Great British Sewing Bee. Series 3. Week 6 mini blog. The Final.

And the winner is: Matt.  He of large hands fame.  A surprise winner, but he got steadily better and didn't completely lose it during the final (yes Neil, am looking at you).

The Pattern Task: Asymmetric Japanese tops, formed out of one piece of material.  Lorna was lost, but rather than leave her in the lurch in the name of VICTORY, Matt and Neil talked her through it.  Bless.  This is why I love Sewing Bee.

The Alteration Task: The challenge was “something wearable”, so - somewhat inexplicably - Neil made a mini skirt with attached ankle waders, now known as the #skanklet. WTAF doesn't even begin to cover it.  It has to be seen to be believed, so I urge you to go to the iPlayer (28 mins in) and take a look for yourselves.

The Sew-stopper Challenge: Avant-garde dresses.  Neil continued his plot-lost run, by making an evening gown inspired by army fatigues, Afghanistan and silky fabrics.  You'd have thought Lorna would storm this, after her wetsuitboobholes triumph, but it was Matt who timed his run perfectly, making a weird space age dress in the style of a 1960s telecoms tower/Christmas decoration.

Til next time!

Great British Sewing Bee. Series 3. Week 5 mini blog.

Sew long, farewell: Another double whammy – Elephant loving Paul and burgundy-haired Deborah said goodbye to the other bees.

The Pattern Task:  It was difficult fabric week, but that didn't stop Matt ‘hands too big for pins’ successfully managing the delicacy of a lace skirt.  Deborah adorably squealed at her third place, whilst Neil tried not to frown too hard at coming one from bottom.

The Alteration Task:  Wetsuit haute couture – not even a good idea in theory, for me.  Lorna had the best approach, immediately cutting out two boob holes to create Madonna-inspired breasty weirdness.  Tough times elsewhere - Paul spent too much time on his sleeves, which ended up with an unfortunate stapled-on look, whilst Neil's determination to show the judges he could 'do lace' slightly backfired, when Maytrick decided pink lace and black rubber did not go.

The Sew-stopper Task: Leather jackets.  Paul’s red garish snakeskin leather was my ‘favourite’: heavy metal groupie meets extravagant drag queen boots.

Garment Of The Week: Neil stormed back with his massive necked leather jacket – particularly impressing May with the use of a magnetic button.

Next time: The Final.

Great British Sewing Bee. Series 3. Week 4 mini blog.

Sew long, farewell: A shock double elimination!  Poor Amanda was no real surprise - the judges basically wrote her off halfway through the show, after she came last in the first two challenges.  But it was a close run thing for the second cull, with sweet rosy-cheeked manchild Ryan losing out over Paul.  Sad times.  Ryan was possibly a little bit too cocky about his corset-making skills, then made an unfortunate Simon Cowell waistline kilt, with an overly risqué front slit.  (Not one for The True.)

The Pattern Task: My sweepstake guy, Lieutenant Colonel Engineer Neil, stormed the corset task, suggesting once again that Mrs Neil is quite a slinky dresser.  It was also a perfect opportunity for innuendo bingo, with much talk of ‘boning’ and ‘parallel boning’.

The Alteration Task: Eighties suits needed to be transformed into something modern - not that the sewers seemed that happy about being judged on fashion sense, as well as sewing.  It was a tough task - even May didn't wear her usual expression of stunned delight as she surveyed the changes.  Ryan probably managed the trendiest creation, a strappy, wraparound top thing, but it was Neil (again), who won with his fuchsia cocktail dress.  Two from two...

The Sew-stopper Task: KILTS!!!!  Och aye.  Patrick was even kilted throughout the show, in tribute/for inspiration. (He doesn't have as fine a pair of legs as Mr Cad, but it was still a good look.).  I’ll leave it to the Scotsmen amongst us to decide on whether the studded denim kilt is one for their wardrobe.

Garment Of The Week: Neil’s pretty perfect kilt made it three from three.  Patrick bestowed upon him the equivalent of the Hollywood Handshake - proclaiming even *he* would wear Neil's kilt.

Next week: It's the Semi-Final already and the sewers tackle 'challenging fabrics' - leather and lace and PVC by the looks of it.  Let's not dwell on how many shades of grey we'll see.