga devotee Ann

is hoping her 75 years of sewing experience

will hold her in good stead.

Back again! This is absolutely amazing. Brilliant!

She is very measured and knows her capabilities, which are great.

But she never takes big risks.

Up against Ann is 41-year-old fitness instructor

and creative maverick, Stuart.

I want to up my game, I want to be good enough to stay in.

I really fought for Stuart last week because he showed flair,

he showed individuality,

but today there are some technical challenges.

48-year-old hospital cleaner Sandra has honed her sewing skills

making clothes for family and friends.

I can't believe I'm here for the semi-final.

The judges will not give you a second chance for getting it wrong,

not at this late stage.

Sandra needs to demonstrate to us that she knows how to fit.

She needs to show us that the eye for fitting,

as well as technical excellence, are there.

And the fourth semi-finalist is 27-year-old perfectionist Lauren.

Everything definitely feels much more tense.

Everyone knows the levels of what you've got to do

have just been pushed up a little bit.

There's no corner to hide.

I think Lauren needs to just show

there is more about her than florals and frills.

I think we need to see she's got a broader range of capabilities.

Oh, Lordy!

The semi-finalists have no idea what today's challenges will involve.

I'm really excited about today and I'm really looking forward

to watching all of them do their best work.

We are looking to expose any weaknesses

and to celebrate all the brilliant techniques they can bring to bear.

Welcome back to The Sewing Bee

and huge congratulations for getting into the semi-final.

We always start with a challenge about following a pattern.

The judges today would like you to make a child's dress.

You can use whatever fabric you like.

Lauren, you look terrified.

-Just a bit.

-Absolute nightmare.

Is it? Good luck. Off you go. Two-and-a-half hours. It starts now.

In this first challenge,

the judges want to test the sewers' ability to follow a pattern.

As it's the semi-final, they want to see couture techniques

carried out on a small scale.

The pattern itself is for a toddler's summer dress.

It's straight-forward but the finishing needs to be exquisite.

Two pieces of fabric are sewn together with a special French seam,

then gathered into fine pleats at the top

with rows of shirring elastic.

It's joined to form a tube and stitched on to the other side.

Then rouleau loops are made by rolling two strips of fabric

which are then attached to the shoulder and tied in a bow.

What kind of fabric should these guys be choosing?

-Something that's soft.

-Like that.

-We want this to gather up.

If the fabric's too stiff, it won't sit well.

We want it to ruche up.

It's a nice, light, fine cotton fabric.

So things like the shirring, where everything is elasticated

and gathered up, if you had a fabric that was very thick,

it would sort of be lumpy and wouldn't hang nicely.

-Is this a good fabric, May?

-Yes, you need something soft.

-I wanted something lightweight.

-A good choice.

It's soft, so it'll move nicely.

It's plain, so you don't have to worry about a pattern.

But not everyone has gone for a simple option.

I thought with a stripe, the bottom would look as good as the top.

First thing I've got to do is find the rest of my pattern!

I wanted a fine cotton

and also that I thought would look pretty on a child.

I think a child might be quite happy with the flowers on this print.

I think it's rather fun.

# 20 tiny fingers

# 20 tiny toes... #

Once the sewers have cut out the back and front of the dress,

they need to stitch it together on one side,

using their first couture technique.

Using a French seam, join...

Ah, now, French seams...

I know what a French seam is. Phew! That's good.

What is a French seam?

You sew wrong side to wrong side, one row of stitching,

then you turn it back, fold it, press it,

and then you resew it again on the top

so you've got two rows of stitching.

So the raw edges are enclosed inside

-and you've got a very, very strong seam.

-Why is that important?

One of the things about kids' clothes is they get washed a lot.

You need a robust garment.

It's almost like you sew the seam twice

so that it hides any raw edges

and it's just a neater way of finishing something off.

It also means it's nice and soft on the inside for kids.

When I've made children's clothes before,

it's really just been as a little practice to myself.

I've not actually made them for a child,

just because they are kind of cute.

What have you been practising for, Lauren?

You're starting to sound like my mother-in-law now!

It's many years since I did anything like this.

Mother of five and grandmother of seven,

Ann has an advantage over the other sewers in the semi-final,

having made clothes for two generations of children.

Funnily enough, we were talking about this last week.

They reminded me of special dresses that I'd made for them

and the excitement they felt in seeing them.

It was great!

Years ago, a friend of mine had a baby

and I made two absolutely revolting baby dresses.

Disgusting fabric.

You know, really bizarre, like curtain fabric.

I think it was a bit of a Sound Of Music moment, you know,

"That would look cute."

Not cute. Not cute, not clever.

HE LAUGHS Poor child!

It'll probably grow up psychologically damaged

and it'll be all my fault.

Every time they see a pair of curtains, they'll freak out.

One hour 30 minutes left.

That's one hour 30 minutes.

-Don't panic.

-I won't.

I thought I would be further on by now. Time's flying past.

Patrick and May's pattern doesn't specify how many rows

of shirring elastic the sewers should use

to gather the tops of their dresses.

I don't know if there's an indication on the picture.

I've got to shirr between here and here,

so I reckon probably one, two, three, four lines of shirring should do it.

Shirring shmirring.

If I was to have five...

One, two, three, four, five. That'll do.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

About seven to eight rows of elastic, I would like, in there.

It might be too much for some people, but you know what?

It's not going to make any difference

until Patrick gets his tape measure out.

The elastic has to be wound on to a bobbin

before putting it into the machine.

I'm just going to keep winding.

-That's the shirring elastic.

-That's the elastic.

You reel that onto there.

But you have to wind it on by hand.

If you wind it on the machine it stretches as it goes on.

-You have to wind it on relaxed.

-Ah!

I'm not going to tell anybody.

I'm going to put some shirring elastic on by machine.

I've done it by machine at home in the past.

Everybody else will be horrified.

I think if I hold it like that in my hand,

I can guide it, so it's not too tight.

There we go.

By hand it can be just too loose.

With the bobbin of elastic in the machine,

the fabric should ruche up easily.

You are shirring, you are pushing a row of elastic along

and as you machine stitch,

the elastic gathers up the fabric.

Crucial to perfect shirring is an even tension

when holding the fabric as it passes under the machine foot.

Making this little dress brings back the memories

of when you have got three to do.

The first one's a pleasure. The second one goes OK.

By the time you get to the third one,

you've had enough and want to get it finished.

The unlucky person got the third one.

It might have been a bit more roughly done.

Even when a row is finished, tension is still critical.

The trouble is, when you finish sewing,

you've got to make sure you pull enough elastic through

that you don't lose it.

As you pull it and cut it, it springs back into the machine.

My elastic just keeps pinging back into the bobbin.

Each additional row of elastic needs to be stitched

at precisely the same tension.

And perfectly parallel to the last.

This has got to be done quite by eye.

I suppose I could draw a line, but I'm not going to.

Is that in a straight line?

Yeah, I've pressed a crease so I have a crease to follow.

They are really into their parallel lines.

They're really into parallel lines. Absolutely.

They're like Blondie.

I put sticky tape on my machine

so I could line up the fabric as I stitch.

-Well done.

-Check it out!

-Shirring elastic, stage one.

How are you getting on, Ann?

Well, I'm getting there.

I think I've ventured too many rows of elastic.

-I think it's ambitious.

-I've done four. How many have you done?

I've done one, two, three, four

and I've still got about another four to go.

-Oh!

-Blooming heck. You're doing eight? Sandra!

-How many have you done?

-Oh, shut up!

-Get out of town!

-It'll be fine.

-How many have you done, Stuart?

-Three.

The little girl doesn't want it falling down, does she?

No, but at the same time, it doesn't want to be like a tourniquet, Sandra.

-Sorry?

-Doesn't want to be like a tourniquet, either.

Got to think about that child's comfort.

Once the dress is joined together to form a tube...

At the moment I'm doing the second French seam.

..the next couture technique is to create rouleau straps.

I'm turning my straps the right way. I've done the one fine.

This one, I'm all fingers and thumbs.

I think the pressure is getting to me.

Rouleau straps are round tubes of fabric.

How do you make it loop?

-You have a piece of fabric which you've cut...

-On the bias.

-I like it! On the bias!

-I'm learning.

You have a piece of fabric that you cut at a 45-degree angle.

-You then fold it in half.

-OK.

You machine your tube and then they've got a metal gadget

with a hook on the end, which you feed up through the tube,

-hook on the end and pull it through.

-You pull it inside out!

Got it, just!

If you look at the way Ann is making hers, she's hovering with the iron,

so the steam is going in and giving them a little press

but she's not squashing them flat.

-But Sandra has other ideas.

-I'm not doing rouleau straps.

I have done the one.

I can demonstrate why I prefer to go with my own.

There is never a completely right way of doing anything in sewing,

you do what you are happy with.

With a place in the final at stake,

Sandra's decision not to follow the pattern could be dangerous.

They want the rouleau strap.

(They are not getting a rouleau strap.)

Well, what's this? What's this finickety thing?

-I don't like it.

-What are you talking about?

-Turn this inside out!

-I haven't got time.

Everyone, you have ten minutes. That's the ten minute call.

The final instruction on the pattern is to find and add embellishment.

It hadn't occurred to me to do anything outside the instructions.

I thought that the test was to follow the instructions.

Oh, embellishment of your ch... I didn't read that!

I wanted to add something. I'm thinking another button.

-There are other buttons going on. So button up.

-OK.

I'm going to make another bit of rouleau and tie a bow on the front.

I haven't got time to think of anything else.

Two little buttons and I had time

so I'm putting a patch pocket on the front, as well.

Let's never forget your success with the patch pocket.

Just call me the Patch Man.

I'm not really sure what I'm doing there.

My pins are in the wrong way. I'll do it this way.

You have 30 seconds, please,

to put your beautiful dresses on the mannequins.

How are you doing, guys?

15 seconds.

Sandra, I'll be honest, I am talking to you.

Thank you. Finito.

Stand away. Stand away. Look somewhere else.

Finished. Massive well done.

These are adorable.

# I love you, a bushel and a peck

# A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck

# A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap

# A barrel and a heap and I'm talking in my sleep

# About you... #

May, first impression?

We've got even spacing with our shirring here.

This is a lovely French seam. Yes, it is very well-executed.

I like the detail. You've tied a knot on the end of your rouleau,

which I think is really precise.

The bow on the front is a beautiful detail.

Very delicate. It's very beautifully done.

Ann, well done. Are you happy with that?

Very happy, yes, thank you.

First impression? Really, really cute.

However, the problem up here is if you were putting this

on and off a child and you only had two rows of shirring,

it's weak and it would take no time at all for the shirring to break.

and it's by having several rows of it

that you get the strength in the garment.

Right. Now then, French seams. Quite a generous seam.

One might say sort of on the elephant side.

I think you need to refine your techniques a bit

and scale them down a little bit.

This is a beautifully executed rendition of this pattern.

The obvious thing to say

is just how beautifully delicate these straps are.

I mean, this is just exemplary handling skills.

I mean, really, really fabulous.

It's extremely neatly sewn through the bodice.

A fantastic piece of sewing.

I think you've done a really, really good job.

Your French seam is really fine.

Smaller than Ann's. Good job.

I've just been really impressed with the way those stripes are sitting around the garment.

They are all sitting vertically and it's so easy to twist them,

if that shirring hadn't been done nicely.

A brilliant technique.

-You haven't made rouleau loops.

-I have.

Well, you've made one and you've kind of,

"Here's one I didn't make earlier."

If my child was wearing that,

they would want a strap that would stop on.

In many senses you're right but we did ask you to follow a pattern

we've got to be strict on it

but what you've done through here is exemplary.

Patrick and May will now rank the sewers'

attempts from fourth to first.

Sadly, Stuart, yours is number four. A little bit more shirring required.

Sandra, you come in at number three, beautiful shirring

but you had flat straps.

Patrick, who is in at two?

Very, very difficult to choose between the two of them,

because both beautifully executed but second...

Ann.

-Congratulations to Lauren!

-Yey!

You won it because those straps are just exquisite.

-Congratulations.

-A huge well done.

-THEY CLAP

Go and have a rest before challenge number two, cos it's a biggie.

You might want to have a sit down.

I've not had anything up until now,

and to finally get top in something, I'm really, really chuffed.

I could have made rouleau that small but I didn't.

I need to get myself a little higher in the league tables.

I'm gutted. I can't help but say I'm absolutely gutted.

It's the semi-final, I've got to up my game.

If I don't, I'm really jeopardising my place.

Four beautiful little girl's dresses.

Now it is time for the alteration challenge.

Our sewers have just 90 minutes

to transform the trickiest high street buy yet.

It's time for your alteration challenge.

You've got an hour-and-a-half to dramatically alter this dress.

At the moment it's quite shapeless. You can use pleats.

You can use darts. You can use whatever you want.

You've got an hour-and-a-half. Your time starts now.

This shift stress is made of viscose,

a fluid fabric commonly used in high street dresses.

Wait a minute. I need to think a bit more.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Off-the-peg, it's very loose-fitting,

so it's a perfect garment for a radical alteration.

Being able to take a very straight-forward dress like this

and give it some style

and changing its shape is a really useful thing to be able to do.

One of the most obvious things to do is to create a waist.

We can put a couple of darts into the front,

we can do the same at the back.

We can take away in the side seams.

We want to see innate understanding of how to create shape in a garment.

I know what I want to do...

..I just can't figure out the best way to do it.

I'm going to taper the hem

so that it fits in more closely at the side.

I'm going to put some tucks at the front

and I'm going to dart the back so that it fits more closely here.

I almost want to do something drastic like chop the skirt off

-but I think it would be quite a big...

-You can!

-I would feel quite nervous about doing it.

-Don't!

They want alteration, I think you would get points,

I'll say this to everyone, for being a bit dramatic.

You'd chop it off and then what? Attach it again, almost with a band?

Like a belt that's attached.

I'm obsessed by that idea!

If there is any credit for being just a little innovative,

I want to try and get it.

I'm doing like a sort of almost like a zigzag ripple effect

down the outside, hand sewing on the outside.

If in doubt, call it punk. That's what I say.

-Sandra, how are you, darling?

-I'm fine. I'm putting some darts in.

This is an alteration challenge but all I'm saying,

I've said it to Lauren, because it's the semi-final,

I think the judges want bravery.

You need a lot more time for more bravery.

-Do you?

-I think so. Well, I do.

-Don't say that!

I've just persuade Lauren to cut her skirt off!

-What have we had? An hour and 25?

-I bet we've only got an hour now.

"Contestants, you have three minutes. Three minutes."

While Stuart, Ann and Sandra

can repin their alterations if they aren't happy...

If the dart's positioned wrong, it'll look dreadful.

..Lauren is about to face the point of no return.

What I'm going to do is make the top of the dress fitted

but make the bottom of the dress pleated.

I'm going to chop it off.

But I want to make sure I chop it off straight.

Here goes!

Chop, chop, chop.

No going back now.

I've just got to go for it, I think.

30 minutes gone and 60 to go.

40 years ago it wasn't unusual to make your own clothes.

Most homes had a sewing machine and most high streets a haberdashery.

During the Second World War, home sewers were called on

to play a vital role for king and country.

And they had quite an illustrious role model.

In 1939, the Queen Mother gathered the members of her staff

in the Blue Drawing Room of Buckingham Palace

twice weekly to make clothes for the troops fighting in World War Two.

She showed the world that when faced with the terrible prospect of war,

everyone would have to do their bit.

Women from all walks of life were encouraged to gather together

to form sewing work parties, known as Sewing Bees,

using their skills to contribute to the war effort.

The Queen Mother was a big role model at the time

because she was the patron of the Women's Voluntary Service.

They actually organised a lot of these Sewing Bees.

They were a powerhouse of activity where women could come

and really contribute to the war effort

with something they had skills to do.

They'd be quite noisy and boisterous

but a real sense of community and a real sense of helping the home front.

The sewing work parties were often led by a more experienced sewer

who instructed the group on what was to be made that day.

The Government actually produced patterns for things like scarves,

balaclavas and sweaters that could be sent out to the Army and the Navy.

They also started making camouflage nets

and things really specifically for the war front.

I always think it must be hard for the women

who already knew their husbands were lost,

to keep producing those things

for other people's husbands and fiances who were out there.

In 1941, wartime sewing took a desperate turn

as industries became more focussed on the war effort,

fabrics were scarce and clothes rationing was introduced.

If you weren't wealthy enough to have a wardrobe full of clothes,

it was a case of make-do-and-mend.

When it comes to clothes, make-do-and-mend needn't be at all unfashionable.

Listen to what you can do.

Mrs Clarke made her frock from her husband's old plus-four trousers.

To help people cope with clothes rationing,

the Government issued leaflets, posters and newsreels

which gave women ideas about how to make their clothes last longer

and get creative with whatever material was to hand.

Make-do-and-mend is about using your existing clothes

or anything you have lying around the house to make new clothes.

Clothes rationing continued until 1949, by which time

Britain's make-do-and-menders had become increasingly resourceful.

Tell me about this dress.

They're made of silk maps which were issued to aircrews during the war.

At the end of the war, these maps were sold off in department stores

and people used them to make all sorts of clothes for themselves.

Absolutely beautiful.

People must have had amazing creativity

and learnt a lot of new skills in a fairly short time

to be able to produce this sort of thing.

I suppose necessity breeds invention.

People had no choice than to really improve their sewing skills.

There is one person in our own Sewing Bee

who developed her sewing skills thanks to clothes rationing.

When I went off to college in 1949,

I was wearing what to me looked a very smart,

straight skirt made out of an old pair of my father's trousers!

Well, in those days, men's trousers were Oxford bags,

so they had lots of pleats at the front, lots of room in the seat.

I think that he'd probably worn out the cuffs.

So I was given these trousers to unpick

and I made myself a skirt.

That's what I wore when I went up to college as a student at 18.

I hate having to make-do-and-mend,

I think because I had to do it for so long.

45 minutes to go, and with the new dress shapes pinned into place,

sewing can begin.

It's quite tricky, this is.

Having removed the middle of her dress, Lauren is reattaching the top to the bottom.

I should be able to just get everything done

but it's not going to be neat on the inside.

Let's assume I'm going to be fourth, in terms of skill.

Can I raise my game by being different to the others?

-Well, this is my attempt.

-I wanted more of an A-line dress.

I put two darts in the front, two in the back

taken the side seams in,

took that in a bit more around the waist.

Whether she'll ever get it off or on, I don't know.

-Has it got a bit of stretch in it?

-It has.

You should get it over the top.

OK, everybody, half an hour left. That's half an hour.

That will give me time to try and tart it up a bit.

Once they've managed to change the shape of their dress...

Don't be too small!

..the sewers can use any remaining time to embellish their alteration.

-Sandra, I'm just nicking your scissors.

-OK.

How are you going to finish it off?

Are you going to put that band around?

I'm still not 100% on that red.

-I feel like it looks like an air hostess.

-I'm not. I'm not.

I'm glad you said that. I'm not 100% on it.

I think something solid and bolder might look better.

I'm just putting some braiding around,

just to make it look a little bit different.

But when I've held it up, it's like something my nan used to wear!

-What are you doing?

-It's got a zip on the back anyway, on the outside.

-I'm just wondering if I can make...

-A zip belt?

-A zip flower.

-You're thinking of just making a zip flower.

-A zip flower.

-Why wouldn't you?

-I know.

-It's like Debbie Harry's in the...

-I know!

I wasn't happy with my ribbon

cos I felt like it looked like an air hostess,

so I've gone for something a bit disco.

Five minutes, everybody. Five minutes left.

Bloody hell!

I was thinking of putting that round the neck,

but I can't do it to my satisfaction in the time.

Rather than having it put on badly, I'm not going to put on at all.

Guys, you have one minute left.

Somebody's watch is wrong.

That ain't bad for free-hand, is it?

The judges said to radically change the dress.

Radically change the look of it, the fit of it. It is a radical change.

Oh, God! Please get on!

Oh, shit.

OK, that's it. Your time's up.

Please put your dress on your mannequin.

Place your mannequins at the end of your workstation.

She can't breathe in, this one.

The judges are going to judge.

The challenge was to dramatically change the shape of this dress.

May and Patrick are about to discover who succeeded.

OK. Um... A few thoughts went through my head.

Where's the nearest exit? That was the first one!

-I wanted this kind of rippled effect down the outside.

-Reshape it.

You can make it more fitted by pulling the zips down.

You fulfilled the brief

and you've created something that's quite bonkers-looking.

-Yep.

-I'm not saying that this is something we'd

put down a catwalk, but you've taken a big leap and you've done

a load of work and actually it kind of almost makes sense.

-Have you machined that on the inside?

-No, I hand-sewed it.

-On the outside?

-Yes.

-Because you found it was easier to control by working on the outside?

It wouldn't stand up to any strain, however it's really wacky.

If Stuart's dress is cheese, this is chalk.

It couldn't be more different.

-No.

-But it is equally, in my mind, precise and elegant. It's lovely.

The only thing I would say, Ann, it's absolutely beautiful,

but you played safe.

What's interesting is you've done a lot of things that are similar

to Ann's, but you've decided to take that all the way through.

I don't think they are quite as symmetrical

perhaps as they could be.

Your points, they might not be straight, but they are superb.

-Show me.

-They blend in beautifully with the garment, we've got

no pokes or puckers, not all absolutely perfect,

this one's a bit drunk here, but you displayed some good techniques.

I...

I really like it.

I think, you know, you've adhered to your brief, which is

you've dramatically changed the shape of this dress.

The fact you've got this pleat popping out has produced this

almost bustle-like effect on the back, which really gives it

a beautiful silhouette from the side, as well as from the front.

It really creates a very dramatic shape.

This is very different to what we've seen from you so far

and I really like it.

A huge well done on your second challenge.

Normally, you'd be going home at this point, but your third

and final challenge of the semi-final is a really big one.

So if you don't mind, we'll start on it tonight.

Go, have a cup of tea, then come back to the sewing room

and we will begin.

At this point in the competition,

there are two people that are incredibly closely matched.

Both Ann and Lauren have delivered two excellent challenges.

Lauren is excelling. She has stopped being a rabbit in the headlights.

She has taken on board everything we have set her

and she is really doing some wonderful work.

I think, for me, at this moment in time, Stuart is the guy whose

sewing across the two challenges has not been as high as the others.

He's fun. He enjoys himself. He has a go.

And he's grown throughout the competition

and he just keeps surprising us with his style.

Sandra is playing a bit safe.

I think I'd like to see her take a few risks

because she's such a good needlewoman and she needs to believe in herself.

For the last challenge of the semi-final,

the models have returned...

Hello!

..to be fitted with a garment

that will test the sewers' tailoring skills.

The judges wanted to give you tonight just to measure

your models and cut your fabric.

They would like you to make a jacket.

Your time starts now.

The sewers have an hour-and-a-half on the clock tonight.

They have chosen the pattern and fabric for their jacket

and had the chance to practice making them at home.

I did do a pre-run and used my daughter.

She was over the moon when it was on.

It's still half-finished, but there we go.

But with so many parts to each jacket,

constructing it to fit their model perfectly...

If you inhale, breathe in.

..means there are plenty of opportunities for mistakes

to be made and the Savile Row judge will spot any errors.

Is this the hardest thing you've asked our sewers to do?

I think it is the most technically demanding.

We've been testing dress-making techniques today.

In this challenge, we're going to test their ability to tailor a garment.

-What are you after? Simplicity or beautiful execution?

-Both.

The more ambitious they are, the more we will credit them.

Although it looks simple, there is a lot of work goes on inside this.

I'm going to have to cut corners, a lot of corners.

Ann's jacket is the classic boucle tweed,

edge-to-edge style with no collar.

This is the fabric that I'm using and it comes from Linton Tweed.

I bought it over the Internet.

That famous boucle tweed that everybody knows

and assumes is French, it's made in the north-west of England.

And it's wonderful.

And there are so many mills in Yorkshire and across Scotland

that are making for the very best couture houses

and fashion houses in France and Italy and we don't celebrate it.

-We don't know about it.

-It's beautiful.

It's something to be incredibly proud of.

I've tried to do something on the jacket that I haven't done before.

The collar overlaps and the jacket just comes edge to edge.

Sandra's softly tailored fine burgundy tweed jacket

has a wrap collar. But the fabric is already giving her problems.

It is going to fray rather badly.

My first step, I wasn't going to, will be to neaten all the edges

before I even do anything else, to stop it fraying.

The fabric that I'm using for the main part of the jacket

is what's called boiled wool.

The benefit of it is when you cut it, the edges don't fray.

Stuart's boiled wool will become a boxy loose-fitting

Alpine-style jacket with a stand-up Nehru collar.

Stuart and, to a certain extent, Sandra, are making their garment

and going to fit it on the fly which may work, it may not.

Ann is taking the approach we would take in Savile Row,

which is she is basting the jacket together,

very lightly sewing it together

and then it's not sewn properly until it fits correctly.

So you can make quite substantial adjustments very simply.

This won't be my actual jacket.

This is the toile, which is a sort of practice jacket

so that you can get the sizing right.

Lauren is first making her jacket in a cheap calico cotton.

Once it fits perfectly, she will use this toile as a template.

I've had so many issues with fit before

that I wanted to try and do every attempt to make the jacket fit.

Her tweed-fitted hacking jacket will be lined with pink satin.

-I've almost made the toile.

-Wow! That's good going.

But then I've not cut out anything else.

That sounds so much lengthier process than Stuart or Sandra.

At this point, your impressions are that Lauren and Ann

are doing it classically and will create a better garment?

They've got a much better chance of creating a better garment.

Guys, you have one minute left

and then you can go home and have a lie down.

I'm going to cut the lining and then I'm ready for construction.

I'm just hoping a good night's sleep will bring me back refreshed.

And I hope everybody else gets a bad night's sleep!

# You make my heart go tick a-tick a-tock

# Tick a-tick tock... #

Six hours remaining in the last challenge of the semi-final.

Stitch the shoulder seams, that's the next thing I've got to do.

Stuart and Sandra start sewing their jackets.

But Ann and Lauren are still fitting their garments to their models.

They've got a way to go before their fabric goes under the machine.

-Lauren, how are you feeling?

-Not great, to be honest.

-Why?

All I can hear is the buzz of sewing machines.

-So do you feel behind?

-And here I am, cutting out.

You've got about ten minutes left...

I'm kidding. You're going to be absolutely fine.

Good! Brilliant! Done!

Sandra is now having to go back

and neaten her fraying fabric with an overlocker.

It cuts and encloses the edges but can cause the fabric to stretch.

Are you finding it falling apart

and that's why you are doing all the overlocking?

I'm gutted I had to overlock.

I hadn't planned time for overlocking.

The problem is it takes so long, doesn't it?

Stuart has already machined the front

and back of his jacket together.

Stuart's making a jacket that isn't totally fitted.

It is a more casual jacket.

Does that still have to have the same fit?

It is not going to fit the body in the sense that this one has

that very sculpted Savile Row shape to it

through the side seam, but we're still going to be expecting it

to hang straight up and down.

A standard jacket off-the-rack is cut for an idealised form,

but everyone is different.

If we take Stuart's model, for example. If you just come in...

Hello, Alfonso.

If you look, what you see, looking at him,

come here and have a look,

-is this shoulder is significantly lower than that one.

-Yes! Oh!

And what's going to happen there is the jacket is going to drop and swing away that side.

We are going to be looking for that today.

Yeah, OK. Thank you.

Ann is fitting her model for the second time

with her loosely sewn jacket

and she has realised she needs to make an adjustment.

This is called a floating chest piece

and it's a piece of canvas that you put in this area,

and because my model is quite full-busted

and has a sort of hollow in the chest there,

this fills up that hollow.

She is very methodically going through it. I love her process.

Of everyone here, it's as close to the way we do it.

I just hope she gets it finished.

Stuart is going to have to finish his to a quite exceptional standard.

In the fitting he did, he chucked it on the model for a few seconds

and said, "That looks fine."

So it really had better be a good fit.

Sandra is actually overlocking everything and I think

only because her fabric, when she cut it out, it just started to fall apart.

Three hours have gone in the challenge

and Lauren still hasn't started sewing her jacket together.

And that's not her only problem.

I've lost, basically I've lost a bit of my jacket.

I've not got enough fabric.

With one vital piece missing,

she is at a standstill and might not be able to finish the challenge.

I can smell the tension.

Four-and-a-half hours to go.

Every week on the show, we give you a how-to guide.

How to make something lovely for the home.

This week, curtains.

Cut your fabric and lining material to size.

Press and hem both panels.

Place them on top of each other, leaving the lining

around five centimetres shorter than the curtain fabric at the bottom.

Pin together then stitch the lining to the curtain along the side seams.

At the top edge, fold in both layers

and pin the heading tape along the width of the curtain.

This is where you will attach the hooks.

Fold the raw edges under the tape and stitch it in position.

Tuck in curtain weights along the bottom hem and hand-sew them in.

This will help it hang smoothly.

Neaten the edges by folding in the hem on all remaining sides

and corners and hand finish.

Press and lightly steam on the wrong side up.

Finally, draw up the strings from both ends of the tape,

distributing the gathers evenly, and secure with a knot.

Your curtains are now ready to hang.

The sewers have four hours left to finish their jackets...

..and Lauren needs to make up valuable time.

I just thought I'd lost a bit but I found it, so panic over.

I do really want to win.

I know I can do it, it's just doing it in the time.

It's just really hard.

One of us is going to be leaving.

I don't want to see anybody go and I don't want to see myself go.

I'm pretending it's not going to happen

and I'm just trying to keep as focused as I can.

Ann is the only sewer to have chosen a tweed fabric with a pattern.

When I put this on,

the stripes of the jacket match up with the pink stripes going across.

With Patrick's eagle eye on us today,

they're going to match,

they're going to match as well as I can get them to match.

Once the main body of the jackets are sewn together,

the sleeves can be fitted into the armholes.

This is the bit that I'm most nervous about messing up.

I'm putting my first sleeve in.

The sleeve head is bigger than the hole it's going into.

So this bit here is bigger than the bit it is being inserted into.

So it literally needs to curve

and be gathered round to actually mould and sit into the armhole,

and that is quite a skilful thing to do

because you are making a large area sit smoothly and roundly

into a smaller area.

It's a delicate process called easing.

Most sewers pin the fabric in place before machining

to ensure the sleeve head is gathered without puckers

or pleats into the smaller armhole.

The fabric, because it's stretchy,

all the way through the construction that's been a little bit of a pain

but now, I can actually stretch and put them together

and that's where a bit of give in the fabric

is actually really helpful.

But not everyone is having to ease their sleeves.

Bit tight around the back.

Sandra's raglan sleeves attach higher up at the collar

and that's where her easing issue lies.

It fits around the jacket like that.

But overlocking all the edges of her fraying fabric

has caused the hole for Sandra's collar to stretch out of shape.

It fits but not as nicely as I would have liked it to.

-It's now larger than her collar piece.

-I shall just ease that in.

We will have to sort of stretch it a bit.

It will stretch because it's wool,

but I don't really want to give it that much.

Half an hour left, that's half an hour.

There is just time for hemming and any decorative touches.

The fabric itself has got a mind of its own

so I'm having to speak to it very, very firmly.

I'm feeling rushed.

The nature of the jacket is the fact it's an outer garment that has to look smart.

We're looking for really beautiful, clean lines.

We're looking for a very, very even distribution of fullness.

Everyone, you have ten minutes left. That's ten minutes.

Talk about working fast!

I'm going to be sewing right to the end.

We are looking for beautiful shaping and beautiful shoulders.

I've got another sleeve to do.

I shan't get the lining fastened down.

They are just going to crucify me!

It can't be a soppy garment.

It's got to be precise.

All right, then!

I've got cramp in my fingers!

I know it's not perfect but I think I have done enough.

You have one minute left. One minute.

More haste, less speed.

Take that to Savile Row, Patrick!

Five, four,

three, two, one.

-Brilliant.

-SHE CLAPS

Absolutely exhausted. Really exhausted.

It was a sewing marathon.

I don't think I've pressed it as much as I could.

My hand-sewing isn't neat because I was doing it so quickly.

I think my jacket looks OK on my model.

In fact, I think she looks rather good in it.

Everybody else has managed to finish and I haven't.

I would say I'm going home.

Lauren, please bring your girl up.

OK.

It is sitting quite level all the way around.

The shoulders look like they are nice fit.

You have kept the softness in the front, which I think is nice.

Can I just have a quick look at the back?

-It is a bit full there.

-That's fine.

You need a bit of back drape there to give you a bit of movement.

If it's drum tight across the back, that's not going to work.

Can we have a look at the inside?

The finish on the inside is good.

You'd neatened absolutely everything

so there's no falling apart with this jacket, is there?

Initially, I'm looking just at the front tipping up,

which is a shame,

-because this bit is just sitting up a bit.

-I know.

So the collar, sitting really well at the front. Nice and flat.

-Your sleeve seam is just slightly tipping forward, isn't it?

-Yes.

Because you have overlocked the fabric and it stretched slightly.

Overlooking stretched everything.

It's pulling it out of shape as you were working it, which is a shame.

Are we going to have a look inside?

So the lining has been put in nicely. Not finished, but...

Obviously, we've run out of time

but what you have managed to do inside is neat and well managed.

Slightly out of balance but not horrendously so.

We're just not quite the perfect circle around the neck

but a really nice curve into the back.

So we've got a vertical line coming down here which means

that your sleeve has been set in really symmetrically

and you've got a lovely vertical line so it's got balance.

Your fabric is just shouting, "this is a straight line",

and you've done it.

Round the back you've got a horizontal line

going across the back here, balancing across from shoulder to shoulder.

Shall we have a look inside?

I think the finish inside is worthy of the finish on the outside.

So there is a lot in here that is done very much to the standard

that we would do it on Savile Row.

The sleeves seem to be tipping off the shoulder is a little bit

and perhaps could come across a bit.

-I think they're supposed to be a bit higher up, aren't they?

-Yes.

I'm a bit disappointed that the binding around the top hasn't gone

right into the seam. You have done that both sides.

I'm going to undo it

and just see how it falls when it is not buttoned up.

What we are seeing now is what I suspected.

I think when you did your fitting, I was watching,

I don't think you spent long enough fitting him.

It's here where, because he;s significantly dropped that side,

-you know, you can see it at the bottom there quite clearly.

-Yeah.

The sewers can do no more.

They can only wait for Patrick and May's decision.

It would be wonderful to be in the final. Just being part of it.

I think, I think that is what will be so great.

"Oh, I've got through to the final!"

I think I would feel a little guilty if I went through,

in the fact that Stuart did as well as me.

I'm sad that the challenges have come to an end,

but I hope against hope

that maybe I will get the chance to do it all one more time.

I want one of those places in the final.

I've put so much effort in, to not get one of those places,

I would be devastated.

You are about to choose who goes into the final.

Why don't you take out the pieces that have worried you the most.

There goes Sandra's jacket. And for you, Patrick?

I think we have to put Stuart's dress alteration.

Let's talk about Stuart in general. Sometimes he's completely wowed you.

I've loved watching him develop and I have loved watching him sew

but I think in the final,

we need three people who are going to wow us with their sewing capability.

Sandra is clearly a better sewer but she continually leaves things

incomplete, and I think that is her great difficulty.

Stuart is not such a great sewer but he gets the job done

and I think therein lies the difficulty that we face,

because we don't want to get into the last week

and see half finished garments.

As you know, every week, the judges choose their best piece.

Our favourite piece for this week was...

Ann's jacket which was, quite simply, beautiful.

APPLAUSE

-Oh, how lovely!

-Gorgeous.

Now, somebody's going to be leaving The Sewing Bee.

The judges found it incredibly difficult

because you've all just done extraordinary things

at such a high standard,

so I'm incredibly sorry to say the person who is leaving us...

..is Stuart.

I'm sorry. I don't want you to go.

Well done. Well done.

-We will miss you.

-Absolutely fine.

We wanted to say how hard it was

because you have listened to everything we said.

You've brought so much of a sense of fun to sewing

that you need to be applauded for doing that

because, you know, there is a joy in everything you do here.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for letting me have the opportunity to stay as long.

-Are you crying, Sandra?

-No.

Thank you so much for the opportunity. I really appreciate it.

For the judges to say that I brought a sense of fun

and a joy to sewing, that's why I do it.

And if I've communicated that, fabulous.

We shall really miss you.

-I know.

-It's been lovely knowing you.

Ann, Lauren and Sandra will see this journey through

right to the very end, and I'm sad I won't be there with them,

but the bigger picture is that I've made friends here

that I'll have for the rest of my life.

Come here. Mm! Well done.

Well done.

I'm buying you a bottle of wine tonight!

Now, THAT, I will take you up on!

If you want to sew or be creative or do anything else, do it.

Enjoy it, because anyone can be creative.

It doesn't matter how old you are, male, female,

or what your experience or how much money you've got or how little,

you just enjoy it.

I've just got to try and do it for him.

I've got to try and win for Stuart, to justify my place here.

At the final, Lauren, Sandra

and Ann tackle a complex pattern for a man's shirt.

This is definitely the hardest. So complicated.

Tension mounts when they're asked to demonstrate hand-sewing skills.

It's like the blind leading the blind.

Come on, you are great.

And they create stunning evening gowns...

The fight isn't over yet.

..before one of them takes the title.

The winner of The Great British Sewing Bee is...

Feeling ready to sharpen up your sewing skills?

Visit...

..to find tips and ideas featured in the series.

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