Episode 3 The Great British Sewing Bee

So, the sewers have worked with wool, with cotton,

they've even sewn with silk.

This week, is all about how they deal with a totally new fabric.

To be completely frank, I wasn't sure that there was another one.

Tell no-one.

At the last sewing bee...

Things aren't going very well.

-Why is that, then?

-I've just sewn my fly shut.

Tamara and Heather were beaten by Lynda, who won garment of the week.

It's my pyjamas!

And Simon...was asked to leave the sewing room.

Ahh, I'm not sure how to take that.

Now...

All I've got going in my head at the moment is, "Arrgh!"

..the sewers face the fastest pattern challenge so far...

Will I ever wear leggings? No.

..alterations that will stretch them to the limit...

I'm making it up as I go along.

-No, we can't do that.

-We can.

..and a made to measure dress...

-Very stretchy.

-..that clings.

I don't even want to look. Does she know what I'm doing?

I want to drown in a bucket of gin.

The eight remaining sewers are back in East London.

Last week, I won garment of the week. I've had a little text off my oldest

daughter telling me to keep up the good work.

Well, this morning, I've given myself a good talking to.

I'm going to read the pattern carefully and I'm going to try and do

everything that it asks for, rather than what I think I should be doing.

You learn from your other competitors, how I can, perhaps,

get a bit quicker or a little bit more creative.

I've been keeping my eye on everybody.

Last man standing,

but I think this might be the beginning of the end.

The sewers will have to make three garments over the next two days,

and they have no idea what their first challenge will involve.

Welcome back to the sewing room. How are we all?

WOMAN: Terrific!

That's what we want to hear.

This week, the judges would like to see

how you cope with stretch fabrics.

As usual, challenge number one,

you're given a pattern that you have not seen before.

May, what is it?

We'd like you to make a pair of leggings

and they must fit your mannequin.

LAUGHTER

You have an hour and a half. Good luck.

Off you go.

The sewers are free to make their leggings from any

of the stretch fabric in the sewing room's haberdashery.

I've only practised once with a stretch material, so,

"Aahh," is what I think of that challenge at the moment.

If I get this to work I'll be making everyone in school funky

Friday leggings for Christmas.

May, Patrick, why stretch?

Stretch fabrics handle completely differently to woven fabrics.

You can sculpt them.

They can fit very closely to the body.

Does that make them easier to work with or harder?

They're mobile, they slip around.

There's an inherent instability in the fabric itself that

they're going to have to deal with.

A standard woven fabric consists

of a stable grid of straight threads,

whereas stretch fabric is constructed from

a series of knitted loops,

whose shape allows the thread to move in different directions.

The pattern is based on a relatively slight amount of stretch.

If they are using a fabric that is considerably stretchier,

they're going to have to adjust the pattern

and adjust the fit to compensate.

We do not want to see twisted waistbands, saggy bottoms,

ill-fitting legs.

We want to see a smashing pair of leggings.

I'm looking at the way it stretches,

cos on the pattern it says two-way stretch, which means

cos they're leggings, you want them stretching across the legs,

not up and down.

Despite being a part-time yoga instructor,

Tamara has never sewn herself a stretchy outfit for work.

Knees onto the back of the elbows.

She's chosen a bold pattern for the first challenge.

I'm not that confident.

I've never really had to make anything that's that tightly fitted.

But you know what I'm going to do, Claudia? I'm going to read the pattern start to finish.

That's it, read it. Learn it off by heart, in maybe four languages.

I'm going to come back and test you in 30.

I've chosen a cat woman, wet look.

I quite like this.

Do you remember this, Gracie?

This was the first time you danced with a boy.

The first clothes Julie ever made featured stretch fabric -

she made ballroom dancing outfits for

her youngest daughter Gracie.

Aw, happy days, eh?

-PATRICK:

-This is slick.

It's a bit S&M, isn't it?

It does have a hint of that about it!

Because it's a simple pattern, I thought I'd pick a difficult fabric.

Cos I need to redeem myself, don't I?

I see you haven't got a tape measure out?

For...?

We do want them to fit.

I'm just going to check the measurements of the hip

of the mannequin.

While the pattern for the leggings is simple, there's a catch.

The sewers have to cut out just two pieces of stretch fabric,

sew them together at the crotch, the seat and the inside leg seams.

The waistband is created by folding a ring of elastic

into the top edge of the leggings,

which is secured into place

with a row of twin-needle stretch stitching.

I thought, "This is quite simple stuff. Where's the issue?"

It's obviously in that "must fit" bit.

The patterns feature lines, marking options for the garment size

but as the stretchiness of the fabric is variable,

the marks won't necessarily be accurate.

So I measured the mannequin.

I'm going to cut it to fit nicely without stretching it too much.

I do like this material.

If it comes out well, I'm going to make myself some cycling shorts.

David keeps his haberdashery in his garage.

So far, it hasn't included any stretch fabric.

You're the only boy left

and you're making a pair of camo pattern leggings.

-Yeah.

-I love the way this is happening.

I'm gutted Simon's gone, cos I can't talk about man stuff any more.

And at the weekend I bought an impact driver -

it's the best thing I've ever bought.

-What is it?

-It's like an impact wrench.

You bung it on wheel nuts and it goes...

Like in Formula 1.

This is amazing. I'm so pleased we had this chat.

Can he leave?

One hour left to make a pair of stretch leggings.

And if they're confident

they've cut out their pattern pieces correctly...

Nobody wants baggy leggings.

..construction can begin.

This is the first time I've sat at an overlocker

and all I've got going in my head is, "Arrgh!"

An overlocker creates neatened seams

by cutting the edge of the fabric as it sews.

I'm just doing the crotches.

It uses three or four threads at the same time

which wrap around the seam -

essential for leggings as it creates a stitch

which stretches with the fabric.

Here we go...

But it's a piece of equipment that isn't familiar to everyone.

I've obviously been missing something all these years.

Ooh!

I'm sewing the leg seam, which goes all the way up from the ankle

and to the crotch and back down again.

I like it, cos it's quite quick.

I've got a lot of control over the fabric.

I think overlockers are a little bit scary

because they kind of just eat the fabric.

And unless you're absolutely just bang on where it needs to be,

I'm sure, actually, you could take chunks out and not know.

When I'm at home sewing, I spend ages - doing the seam,

zigzagging, cutting.

This does it in one. I love the overlocker.

I need one.

Lynda bought her first sewing machine

after her daughter Sarah was born.

She began making clothes for all her children.

They were called pedal pushers

and her friend up the street loved them.

So her mum popped up to the shops straightaway,

got the material and they both sat watching me making hers

because they both wanted to dress the same.

You seem to be storming ahead here.

Do I? Really?

Yeah.

Lynda is the first sewer ready to check the fit on her mannequin.

-PATRICK:

-Yours is quite stretchy, though.

Ssh, don't say that. Mine's perfect.

That's perfect, Patrick, for leggings.

-You know what?

-Voila.

-It's not bad.

You can't even see the seam at the side, look.

Ha-ha!

There isn't one.

When I went and put them on the dummy, you've to look inside

to see which is the bottom bit and which is the other bit.

The judges will expect a fit that hugs the body.

But one that still allows movement and doesn't sag.

-It'll be all right.

-Yeah.

It needs to go in a little bit more, actually.

Chinelo has made dozens of outfits for herself and her sister Chica.

It's like coming into a mall every time I come to her house.

I go home with lots of goodies.

But almost always in a non-stretch, woven fabric.

When I put it on my mannequin it was a bit baggy at the crotch area,

so I thought, "That doesn't look fitted."

So I just took it in a little bit there.

It does stretch quite a bit that way, doesn't it?

So you have got to make sure it fits your mannequin.

Because it stretches that way,

it will cling round the line of the body.

Whereas if you put the stretch the other way,

it just pulls out when you're wearing them -

they get longer and longer.

The stretch fabrics in the sewing room's haberdashery all

contain Lycra, a fibre which gives it varying degrees of springiness.

It was originally pioneered in the late 1950s to make women's

girdles more comfortable.

Up until then, they were made of rubber, which was stiff and sweaty.

American chemical company DuPont decided to find an alternative.

What DuPont did was they asked women,

"If you could have anything in the world, what would you like?"

And they said, "A comfortable girdle."

So it took DuPont 20 years to actually invent a comfortable fibre.

What exactly is Lycra?

It's bonded polyurethane, which is

two sorts of chemicals that you put together to make fibres,

and depending on what you put together,

the fibres are different -

some are resilient, some are firm, some are stretchy.

And Lycra is made out of a sort of straight one

and a corkscrew one that are bonded together under high pressure

and that's what it looks like.

They call this the fibre that loves you back.

It's like a hug, it's not like a strangle,

which is what the old girdles were.

The new fabric transformed the production of the girdle,

but in the 1960s when girdles fell out of fashion,

it seemed that there was no further use for this new fabric.

How did Lycra make its way back in?

DuPont spent a lot of time trying to save the girdle,

but meanwhile, there were these warehouses full of Lycra.

And, just about this time, aerobics start,

and a few small seamstresses think,

"Why don't we use this underwear stuff to make interesting workout clothes?"

And that's how it happened.

Lycra leotards were soon seen up and down the country

in aerobics and dance classes.

But it was the vision of one London dance teacher that would see Lycra

make the leap from gym clothes to clothes, and that was Debbie Moore.

In 1979, she decided that what London needed was a dance studio,

and not just for dancers but for ordinary men and women.

She bought an old pineapple warehouse here in Covent Garden

and called it Pineapple Dance Studios.

Hr clients were all wearing Lycra dance wear,

but she spotted room for improvement.

They had shiny nylon Lycra, and it was very sweaty for them,

and the dance wear was like school uniform dance wear.

I thought, "Wouldn't it be great to have cotton with Lycra?"

And that's when I went to DuPont.

Working with DuPont, Debbie developed cotton/Lycra leotards -

natural, comfortable and breathable, with high-cut legs,

low-cut fronts and backs, it was ideal for Debbie's dancers.

It wasn't long, really, before I thought how great this

fabric would be for a pull-on skirt, or for a strappy dress, or something.

From then on, with this wonderful fabric, it was endless to make

wonderful long-sleeved, scoop-necked dresses, beautiful necklines.

And we were the first people to put Lycra into outerwear.

I mean, it was a total revolution in the way people dressed, overnight.

It was amazing.

Debbie's determination to make comfy clothes for her dancers resulted

in taking what people were wearing in the studios out onto the street.

Soon, cotton Lycra was appearing in all sorts of street wear,

from dresses to suits,

totally transforming the clothes people wear.

You're halfway through, everybody - 45 minutes left.

Every pair of leggings should be

topped with an elasticated waistband.

Pin the elastic around side of waist, matching pins,

with the edge of elastic even with the edge of the waist,

and the seam on the elastic lined up at the centre legging.

Stitch on top of the elastic along

the outside edge with the overlocker.

Stretch elastic to fit, if necessary.

That's easy.

What you do is you take your elastic

and you divide your elastic up into sections.

-Can you see I've got a pin there?

-Yeah.

-A pin there.

So, into quarters?

Then what you do is do exactly the same

on the top of your pair of leggings, match a pin to a pin.

So what happens is, you have it pinned at intervals,

and it's completely controlled.

So the fullness here goes into the band. When you've sewn that,

wrapped that over and stitched it,

this will be completely flat.

You've distributed all the fullness evenly onto the elastic.

-And that's what you're after?

-Absolutely.

Years ago, I think I made a sort of tennis outfit

and I'm sure that had a waistband like this.

You had to make 1970s frilly knickers

to go with your tennis dress.

I seem to remember doing...

It's a long time ago.

Both of Cerina's daughters attended dance classes since they were young,

But neither of them have ever asked her to make any leggings.

My mum's very clever in that she can make her own patterns,

so I can just draw a dress and say, "I'd like that, please."

My friends are so jealous, it's crazy,

because I always have a different dress that nobody else will have.

I've got to pull the elastic to match the length of the fabric,

but not over-pull it or else you'd get a sort of fluting effect.

If the sewers don't maintain an even tension as they stitch

their elastic to the stretch fabric...

How is the stretch of your fabric versus the stretch of your elastic?

The fabric needs to be pulled slightly but not an awful lot.

..the waistband will pucker, making it impossible to lie flat.

You stretch the elastic the same time

and you've got to get your fabric aligned with the edge

so it doesn't all get chewed up like this.

I don't know how to get out of this now.

My job is, I train dressage riders.

There's a lot of similarities between dressage and sewing.

The fact that you have to have precision

and you've just got to go for it.

Heather's decided to cut away her first attempt at sewing the elastic.

Fortunately this is actually really easy to undo.

You have 30 minutes left, sewers.

Fold elastic and from the right edge of leggings...

Stitch...

Stitch on inner edge...with a twin stretch needle.

No idea what that means.

Well, that's where I sewed the elastic with the overlocker.

Now we've got to turn it over, like that,

and sew from the right side with a twin needle.

So I'll have two rows of parallel stitching along the waistband

and along the bottoms.

I never knew a twin needle existed.

Me neither, David - this is a new world for all of us.

We've got two needles, going into one socket

so you do two rows of stitching and then the bottom thread

zigzags between the two top rows of stitching.

It makes it slightly stretchy.

Here we go.

This twin row of stitching should ensure the waistband is secure

and lies flat against the body.

You've got to feel for the elastic

and just run it around the edge and then it secures the waistband.

And as it will be visible on the outside of the leggings,

it must look perfectly straight.

Come on, come on.

This is better than my wedding night, David.

But it's not proving a pleasure for everyone.

The needle keeps chewing up the fabric. It don't like the fabric.

I've finished my leggings

so I just thought I might put a little cheeky pocket on.

I've just had a loud little voice in my head going,

"What are you doing?"

Jenni began making her own clothes a year ago.

One of her favourite creations is a floral stretch leotard

to which she added tassels.

If I had to describe my sewing, whether it's the fabric I'm using

or the patterns I'm choosing or just, yeah, I'd say crazy.

-Let's hope this works.

-Sewers, you've got five minutes left.

Right.

Jenni shouldn't have done the pocket.

It's asking for a two-centimetre hem at the bottom.

I'm struggling to put pins in the hem of this legging leg.

SHE WHISPERS

Hold your breath.

-Keep going.

-Turn! Turn! Turn!

It's doing it again.

I don't think May's going to like that, is she, in the crotch?

They look mangled, but we have pocket.

Do I wear leggings? No. Will I ever wear leggings?

-No.

-Dave, I'll lend you these.

-The shiny ones?

-I'll lend you me S&M ones!

I tell you what, for a small fee I'll wear them for you.

Sewers, you have one minute left.

Please put your leggings on your mannequins.

I can't dress the thing.

It's like trying to dress the biggest toddler ever.

Oh, my God.

Come on, girl, you're nearly there.

OK, everybody - that's it.

Look at these bad boys!

Eight pairs of stretch leggings in just 90 minutes,

but what will the judges think?

Cerina, bring your legs forward.

I'm a little bit worried about your girl

and the tightness of her leggings.

Well, the fabric's stretched out and it's almost see-through.

Your waistband is well executed.

Sits very flatly to the waist and a nice even row of double stitching.

How's Mrs Shiny Legs round the back?

What we've got here, unfortunately, is a bit of a saggy bottom.

It's in complete contrast to the front, which looks great, doesn't it?

You did pick a particularly tricky fabric.

The waistband, again, a little bit of bagginess.

We've got some twisting where the elastic isn't flat.

I love this fabric, I could see it on the dance floor.

You've done a really good job of making it run round the body.

A little bit of bagging round there, but minor detail.

There's a little bit of excess just sitting on the top of that elastic.

There are fit issues but a very good use of pattern.

She's got one cheek that fits and the other one doesn't.

Looking at this side, it's perfect, and the other side...

And it wasn't too bad until I started fiddling with it as well.

Interesting.

The waistband is nowhere near horizontal.

It's running right up at the back.

If we do push it down so it's sitting horizontal,

we end up with a great big gather at the back.

And she's also got a saggy bottom.

She has.

-Not the best thing we've seen from you so far, I'm afraid.

-No. No.

I think, overall, the fit is good. The right amount of give.

The waistband is very flat

and the twin-needle stitching is very even.

The seams, the seams look very neat.

And the twin-needle hem is looking good.

And the pattern is running quite nicely straight,

it's not twisting around the leg at all.

-Um...

-Yes...

LAUGHTER

-Yeah, we don't need to say it, do we?

-We had a chat.

We had a chat with the model and she wanted more room, so...

She was hoping to carry her sandwiches down the back

of her trousers.

You've also added a pocket for us.

-It's really not at all neat.

-It really doesn't add anything.

I like a cheeky pocket myself.

Well, you don't need one with all this!

Just a tiny bit of give behind here, but on the whole, a good fit.

A nice flat band around the waist

and your twin-needle stitching is nice and flat.

My only comment is that the waist is a bit low down.

-It's fashion!

-Yes, I wouldn't want to wear mine that low down.

May favours the Simon Cowell approach to leggings.

Patrick and May will now rank the leggings, from worst to best.

Eighth place, sadly, Jenni. Not a great fit,

and I think you struggled with one or two of the techniques there.

Seventh place, it's Heather. A few issues with wobbly waistbands.

Julie's sixth, Chinelo's fifth,

Tamara's fourth, and Cerina is third.

In second place, David!

Very well executed, good fit, nice and neat overall.

In first place, Lynda!

Your waistband is lovely and flat, no ripples, really good fit!

Well done!

So well done to all of you, especially Lynda!

Go, lie down, maybe put the leggings on! If you want to!

I had a text off both of my daughters, telling me

they wanted me to come first today.

So I think they're both going to be very, very pleased and proud of me.

My confidence has grown. Yeah, I'm hopefully climbing that ladder!

Quite disappointed finishing sixth because the fabric I used was

probably ten times more difficult than anybody else's fabric.

Cheeky pocket didn't work. Hey, but I got some mustard slacks.

Slack being the operative word, but, hey, I like a good baggy bum!

Now it's time for our alteration challenge.

This is when Patrick and May want to see what the sewers can do

with something they could have found on the high street.

It's pretty basic, but I can tell you, it stretches.

This week, we've given you...

..a big, baggy, stretchy T-shirt.

Change the armholes, change the necks, change the sleeves.

Just make this really boring garment really exciting.

You have an hour and a half. Good luck! Go!

A stretch T-shirt like this can be found on any high street.

I'm going to try and do something dramatic

cos normally I'm quite boring.

For the next 90 minutes, the sewers are completely on their own.

Excuse me, I'm just coming back for that.

No! That's mine! Get off!

-You can have some of it, if you want.

-No.

There are no rules,

but so they can surprise the judges with their creativity,

the judges won't be in the sewing room to see them work.

Oh, God, here we go. I'm rubbish at this.

-This is a huge expanse of material, here.

-Mm.

The most obvious thing to do is to chop it right down,

and sort of drastically reshape it. We can do a lot with the shoulders,

we can do a lot with the shape of this neck.

You know, you could extend it and actually make a dress out of what we've got here.

If they're taking fabrics from the haberdashery,

they've got to be careful that when we combine two fabrics...

I mean, this one's really stretchy, isn't it?

And this one is really firm.

Immediately we put those two together, you've got completely different mobility, there.

So therefore, if they're embellishing, edging, applying,

they need to make sure that this fabric doesn't stretch this one out of shape.

I'm going to make it into a ladies' top

and put a bit of ruching around the neck.

I'll make it a low back, where that V is there.

And then I'll make a ruffle out of that.

It's lovely, this!

They've only had two minutes.

You've already turned this into the best top I've ever seen.

This is the sleeve. This is the neck.

Is that what you're going to do?!

Yes, either top or dress. I haven't decided yet.

I'm making a halter neck, plunge backline, draped through the back, with a frilly collar.

I'm going to do a crazy V neck, and it's going to be a big zip.

Get rid of the sleeves, don't need those.

Another zip. Ooh, good idea.

I'm going to slash the back and plait it,

and then finish the armhole and neckline with...

-Ooh!

-..open zipped.

-Look, I have a zip trim!

-Going with your theme, see.

-Come on.

I'm going to make a child's dancing dress.

So I'm going to have some pink on it.

And some more pink. It might be over ambitious

cos I'm doing a lot of re-cutting,

but I was really surprised how easy the overlocker was to use,

and the double needle, as well,

so I'm hoping I can just make the most of that.

-I'm making an asymmetric maxi dress.

-Are you?!

-Yeah.

This is the skirt of my maxi dress. This is the top of it.

You have done so well on these challenges.

But you know, when they're going "Ah, one and two, they're about the same..."

-I know.

-You must want to be number one.

-Yeah, my eye's on Tamara today.

Yes!

Sewers, you have one hour left.

It's not that I dislike the challenge,

it's that I dislike the amount of time.

I got the inspiration from the collar

because it just slips over your head nicely,

so I can use it as an anchor point for the garment.

-What are you doing?

-Pass. I was hoping you could tell me!

Do you not know?

I've put it back to front, and fitted it.

I'm making it up as I go along.

-No! We can't do that!

-We can!

OK, this is the tricky bit now - this is where I'm going to slash it.

I've not done this before, but I've seen it,

so I think I know how it's going to work.

Pull. That would go there.

That would go there.

That would go there.

And finally, that would go there.

And that's the back.

Don't want a baggy bottom. SHE LAUGHS

Can't be showing your knickers, can you?

I'm using stretch bias binding because the fabric is stretchy,

so then you need one that's going to sit with it.

I'm making some binding, and then I'm going to trim the neck with it.

They always say I'm not dramatic enough, so I want to be more dramatic.

That's going to look nice.

Everyone, you have half an hour left for your transformations.

Basically popping some binding into the sleeve hole which I cut out.

Just to try and neaten it, and give it a bit of finish.

I'm just going to bind round the armholes.

I'm attaching the skirt to the bodice.

This is a stretch fabric as well, actually.

I don't even want to look. Does she know what I'm doing?

CHINELO LAUGHS

I'm going to make a tube skirt.

So it's going to have quite a blouson effect on the top half of the skirt.

On the bottom it'll be like a little tube mini-skirt.

Flouncy! What is that?

That's going to be a ruche with a little, a little...

A ruche? You are pure filth, and I mean that in a brilliant way.

I love ya!

I'm just in the process of doing a double layer of stitching on my hems

so my zip doesn't roll.

As you can see, my hem's sitting flat now against the garment,

whereas if I didn't do that it would kick out.

Let me just have a look at that specimen.

It's a dress, and depending on how risque you wish to be...

I think, instead of doing darts,

I might put some zips in the back,

-which can be zipped up...

-Yeah.

-..And then turned into darts.

OK. Brilliant.

Sewers, you've got five minutes left,

and then I'm bringing the scary people in.

Oh, look at that!

I'm just trying to put a bit of embellishment on it,

just to finish it off.

I wanted to put shoulder pads in, but we don't have those.

So I'm just giving it a little lift with a pleat in the sleeve.

I'm fairly happy. I've got some drapery.

Hopefully it shows a bit of imagination.

It's going to be very glamorous with all these sequins on.

Might make a little belt out of that, as well.

It might not do up!

Will that go? Yes, it will.

Breathe in!

Yes, it does!

You have 40 seconds.

Aw!

OK, that's it! Time! David, don't touch it!

This is very sexy stuff, isn't it?

This is my inner secret woman coming out. JULIE LAUGHS

Please bring your mannequins to the front and then we'll jumble them up.

# I can't tell a waltz from a tango

# I never know what my feet Are gonna do... #

May and Patrick will now have absolutely no idea whose alterations are whose.

These poor people started with this.

Once again, I think you've pulled something spectacular out of the bag.

-May?

-I'm speechless.

It's a very dramatic change.

Pleats, gathers, darts.

It's stretched. She's got one area which is... Ooh!

Trying to climb out.

This is like somebody's shrunken Madonna

and thrown her on a mannequin.

I'd want to go out in that.

And it's a really great use of a couple of simple bits of trim.

I think it's just a really good understanding of what you can do

-with a piece of clothing.

-Yes.

Huge scoop taken out of the back.

And combining different fabrics.

Lovely colour combination. Very fresh.

It's just drooped out of shape.

This V at the front needed to have been a little more cleanly executed.

Nice simple combination of colours, well chosen.

-A really good transformation, isn't it?

-Yep.

The fit is really good, and we've got contrasting fabric

going round these edges, and it would've been

so easy to have stretched them completely out of shape.

-And I love the ruching at the sides.

-Yep.

This one, outwardly, looks one of the simpler ones,

but actually, only because I think it's just been executed so very well.

The skirt looks even. It's falling well.

I mean, we've got a transformation of the neckline.

The shoulders have been reduced, the sleeves have been re-introduced.

Look how well that has been joined.

-Absolutely.

-Two fabrics, we could've had this completely stretched out of shape.

If we look at the side seam,

I mean, it's absolutely perfectly lined up.

And it's straight.

An interesting idea to use zips to give shape.

Sadly, the zip has stretched the front of the jersey.

It's ambitious, but I think it's just let down in the execution.

-A very interesting idea.

-Yes.

However, we've got a bit of stretching on the armholes.

It would've been nicer to see these a little more evenly distributed.

All of this fullness here, it's very dramatic,

it's just slightly let down by a few areas

where it's not sewn quite as well as it could be.

Very dramatic, both front and back.

For it to work and hold together and still hold the shape

-is a good effect.

-Yep.

We've also got our rigid zip and our stretchy fabric,

but the actual T-shirt part of this isn't stretched out of shape.

May and Patrick will now rearrange the transformed T-shirts

into order, and reveal which has shown the most creative ambition

and the best technical execution.

-So, you're happy with this order.

-Yes.

Please could the creator of number eight come up?

Love the idea of using zips, David,

however, in putting it on your top, you stretched it out of shape.

Could the creator of this one come up?

Sadly, the armholes are stretched right out of shape.

Lynda is sixth, Tamara fifth,

Jenni fourth, and Heather is third.

All right, we're down to the last two.

OK, the maxi dress creator, please come forward.

-Chinelo!

-Ah, once again - so near, but yet so far.

Very close-run thing. The only reason that you didn't come first

was because that was a much more dramatic transformation.

-Therefore, well done, Cerina!

-APPLAUSE

On sheer, kind of, joyous transformation,

good old mini-Madge has definitely brought a smile to all of our faces.

That just goes to show what you can do with a big T-shirt.

Thank you so much for today.

Go home, put on stretchy fabric, do stretchy dance moves

and we'll see you tomorrow for the big stretch challenge.

I can't believe it!

But when I saw Patrick said he'd quite like to wear it himself,

I thought, "Ooh, maybe it's a winner!"

When Patrick said "nearly", I was like, "Oh, my gosh!" The curse of the second.

I need to really break through that second barrier

and get to the first!

I thought the judges were a little bit harsh.

I thought I'd do better than I did.

It is official that I am rubbish in the alteration challenge!

If I'd had the option to take it out and not present it,

I think I would've done.

# If I had a needle and thread Tell you what I'd do... #

There's one challenge remaining before one sewer will be awarded garment of the week,

and another will be asked to leave the Sewing Bee.

I'm really worried about Julie, Jenni and David.

Jenni didn't really have a clue how to deal with jersey

because she did not fit her leggings.

In Julie's alteration it was a poor choice of fabrics

and it was pretty tattily executed.

Both of her garments didn't show the best use of a stretch fabric.

David managed the leggings better than most, I think.

But then his alteration was disappointing.

Hopefully, with my boy hat on,

he's going to pull something decent out the bag.

In this final challenge, the mannequins are gone

and the models have returned.

Lovely to see you again!

Good morning, everybody. Are we feeling stretchy?

-ALL: Yes!

-Excellent.

The judges would love you to make a beautiful stretch wrap dress.

You've got five hours. Good luck. Your time starts now.

This is the one challenge the sewers have been allowed to practise.

They're already chosen their pattern and stretch fabric.

Now they have to fit the wrap dress that they've practised to the model for the first time.

I want to see them making the best use of a stretch fabric

to create something that's elegant and figure hugging.

Beautifully balanced, well fitted.

I would like to see some wonderful edges.

It's so easy in a wrap, because it's across the body,

to stretch it completely out of the shape.

They've got to be really careful.

I like to think of this competition as extreme sewing,

like you've been thrown out of a plane, skydiving, with a sewing machine.

I'm going for big '70s flare.

With the big wizard sleeves.

-Yeah.

-It's a nice firm jersey, though, isn't it? It's not too slippery.

No, no - it's nice to work with.

If you fit it nicely and execute it well, all should be marvellous.

Fingers crossed.

I chose this because it's very loud.

It's just a bit bolshie, I suppose. I like it.

-Have you made this before?

-I made it once for my wife.

And how did it go?

Not too great - she complained about the fact it made her look fat,

because I should have taken into consideration her larger hips.

OK, you know she might be watching this?

When I show her this, I'll hide all the scissors.

Yeah, I would!

The fabric's really stretchy, so, um...

Yeah, it's stretchier than the fabric I used for the leggings.

I've already measured my model, I've just got to make sure

I get the pattern placed in the right places, so that you don't

suddenly find you've not got enough fabric for a sleeve.

So, that's why it's quite important to follow the plans they set out.

As usual, Chinelo's making her own plans.

You have your model glued to the side.

I have to take all the measurements,

I need every little contour so I can't just do

the waist, bust, hips - it has to be every little thing.

I get a good fit that way.

I just absolutely love velvet,

and I thought it would show a bit of skill working with the pile.

What have you to consider when working with the pile on velvet?

I'm using it in one direction,

so, basically, it's all going to shine the same way.

Brilliant. Brilliant.

I haven't done very well this week, so I can't really relax.

I would love my mum to be here now, with a nice cup of tea.

The only thing I'm concerned about is, because it's very stretchy fabric,

the dress will pull the bodice down and stretch it that way.

This is the pin dog.

What's he called? Hasn't he got a name? Lancelot? Percival?

-Horatio!

-Horatio!

About ten pieces in the wrap dress to make.

They're all cut out and ready to go.

Construction begins with the bodice of the wrap dress.

I'm just threading my machine up and then I'll sew a little bit of fabric

to make sure it's the right needle, to see if it's sewing nice.

It's an area of the dress where the stretch fabric must hug the body...

You need to make sure you're not falling out everywhere,

so hopefully I've got that one covered.

-..and mustn't sag.

-That looks all right.

I actually don't like wrap dresses.

I hate them even more now!

Heather's playing it safe...

It's quite a nice hefty jersey, isn't it?

And this has got a lovely drape on it.

It's going to be more classically tailored. A simpler line, basically.

Yeah, it's just more to my taste.

Most of the sewers have chosen to begin construction

on their sewing machines.

But some have chosen the overlocker.

With this machine,

it should mean I'm only going up each seam the once.

Whereas if I was using a sewing machine,

I'd have to do three lots on each seam,

I'd have to do the seam,

and then neatening either side. So this should save me time.

I'm most worried about the fit,

because that actually chops off the excess as you're sewing it.

So if it doesn't fit, if it's too small, that's it.

Lynda is making a classic wrap-fronted dress...

I've just found out that I'm a coward.

Because I've erred on the side of caution

and gone back to using the stretched stitch on the normal sewing machine

rather than the overlocker,

because I think if I cut the seam off and it's too small, I've had it.

Mmm! That's OK!

How long have we had?

-9.30, 10.30... So we've had two hours.

-OK.

A wrap dress has particularly long exposed edges.

-So it goes that way, does it?

-Usually, yeah.

Along the wrap itself,

as it stretches across the front of the body...

The front, right in your face,

so it's worth undoing and doing it again.

..and around the neckline.

With stretch fabric, the longer an exposed edge,

the more unstable the fabric can become...

SHE WINCES

..ruining the shape of the dress.

Stabilising is when you put a slightly firmer fabric

behind a stretchy fabric to stop it from pulling out of shape.

On a shoulder line, if you don't have a stabiliser,

it'll stretch and stretch and stretch.

Whereas if you put a little bit of tape in it,

it'll stop it from going right out of shape.

David's attempting to stabilise his neck line with facing -

a supporting fabric that's sewn onto the reverse of the garment.

We're doing a facing that goes round the neck. This is the neck bit here,

and you don't want to stretch that because it sits comfortably on the neck,

whereas if it was stretched, it would pull all the time.

Tamara aims to stabilise her edges with her own bias binding.

What I'll do is, I'll fold it back on itself,

so we've got a nice red line that goes along the outside of the dress.

Ooh!

As well as trying to stabilise her edges,

Julie is the only sewer attaching a separate collar.

Quite a different stretch to your garment.

Yeah, it's not a really heavy jersey.

-Will it have enough substance to take the weight of that collar?

-Yeah.

Julie's adapted a pattern for a vintage dressing gown...

She's got six layers where the collar joins the garment

with the facings.

So therefore, there's a lot of bulk around the neckline

which could stretch things out of shape.

It takes a bit of concentration cos it's stretching all the time,

so you've got to really concentrate.

90 minutes remaining.

So, I'm going to go for little cap sleeves,

cos I think it just jazzes it up a little bit.

I'm just setting in my sleeves.

There is an ease stitch on the top to give me a little bit of gather on the shoulders.

That might just give it a little bit of detail.

I'm just attaching the skirt to the top, the bodice.

Because it's so stretchy it could lose some of the shape on the waistband.

So I think I might use some bias binding inside,

just to make it a little bit more rigid, less stretchy.

(Where is it? Where is it?)

-Both Cerina...

-All looks spotty!

..and Chinelo are planning to gather their dresses at the waist.

Usually I wouldn't pin, I'd just go, but I'm having to pin so that

it doesn't stretch out of place and look twisted when she's got it on.

I'm sure May and Patrick are going to be looking for that.

I'm just trimming the seam line

that goes between the bodice and the skirt.

Heather's hoping to keep the waistline of her dress a little simpler.

Oh, my God!

I have just made a massive, massive mistake.

This is going to be a total disaster.

Heather has sewn her skirt on inside out

I'm basically stuffed now, that's it.

Heather did her waist seam on the outside.

-So the skirt was attached the wrong way round.

-Oh, I see.

She's used the stretched stitch, which is a really intense stitch,

and it takes forever to take out.

This is just a nightmare.

Why isn't this coming apart?

Exactly, why isn't this coming apart? Because it's triple stitch.

I don't know what to do.

Sewers, you've got one hour left.

Really?!

I'm just making a slight adjustment in the back.

I'm not quite happy with how it's falling.

She's got a bit of a hollow back, so what I'm doing is taking some pleats,

so that it'll just make it fit nicer.

-There's absolutely no way you're going to unpick that in time.

-No, there isn't.

-Just take a deep breath and don't panic, Captain Mainwaring.

-No, sir!

It's not sitting right at the back, look.

I need to make it like that.

-Yeah?

-Yes.

I need to take more in here. Just in the waist.

Oh, my God! It feels so nice and snug.

When I first started I took all the measurements I needed,

translated that onto my fabric so I knew it would fit perfectly.

Heather has made a decision about her waist seam.

I am chopping right. Right side,

Right bloody side! OK.

Now I'm going to redo it and let's see if

we can get this show on the road again. Disaster!

I got this fabric and I liked the little patterns that they had on it,

so I've trimmed that out and I'm just using it to decorate the shoulder.

The hardest thing were the collar, and I've got that in, so that is a relief.

All I've got to do now is decide what type of hem.

I'm just going to do a basic, overlock the hem and turn it up.

I have no idea how much time we have left.

-20 minutes...

-20 minutes?!

-..I think.

Jesus! Proper panic.

OK, I'm going to attach that all the way round, right now.

I'm not even going to bother to pin.

I just need to make an adjustment at the neckline.

Cos I've put binding around the neck, it's come quite loose.

I'm using a twin needle, the same as we used yesterday,

to get a double row of stitching on the bottom of the hem and the cuff.

I've got to get one more of the ribbons on.

That, in effect, makes it possible to wrap the dress.

I feel much happier with that now, much better now.

I just want to take it in a little bit more because

although it's a loose jersey fabric, I want it to be nice and fitted

and snug and, you know, look like it was made for her

and not somebody else.

I'm now attaching the bias binding round the curve of the neck,

so now I need to concentrate a bit.

-You've got five minutes everyone, five minutes.

-Ahhh!

I'm finished.

I'm just putting the bias binding on the sleeve just to finish the garment off.

-Are you all right, Heather, darling?

-I want to drown in a bucket of gin!

OK, I can organise that for you. I'll get you a snorkel.

I'm quite pleased with the way they're sitting,

considering I haven't used any bias binding or anything.

Just doing a little bit round the back now and it's actually finished.

One minute left, 60 seconds!

Ooh! Might be long enough!

David, I'm not one to panic, but I tell you - the time is now.

Go get naked behind the thing.

-Is that your usual....

-That's my normal chat-up line!

I'll just turn my back for a minute,

hurry up!

I've got no idea whether it's enough to impress the judges.

Come on, Heidi!

Just grateful that I've actually got something to put on my model, to be fair.

Shoulders, seam, seam.

OK.

OK, here we go, here we go!

All right, that's it! Time is absolutely up.

Have a lie down, definitely. God!

Unbelievable. That was too close.

Can I just wipe the mascara and sweat from under my eyes, please?

# Hold me close And hold me tight... #

Eight made-to-measure wrap dresses in just five hours.

But which ones will impress May and Patrick?

Well, the first thing we notice is the fit's good.

It's hugging the body, which is what we want from a stretch garment.

The cross is sitting in exactly the right place -

right in the centre of the sternum

You've bound the edges and you've not stretched them out of shape.

This seam is sitting very flat.

The bottom hem is very even and flat.

I think overall there's a nice balance, it moves very well.

-So I'd say it's a very, very good effort.

-Thank you!

Sadly you've stretched your edges with your binding.

The sleeves have worked well, the sash is nice.

It's just lost its shape a little bit, which is really unfortunate.

I feel we've got quite a lot of fabric on the top here.

Yes, it's been a bit of a tuck-in job, hasn't it?

We've got all this excess here.

We've got gathers on the back shoulder here,

and this one's flat.

It's not bad, but it's not brilliant.

The first thing I see is this lovely neckline that hugs the model.

It's really flat, it's really hugging the back neck really nicely,

it sits smooth across the top of the chest, and it looks well balanced.

And this faux wrap is sitting beautifully over her tummy.

-I think overall it's very good.

-Thank you.

It really needs to hug the body, and it's not.

You've attempted something quite difficult in putting this collar on.

It's quite a substantially different material,

and it just hasn't allowed that jersey to do what it does best,

which is hug the figure.

And it's just sitting too far off the body.

You could have made it in any fabric.

We're not seeing anything from the jersey in this at all.

I love the way it's sculpting the body.

I would like to say how relieved I am

that the nap seems to be going in the same direction.

I think it's incredibly impactful.

You've cut this pattern yourself, haven't you?

The fitting on the shoulder is exceptional.

I wouldn't have chosen bright emerald green on purple,

but anything less bold would not have done it justice.

And also, when I was watching you cut that curve,

I was thinking, would it work?

And it's brilliant. You've done a really good job.

-This is what we wanted from stretch fabric week.

-Thank you.

The first thing I notice is the neckline.

The right-hand side is sitting beautifully, and the left-hand side

is misbehaving itself, so a little stretching issue there, I think.

This is the narrowest point on your model here,

and your waistline is sitting a good two inches lower than that.

It's trying to find that true waist and using that as a guide.

This sleeve is inserted slightly better than the other one.

Can I just swivel you around?

We've just got a few pleats in this one.

The sleeves trouble me a bit.

They just feel slightly overpowering.

I think without them the dress becomes a completely different animal.

I really prefer the kimono-style sleeves,

but I do appreciate the comments, thank you.

Thank you. Yes - thank you, kimono style!

I'd like to mention how well the skirt drapes on this.

It's falling beautifully.

It isn't sitting quite flush on the back of the neck,

which is a shame, but actually,

the end of these darts, here, the centre,

it's actually beautifully balanced and really well positioned.

The front neckline is sitting well.

That front edge is fitting very nicely both ways,

and it's very cleanly and very evenly stitched.

Given that it was panic stations an hour ago,

-with the exception of that collar, I think it's very good.

-Thank you.

It's going to be so tough for the judges to make a decision on this one.

I just hope that I'm the one that's staying.

I needed a good day today, and it just turned out to be a bit of a car crash.

I just didn't have time to perfect it on the model.

So I don't think I've done enough.

I think... I'm very much in the firing line.

Let me ask you about who you're thinking should leave the sewing room.

For me, I think David has done enough.

I think his wrap dress was pretty well executed, so I think it's a decision between Jenni and Julie.

If we compare the dresses they made today, we've got this one,

and then we've got this one.

It wasn't great across the chest,

it was tight across the seat,

but overall it wasn't too badly sewn.

But it was simple. This was a much more ambitious project,

but it just didn't fulfil the brief.

-I mean, there are plusses and minuses in both of these.

-Yes.

-But it think, on the whole, we both agree...

-On who we think needs to go.

-..On who we should think has to go home.

-Yeah.

Let's start with the brilliant news,

which is these guys, their favourite garment of the week.

This week's garment of the week is...

this one! APPLAUSE

-Are you happy?

-Very happy! I'm very shocked, as well.

Are you? Incredibly well merited.

I think it stands out as a really fantastic piece of sewing.

And just what we were hoping for with this challenge this week.

-Thank you, thank you so much!

-It's amazing.

-Thank you.

In our dream world we would all just stay here together.

But that is not to be, somebody has to leave.

And the person that is leaving is...

It's Julie. I'm sorry.

-No, don't be.

-SHE LAUGHS

No, but you're so hilarious, I want you just to stay anyway.

-Pack it in!

-OK.

LAUGHTER

-Well done, Julie!

-APPLAUSE

Julie has tried to impress us the last couple of days.

She's really worked had at challenging herself.

She has done nothing but push herself to the absolute limit.

And she's brought a real joy to everything we've done.

We know she's a good sewer,

but all we can do is judge on what was put in front of us,

and, unfortunately, today was not her day.

I would have been upset if somebody else went instead of me.

Cos that wouldn't have been right.

I'm sorry, Julie.

The best part about being on the Sewing Bee has been meeting the other contestants.

We've had such a laugh. It's been great.

-MUFFLED:

-Pack it in!

I'm going to miss Julie.

She has made me laugh SO much, I can't tell you.

I won't even look in my sewing room for a couple of weeks

cos I'm all sewed out at the moment, I'll be honest!

I've put everything in today, and it paid off, and...

Yeah, pinch me. Punch me. Anything.

-HE LAUGHS

-I've been surprised every week so far

that my name hasn't been read out.

You never know - might happen again next week.

Who do you think is going to come through and win?

Chinelo.

Guess what?

-MAN ON PHONE: 'What?'

-I won garment of the week!

'Whoa!'

BOTH LAUGH

At the next Sewing Bee...

I don't like kids' clothes. I don't like kids.

..the smallest pattern challenge yet...

If you break the material, Claudia, I'm going to find it very difficult to forgive you.

..the fanciest alteration so far...

My daughter would say, "Chuck it in a bin, Dad. Not wearing that."

..and made-to-measure prom dresses...

Let's bring them in!

'..for someone completely unexpected.'

LAUGHTER

Hello... Oh, my God! I didn't recognise you!