Semi final week! Also, I know I haven't posted any non-Sewing Bee content for a week but my country got screwed over by its own citizens and I just haven't been in the mood to take pictures of myself. Normal service will resume shortly, promise.
The judges have a little bitch about the top four, and conclude that Joyce lacks flair, Charlotte gets too easily thrown by screwing up, Tracey can't fit things, and Jade is a child. Nice.
For the pattern challenge, everyone has to make an asymmetric skirt inspired by Japanese techniques. It's actually gorgeous, and I want to try it, even though it looks like a complete bastard to sew. Everyone chooses wool except Joyce, who chooses neoprene. She suggests that she might steal the pattern, and Claudia offers her whatever she wants from the room, including Patrick, who goes home with anyone. "He's like a party bag that never starts giving."
Tracey snips her notches, and Charlotte appears over her shoulder to tell her not to do that. This is the great thing about the Sewing Bee; nobody is even remotely adversarial and people want to do well for their own sake, not because someone else screwed up. It gives me warm fuzzy feelings about humanity.
"It's the semi final, give them something hard" says EsMay, and I snigger because I, like Jade, am a child. Except old.
"So many notches. Buenas notches," says Charlotte, who is giving Joyce a last minute run for her money for Slapdash Favourite. That is an excellent terrible joke and I will say that when cutting out my patterns forever more.
Lots of shots of the contestants looking at their weird-ass pattern pieces in confusion. The judges attempt to tell us that if they've cut out accurately and marked all their buenas notches it should be fine, but then Jade sews the top of her skirt on the wrong way. Oops.
The entire ridiculous seam has to be evenly topstitched, and it's clearly a horrible thing to have to do. There is a lot of sighing and unpicking. I still kind of want to make this skirt (assuming someone can tell me what pattern it is) but I also have visions of reaching terminal frustration with the thing and ripping the skirt, my sewing machine, my place of residence and the borough of Haringey apart. Tune in next week!
The skirts are finished! Tracey's isn't quite draping right, and her zip isn't inserted very well, so she comes last. Third is Jade, who has strange bulges, and second is Joyce, whose fabric works well but her topstitching is off. This leaves Charlotte as the winner, with a nice drape and even topstitching on her skirt. I'm pleased that Buenas Notches brought her success.
For the alteration challenge, everyone is asked to make a well-shaped garment from a child's duvet cover. The criteria are a) imagination, b) structure, and c) absolutely zero waste fabric. It all sounds horrendous, but then they're all given a pillowcase and a mini-mannequin to try a practice version, and I am mollified because I like things that are mini versions of other things.
After a small flurry of activity, the four ex-duvet covers are put on the mannequins and everything is astonishingly ugly. I just hate all of it. Charlotte wins again with a piece that I can understand having an appeal to design people, but that doesn't make it any less unattractive. I have really not been on board with the alterations challenges this year.
The final challenge is a fitted day dress from a self-drafted pattern. Everyone has been given a basic block to work from and adapt, and I watch this segment with interest because this is what I really want to be able to do. All four dresses go in quite different directions, except that both Tracey and Joyce go for the massive contrast collar. Bleugh.
Jade and Tracey make toiles, which seems like it would eat up a lot of the time, but then Tracey's bodice is so comically small it doesn't even reach the top of her model's bust. Sensible decision to toile on her part. Joyce says she refuses to toile anything that isn't a wedding dress, and Claudia gives her a back massage. It's slightly weird.
Charlotte has made a drapey cowl neck dress that the judges think is delightful. They like everything apart from her sleeves, which could have been shaped a bit more.
Tracey has made a full circle skirt tea dress that's certainly an improvement on her previous attempts to fit things, but she's got excess fabric above the bust and the judges aren't sure about her collar.
Joyce has turned her block into an eight-panelled dress, which the judges are impressed with but wish she'd fitted it slightly more at the waist.
Jade's dress has a flared skirt and a complicated cut-out back. The judges like the fabric and the fit of the bodice, but the skirt needs to be fitted better at the back and her pattern matching isn't quite there.
After much deliberation, Charlotte wins Garment of the Week... for her duvet cover thing. I was saying the other week that I really wanted one of the garments from the first two rounds to win and it is nice to see that, but I still think they were all ugly. Tracey is sent home, and she's really upset about it. Everyone is very sad. I'm not sure how I feel; I liked her more by the end than I thought I would at the beginning but she was still probably my least favourite. I'm always sad when I see people in tears, though. I would be the worst reality show contestant. I would cry at literally EVERYTHING and all the viewers would hate me. I would be unable to stop myself looking up strangers' opinions of me online and would end up giving up on civilisation and running away to live in a tree and start a new life as a squirrel. I'm only partially kidding.
Next week is Grand Final week! I will be a day late with my recap because Monday is our anniversary and I intended to be drinking copious amounts of pretentious cocktails during Sewing Bee time, but never fear, the recap will come. As will other content. Honest.
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