For the last six weeks,
the sewing room has been home
to Britain's most passionate
home sewers.
WHIRRING OF SEWING MACHINE
Faster, faster, faster, faster,
faster, faster...
They've had to master
every fabric...
Your top stitching on your seams
is really good.
..every technique...
This is going to be
something special.
..and together they've made over 100
of the most beautiful garments
the Sewing Bee has ever seen.
Really fabulous.
Frankly, I'd wear that myself.
Last time...
Agh!
..Deborah and Paul just missed out
on a place in this year's final.
Now just Lorna, Matt
and Neil remain...
It does feel strange and big,
doesn't it?
..to face this year's most difficult
three challenges.
Tape measure, tape measure, tape...
So, who will be crowned the winner
of The Great British Sewing Bee?
Right, then.
Just two days
and three challenges to go.
Neil's determination
and precision has seen him win
more challenges than anyone
in the history of the Sewing Bee.
I'm amazed to have done that
and you think, oh, yeah,
final will be, you know,
plain sailing, but it won't.
It's all down to the last outfit.
It could be anybody's.
It could be anybody's.
Matt may have less experience
than his fellow finalists, but over
the past six weeks, his sewing
skills have dramatically improved.
I'm not sure what normal life is
any more.
It feels like normal life
is being set a ridiculous challenge
with a crazy timeframe.
The nerves have kind of
departed now.
It's just excitement,
I want to get in there.
Lorna's experience can't be matched.
Her understanding of fit
and traditional skills has seen her
ranked in the top two
almost every week.
I've come second so many times
in this competition that, um,
I feel I should try extra hard
and get first today,
but it's going to be difficult,
but then again,
there's only three of us,
so, um, the competition is on.
Good morning.
ALL: Morning.
How do you feel
about being in the final?
Brilliant. Yeah. Do you?
It's a bit surreal.
Are you ready to take on
the most complex,
the trickiest challenges ever seen
before in the sewing room?
Absolutely.
Oh, good, that's the right answer,
Lorna.
The judges want to test how you cut
and sculpt fabric using
quite unconventional methods.
What have you got for them?
We'd like you to make an asymmetric
draped top for a woman,
using an authentic Japanese pattern.
Mm!
Just mix it up, why not?!
This garment is cut from just one
single piece of fabric.
We're looking for your ability
to cut accurately
and create a top
that hangs beautifully.
And they're only giving you
90 minutes to do it.
It is the final, after all.
90 minutes?!
Enormous luck. Your time starts now.
Agh!
LAUGHTER
90 minutes!
This challenge will reveal
who can master
a completely unfamiliar
type of pattern.
I want something that drapes nicely,
and I think that does.
And who can handle the very mobile
fabric the Japanese pattern demands.
Fabric choice is always key
and the times
when I've got it wrong is cos
I've chosen the wrong fabrics.
The fabric needs to drape well,
so must be light,
but it also needs weight to enable
the sewers to control it
as they sew.
A tricky combination.
One complete piece of cloth, all
coming together into one garment.
I think that's,
you know, fantastic.
When I heard the time challenge,
that's something else.
90 minutes!
In previous pattern challenges,
the sewers have been given
a full set of written
and drawn instructions.
But this is the final.
Very interesting.
There is no diagram...
So we'll see.
Question of guessing.
I find this so confusing, it's like
an extraordinarily difficult puzzle.
It's a Japanese draped top
and this is all they get?
Yes. They get a few pattern markings
which are really, really crucial.
They get a grain line
and some notches. Yep.
And they've got to just look at this
and just think about
how it goes together.
We've tested
all their basic skills,
we've tested some quite advanced
skills, now we're seeing
if they genuinely understand how
fabric moves and how patterns work.
But if they've never seen
something like this,
won't they find this
almost impossible?
You know, you've got to have a neck
hole, you've got a bottom hem,
and two bits for your arms
to go out,
work out where those are and, all
of a sudden, it drops into place.
Had a bit of a play, um,
and worked out what seams go where.
Very clever.
So I'm assuming these are the arms,
and this is the hemline.
"Sew right shoulder seams
to mark..."
Yes.
Preparing for the final has seen
Lorna spending even more hours
sewing than usual.
Something that her husband
didn't think was possible.
Most of the time
she's actually in there working.
Now, if she's not on the main table,
she's got her stuff all over
the floor, I have to be very careful
where and how I tread, actually!
Whatever she produces,
it's from the heart,
it's what she really wants to do.
That is... That is her.
I think she could definitely win.
She lacks the confidence,
but we know she's got the ability.
If Mum wins the Sewing Bee, I think,
um, I'm going to clear
all the clutter from my old bedroom
so she can turn it into...
into a sewing room which she's been
saying for the past 35 years.
But this time I'll probably do it.
So, I don't know...
"Sew the right shoulder seam
to mark."
How do you know the right shoulder?
Exactly.
"Pin and cut back,
transfer any pattern marking."
Yeah. Were there any pattern marks?
There were two notches.
Right, let's go with that.
"Right shoulder to right shoulder."
No.
Normally, for something like this,
you would get a diagram
showing, you know,
how it all folds together.
But, um, this way, you've got to
work it out from words.
This has got to be the shoulder.
"Sew right shoulder seam to mark, hem
the opening on the right sleeve...
"pressing on the edge stitching
edges, sew left shoulder seam..."
The single piece of fabric
needs to be folded
and attached to the right shoulder,
leaving an opening to create
an armhole, which is then hemmed.
The left shoulder seam and side seam
are then sewn into place
to complete the basic construction.
'But working this out
without diagrams is proving
'easier for some...'
By Jove, Neil's got it!
You've found the answer
to the puzzle.
'..than for others.'
I haven't got a clue.
I'd have to be an engineer
to do this.
That's clearly a sleeve there.
That goes there.
That matches that there.
There you go.
I just need to know
which is the neck?
That's neck. Ah, thank you, Matt.
That point to that point,
and sew along here.
I think that's it.
This becomes a right armhole here.
That there is the centre line
coming down there.
Ah... OK, fine. Thanks.
And then this becomes
the other part of it,
so this will eventually sew round
into there. Yeah. OK.
Lorna's helped me when I've
struggled with difficult material,
I can understand this, I want her
to show off her sewing skills
as opposed to struggling over
how a pattern comes together.
Cos she's a beautiful sewer.
It's still mumbo jumbo.
You don't wish bad luck
on anyone else,
so it's most important for me to be
judged against two other garments.
Luckily for Matt, he's had some help
getting to the final.
We put the top
and the skirt together.
It all started here
when we were sat here on the sofa
watching the very first series and
I was literally just like, come on,
come on, I'll write
the application form for you.
You've got to do this.
And what colour shall we make it?
Mmmm... Pink.
I'm massively proud of Matt
for getting to the final.
I guess he's been
slightly the underdog
just because he's only been really
sewing for a couple of years.
Matt's not competitive
with other people at all,
but he's very competitive
with himself
and he just always wants to push
himself a little bit harder
and better,
what he knows and what he does.
Full steam ahead.
You've cracked it, though,
haven't you?
I think I have. Yeah, it makes...
It kind of makes sense to me.
I notice you've chosen
quite a sheer fabric.
Yeah. I don't know whether that's
going to be my downfall, but...
I hope not, but it is,
it's a rotter, isn't it?
It is quite sheer, but, um,
but I'm hoping it has a nice
kind of drape to it.
I'm just pressing the hem
of the right sleeve
before I stitch it down.
It's a little bit fiddly and, again,
an odd way of doing a sleeve.
First thing this morning,
you know, Neil rolled over in bed
and the first thing
that he said to me was,
"I think Fabric Land is open today."
Approaching the final, Neil
has been more focused than ever.
His life has totally being consumed
by sewing - fabric, patterns,
what people are wearing,
that's all we've talked about,
little bit of rugby.
When we first sort of watched
the programme ourselves
we always sort of joked about it,
and then we found out that he was
actually going to be on it.
Right leg, right shoulder,
hitting it...bam.
I almost didn't believe it at first,
we thought
it was just a joke,
then we sort of realised that
he could actually do very well
on the show.
I'm very proud that he's done
so well,
but no, I'm not
particularly surprised.
I thought if he could just
get through the first episode
I thought he'd probably do
really well.
This is interesting.
Following a written pattern
as opposed to diagrams,
cos normally you can work out
how it goes.
Whereas trying to interpret
the written word is...
I've had operation orders
less complex!
MAY LAUGHS
Sewers, you're halfway.
You have had 45 minutes,
you've got 45 minutes left.
Seriously?!
"Sew right shoulder seam to mark..."
I'm just closing the right arm seam
with some very neat, I think,
top stitching.
The worst thing that can happen
with this is stitching an arm seam
to a side seam, or an X seam
to, you know, a bottom seam.
So I keep going back, going...
and I lay it out.
Whereas normally,
I'll just throw it all together,
here I'm going, right,
what actually goes where?
And so I'm confident at the moment.
But working out which seams
to stitch together
is just the beginning.
"Press the bias strip in half
lengthwise
"with wrong sides together."
Mm-hm.
Wrong sides together.
The neckline of the Japanese top
needs to be finished with
a facing made from bias binding.
"Attach the fold bias right side
of the neckline..."
I presume that means
with the two together.
What we don't want is
a bouncy neckline.
No, we don't.
Try and stick to the instructions.
Unlike an exposed bias binding,
once sewn
to the edge of the neckline,
this binding should be
completely concealed on the inside.
We want this binding
used as a facing,
so it's got to turn
all the way to the inside.
We don't want to see
any of it on the outside.
We've just got a row of top
stitching holding it in place.
I haven't folded it over double,
because it doesn't lend itself
to being bias, this material.
This is for the neck edge, I think.
You know exactly where
this is going.
Unfortunately,
you've just spent five minutes
pressing it the wrong way round.
It's got too much Lycra in it.
It's like sewing with an elastic
band, if you can imagine that.
My neck facing was too long.
Probably half an inch too long.
Round the neck?
Yeah, yeah. OK.
I'm just wondering whether
you've followed the instructions
entirely correctly there.
"Attach folded bias...lining up,
um, cut edges."
He has this knack of sort of just
throwing bits in there
and you suddenly think, right,
what am I doing wrong?
I've put the bias binding
around the neckline on here,
there's a few more steps.
I can't do it as the pattern says,
at least I don't think I can.
I'm not getting satisfaction
out of that.
Don't know if it's going to work.
I hope it sits nicely,
that's the main thing.
Right, I don't really understand it.
I'm just going to take a punt
to make sure I finish.
It's stood me in good standing
so far in the competition -
make a decision and go for it.
Just trying to neaten it off, cos
I know everything else is not good.
It's got a wobbly collar,
but I'm going to fix that.
I'm a bit nervous,
it's the final, pressure's on.
Easy to make a mistake.
They've really thought about this.
You know, they've really
upped the ante.
God, this is something else.
Why did I pick this fabric?!
HE LAUGHS
Sewers, you have five minutes left.
Five minutes on origami...
Nightmare. Nightmare, he says.
Go along with that!
Neil, how are you doing?
All right, just doing the hem.
OK. Are you happy?
It's interesting how
the neckline sits.
Worried that there's only
five minutes left.
OK. What have you got left to do?
I don't know. I'll tell you
in a second. Have you tried it
on your mannequin?
No. Just pressing now.
How is it? Why,
what's that face for?
Because I'm doing it differently.
I'm just hoping it looks wonderful
on my mannequin.
I'm literally going to get it
on the mannequin and go, "Agh!"
and see how it looks.
Just need a bit more pressing
down the sleeve.
Don't do this now. Not good. Why?
Thread's just snapped in there.
This looks done!
It's not.
Does it keep snapping? Yeah.
Not good. I think
I might give it a press.
Aaghh... Need scissors...
Scissors, right.
You've got 15 seconds. Matt...
There's plenty of time to...
There's not plenty of time. No?
I will hurt you with fabric.
I don't think mine's right somehow.
Time's up.
Grrr!
What is that? Never mind.
All right, come on, guys,
let's pick them up, take them
through to the haberdashery.
Well done, all of you.
After you, Lorna. Thanks, Matt.
God, that looks lovely.
That's really, really nice. In we go.
It's judgment time in the final
Pattern Challenge.
The neck drapes well.
We were a bit worried
about your fine fabric.
Yeah.
But it does drape nicely
to one side, doesn't it?
And we've got issues
with the neck on yours
because this is actually
a binding that projects
beyond the neckline, whereas
we asked for the bias strip
to be a facing, and a facing
turns completely to the inside.
Yeah, I think that part of the
pattern stumped most of us,
definitely stumped me.
It's not to say it isn't neat
and it doesn't work,
it's just not what we'd asked for.
It is sitting a little bit proud
in places. This is more worrying
to me. Yeah.
You've caught this corner in.
You've got a bit of a frill on
your hemline here, which is a shame,
cos it's making that kick out
at the side.
You got there, Lorna.
Yes. Very slowly.
Didn't choose the right material.
I chose it because I loved it.
It does look stunning.
It's a beautiful rich colour.
Oh... Mm...
When I tried to do it as a bias,
it didn't sort of work.
I think it's got Lycra in it.
You've now got raw edges
on the inside, haven't you?
Which is a shame.
From the outside, it looks right.
You can see these lumps.
Well, you've got some areas
of really lovely top stitching.
It wobbles a bit at intervals.
You have distorted the neckline
just a bit here.
There's a couple of lumps and bumps,
but otherwise I think it works.
It drapes. Yeah.
It falls well and we've got...
all of the edges are finished,
so you've got hems.
Now, the bias, you've used it as
a facing, which is what we asked,
and ideally, it should have been
top stitched on the edge of the fold.
However, you have top stitched it
beautifully on the edge
of the neckline.
It does look right,
it does sit well.
We know you're under time pressure
but you've still managed to sew
that bottom hem there very evenly.
I think the fabric
was a good choice.
And we've definitely got
an asymmetric garment
with all this draping round
to the side, which looks very good.
Do like a bit of asymmetric.
You've done well on that.
But which of the three sewers
has done enough to win
the last Pattern Challenge
of this year's Sewing Bee?
So, for the first result
of the final...
A tough one, because you all had
a really good go at this one.
But third is Matt.
Basically, it came down to a few
ripples about the interpretation
of the neckline and not getting
that bias at all as a facing.
Second place...
..Lorna.
Just again, struggled with
the neatness around that neckline
and a couple of lumps and bumps
in the shoulder.
I feel I don't deserve to be there
because without Matt,
I wouldn't be in second.
Medal of gallantry to Matt,
but second place to you.
And in first place, Neil.
THEY CLAP
Well done.
You had the nearest interpretation
to the brief. Well done.
It's now time for a break.
When you come back, you'll be given
your final Alteration Challenge.
So, off you go.
Have cake and fun. Goodbye.
OK.
Coming first on the first challenge,
that takes a bit of pressure off
now, particularly the next one.
I haven't got to go full out
and be risky.
Matt should have been second.
Gave me a lot of help
and so did Neil,
and if it hadn't been for the two
lads, I wouldn't have made it.
Sounds awful,
but I don't care where I come.
I'm having a jolly good time.
Third place in the first challenge
certainly doesn't help me
in any way, shape or form.
The finalists have just followed
the most puzzling of patterns
and now they have to alter
an existing garment
with no instructions at all.
They just have to use
their clever cutting skills.
It is time for the final
Alteration Challenge.
What have you got for them?
We're giving you this - which is a
version of the Delphos Column Dress.
You can see
it's very, very tightly pleated.
We want you to use as much of
the structure in this fabric
to create new shapes. You can drape
it, you can add structure to it.
But we want a beautiful,
wearable garment.
You can use anything in the
haberdashery, so interfacings,
stiffenings, boning, anything to
change the shape from the inside.
But ultimately, all we want to see
from the outside is this fabric.
This is not a fancy dress challenge
by any means.
We want a wearable garment that is
sympathetic to this pleated fabric.
You have got 90 minutes.
Enormous luck.
Your time starts now.
Good luck, team.
The original Delphos Column Dress
was inspired by
Ancient Greek statues.
Right, I'll go for a pink one, then.
Patrick and May want the sewers
to find inspiration
in the tightly pleated fabric
of this dress,
demonstrating how they can radically
alter its structure and shape.
Get the stuff together.
Change its shape completely. Yep.
Putting structure into this
takes a bit of kind of thinking.
Right, I'm thinking...
I'm thinking.
I was thinking trousers,
I was thinking miniskirts.
Boxing gloves. Boxing gloves.
Boxing gloves. Um...
HE LAUGHS
I really can't explain
where this one's come from.
My design is going to be
out of this world.
Well, it's going to be
an unusual shape.
I'm restructuring it
so that it's way out.
Miniskirt, based at the waist,
and then trouser bottoms down here,
supported by boning inside.
So the dress itself,
I kind of cut it, cut it down...
Ooh, nice. ..cut it down,
then I'll probably make this
into a bit of a kind of halter neck,
yeah, and then in theory
a bit of a crest, a bit of a wave
kind of going round the bottom.
A crest! I love that.
What are you attaching to it?
That weird facing...?
Yeah. Yes. A kind of
really heavy canvas.
So, um... Which I think
should hold a decent kind of...
Oh, my God, that's so...
That's wavy. Wavy?
Wavy. Nothing says ocean like that.
One hour to go in the final
Alteration Challenge.
It's going to be...
like a lampshade. Divine.
I'm just putting casings
to put boning through
and it's going to swing, you know,
you've got to be careful
when you walk in it.
Oh, a proper...
A proper sort of Japanese
weird thing.
OK. All right.
I'm pleased we had this chat.
Good luck. OK, right. Thank you.
I'm going to attach this canvas all
the way along the hem of the dress.
I thought I was going to play it
safe, but I just...this idea
just came up in my head and it was
just like, I've got to do it.
I've got to do it, and, um, yeah,
I think it could work.
I think just actually
less of the canvas.
Sewers, you are halfway.
You have 45 minutes left.
Because boning naturally curves
one way, I'm machining two bits
of boning together to make it nice
and straight and solid
and these are the bits that are
going to suspend my trousers
from my waistline.
Ahh!
Ah. I'm going to see
if my wonderful plan works.
Let's hope
it doesn't get stuck halfway.
Look at that! Oooohh!
Oh, it's fantastic.
You'd wear that, wouldn't you?
Course I would. I've just got to get
the pleating right
and I still have to do
one more row. OK.
That's not good. That's not good.
I had it stitched together,
but not well enough.
And I didn't leave myself enough
there, it keeps coming off,
so we will do that... So maybe
can you do a couple of double goes?
Oh, yes, we'll do a couple of
double goes, as you say,
and that should do the trick. OK.
I've never seen anything like it.
Need to come up with a name, though.
So, it's a...half skirt,
half ankle trouser.
Skir-ankle. A skankle.
A skankle! Jumpsuit, no.
They're last season.
I'm skankling up.
Sewers, you've got ten minutes.
Ten minutes left.
Making the armholes now.
Cos it's got to be a garment
that's wearable.
Bit of a vague requirement, that,
though - looking at, you know,
some of the outfits we've produced,
they're all wearable.
HE LAUGHS
It's...
It's when you would wear them.
I'm not looking, because we might
all be going along the same lines
and that would be distracting.
Trust me, we ain't going along
the same lines.
Okey-dokey. I don't think anyone's
going along the same lines as Neil!
In fact, I think we're not even
on the same planet.
I'm now joining the trouser legs
to the waistband.
This is the tricky piece.
Cos it seems like a great idea to me
when a dress is hanging up
on its own accord - cut it.
I'm just going to kind of
tidy this up and try
and bring this in as elegantly
as possible round the back here
and not make it look like I've just
chopped up a reasonably good dress.
I just want to get it on the dummy
and move it round.
So, I've got to get it on there
pretty sharpish
cos I'm running out of time.
Three minutes left.
It's always worrying when someone
pulls out the scissors.
There's a couple of minutes to go.
HE LAUGHS
That actually looks...
I've got to spread out the gathering
and get it right
so that it hangs right.
What are you wearing tonight?
I'm going to wear the skanklet
from Neil's shop.
One minute left!
I just need to...maybe neaten up
round here.
Just need to tidy that little bit
up a bit.
Time's up. Finished.
Well done. Three magnificent items.
Ooh... Could go either way.
HE LAUGHS
You're thinking...
"He's completely lost it!"
May and Patrick won't know
whose structurally altered
pleated gown is whose.
Well!
What do you think? Amazing.
Pretty extraordinary.
There's certainly some structure
going on underneath.
This one is extraordinary.
It's extraordinarily good.
This is exactly what I was hoping
we might see some of.
We've got some bias binding
on the inside
and through it has been threaded
some boning.
Mm. So, that's giving us
the structure round the bottom.
We've got it ruched up
at the front there.
It's a really lovely shape.
It flows beautifully,
it's got bounce,
it's got all of that movement
in the original fabric retained.
It's a brilliant piece
of alteration. I mean, it's...
It's a lovely shape.
..totally beautiful transformation.
Very simple, but very effective.
OK.
So, we've got...
I'm not sure what to say
about this, May!
SHE LAUGHS
It's all a bit spaceman
from the '60s, really, isn't it?
Yes, it's really unusual.
We've renamed it the skanklet -
half skirt, half anklet.
I think we've got some boning
in here holding these straps
absolutely taut.
We've got some iron-on interfacing
on the inside there
with some more boning round the top.
It's effectively
a very long suspender belt
with a short skanklet attached.
But I don't think it's wearable.
I'm a little flabbergasted.
I think it might be one of the first
occasions he's been speechless!
Well, I'm not speechless.
I'm fairly appalled.
MAY LAUGHS
I have to say,
extremely good and wearable.
We've got some heavy webbing...
Very heavy sort
of synthetic canvas. Yes.
That is giving us this beautiful
kind of wave-like bottom edge.
And we've got a tie halter neck,
which works very, very well.
And we've got a new piece of elastic
and a casing has been put in
round the back here
to hold it in at the base,
and that works very, very well.
Although you look at this initially
and it looks like the original dress,
a lot of structural details
have been added to this one.
And the fluting hemline works
really well, doesn't it?
Fluting, that's the word
I was searching for.
May and Patrick will now decide
who's won the final
Alteration Challenge.
In third place...
and I can barely bring myself
to say the word...
..it's our skanklet.
And look who made it!
LAUGHTER
It's getting to me.
I've lost the plot.
Literally have no idea
what to say to you, Neil.
It's a piece of something.
You asked for structure.
We asked for structure. Absolutely.
We also asked for wearable.
Two is the lovely blue dress.
Very well done.
Yeah, the wave...the wave
came off in the end, it worked.
Love the way
you've sculptured that hem.
And also the way in which
you change the shape at the top.
A lot of good work in that dress.
Thank you. Well done. OK. Cheers.
Well done, Matt. Thanks.
Which means our winner
is this beautiful,
elegant dress here...in the middle.
Lorna! It is so beautiful.
Absolutely wonderfully elegant
and beautifully proportioned.
It's terrific. Exquisite. Well done.
I'm thrilled. Good. Very well done.
For once, I'm not second.
LAUGHTER
Well done. Well done to you all.
APPLAUSE
OK. Thank you.
A huge well done to you all.
It's now time for a break.
When you come back,
we will set you off on the third
and final challenge.
Off you go.
Being first has encouraged me...
to do better next time, cos
I was sort of sitting back a bit
and thinking, "Oh, well,
I'm going to enjoy the day."
But who knows?
There's still a chance, I suppose.
I'm not sure.
Well done, you. Brilliant.
Thank you. Yours is beautiful.
I think, er, if I had come third
in that challenge, I think,
you know, the writing
may have been on the wall.
But, er... But I didn't.
You can be honest about mine, OK.
I'm not entirely sure that Neil's
garment's ever really going to
catch on.
My tactics for the alteration was
always - get an idea, stick with it.
I couldn't get that idea
out of my head.
I took a risk, um...
and it didn't pay off.
There's one challenge left
in The Great British Sewing Bee.
Up until now, I've always felt that
Neil had the edge.
Neil, I think, has been consistently
the best sewer in the competition,
but the challenge
that we've just seen has...
has thrown all of that into...
into a state of sort of disarray.
What will they have to do to win?
At the moment, it's a fairly open
competition, and I think
what we would like to see
is some cutting-edge sewing,
some unusual designs.
We would really like them
to express themselves
through the garments
that they're going to make next.
For their last
Made-To-Measure Challenge,
there's one final surprise.
The sewers are about to arrive
into the sewing room
and they'll be given
their final challenge.
They think they've got
their usual models. Not so.
Meet Matt's wife Gemma,
Lorna's daughter-in-law Emma,
and Neil's wife Kate.
Have they got any idea
that you're here? No!
Neil's made clothes for you before,
hasn't he? Yes.
Are they always beautiful?
No. Most of the time.
And Lorna's never made anything
for you? Not yet, no.
Now, we know that Matt makes for you
and your daughter Evie,
cos Evie always wants
a matching dress.
Yeah, so sweet.
It's so cute. All right.
Stay here, cos I'm about to go in,
set the challenge,
and then you'll come in.
See you in a minute.
Welcome back to the sewing room
for your final challenge.
The judges would love you to make
a beautiful avant-garde dress.
For a beautiful avant-garde dress,
you need some wonderful models,
so let's get your models.
MUSIC: For Once In My Life
by Frank Sinatra
No-o-o!
LAUGHTER
Hello. Are you all right?
# I can go where life leads me
# Somehow I know I'll be strong
# For once I can touch... #
Are you happy with your models?
Oh, yes!
Yes.
Yeah, I'll stick with mine, yeah.
You have seven and a half hours
for this challenge.
Enormous luck. Your time starts now.
Thank you.
You've completely thrown me.
I don't know where to start, now!
I have so much support back at home.
To have the support here,
now, is awesome.
A true avant-garde dress
is radically original.
First stage is cutting out
this rather complicated piece.
The judges want the sewers
to produce original,
ultra-modern gowns
which combine innovative
cutting styles
with unusual and dramatic fabric.
I saw this
and I thought it'd be awesome.
Being the final
Made-to-Measure Challenge,
the dresses must fit
their family models perfectly...
How does that feel?
Can you go shorter, or you...?
Yeah, I don't mind.
..not easy when delivering
bold and original shapes.
So, I'm doing sort of a grey corset
with a nice bit of grey satin
bias binding round the top,
and then the skirt piece
is going to be out of the kind of
grey and sequin material,
and it'll be a very
kind of pinched waist on it.
And then it'll come out to
an extremely exaggerated hipline
and then dropped down to the calf
quite dramatically.
Matt's couture-inspired
geometric dress has a corset top
and boned hoop to suspend
the exaggerated hipline.
Matt, how are you? Hello. I'm good.
You knew, didn't you? There's not
very many 5'2" professional models...
What do you mean? Let's be honest,
5'1½"! What are you saying?!
I mean, yeah!
You knew, because I was looking
at everybody's face.
Everybody else's face was like that
and you went,
"I've got a tea here for you."
I just had a feeling.
Are you very proud of him?
I'm very proud. Yeah.
Do you think he can win?
Yeah, absolutely. Definitely.
You see?
Somebody's got faith in you.
The real passion I had with
dressmaking is showing female shape,
and then I've combined that
with another passion
which is, you know,
my experiences in Afghanistan,
from a collection of my pictures,
trying to pick out
the colours of the desert and the
Green Zone and the Helmand River.
And I'm going to take all that and
throw it into a dress, like that.
Neil's dramatic figure-hugging gown
is ruched on one side
and twists over the shoulder
into a slashed back.
The asymmetric pattern is designed
for stretch fabric,
but Neil plans to blend multiple
types of material.
The thing that's concerning me
is your combination of fabrics.
Talk me through how you're
combining your fabrics.
Right. Coming up from this here
will be blacks moulded in
with a bit of blue,
moulded in with a bit of purple.
Added to that, though,
I'm adding some camouflage material.
Right. And this is quite a firm
cotton, isn't it? Yeah.
And all of your other fabrics
are quite soft, aren't they?
That is the big worry,
it's combining
all these different fabrics.
If you put it all
on the table together,
does it all work cohesively?
In my head? Well... Yes!
That's... OK!
I've gone for a pattern,
but it's for a very thin fabric
and I've got
a very structured fabric,
it's actually curtain material.
Came to me in a blinding flash.
It's much more fun making something
for somebody I know
and I know the colour will suit her.
And Emma looks lovely in everything,
so I don't mind.
So, she'll do my dress credit.
Lorna's modern take on the New Look
is made up of a structured
strapless mini-dress, with a long
overskirt and a high-to-low hem.
And then I am adding
some tulle to it. Oooh!
Which is a bit garish,
but there we are.
Actually, it works really nicely
with that... Oh, it does.
..fabric, doesn't it?
I do have some lights to put in that.
Fantastic.
So sorry, Patrick.
I don't understand
the need for the lights.
Could be very effective,
couldn't it? It could be.
It could be very tacky,
as Patrick is imagining.
I'm going to decide nearer the time.
It's in the developmental stage
at the moment.
Yes, it is, very much so.
We're looking for something
that is outside of the ordinary,
but I think
they're taking it too far.
Neil's attempting to put
too much into it.
It stands alone, really.
He doesn't need to do
loads of stuff to it.
Lorna's got what, on the face of it,
is a very interesting
piece of sewing
and then she's going to add
fairy lights to the bottom of it
and I just don't know why.
Matt's, I think,
is an incredible shape.
Quite challenging fabric
because that sequin fabric
is not easy to sew.
If it doesn't sit correctly,
it's going to look really odd.
Yeah.
So, these are all
the panels of your skirt.
As I worked through a mock-up,
I realised that, actually,
it's easier to have a rectangle
and like a very exaggerated dart
coming down on each
and, eventually,
when I join up the back seam,
I then have like a Chinese lantern
almost effect to it.
Yes. And you'll have more stability
doing it that way, won't you?
Yeah, yeah.
But it's got to be accurate.
If I muck this bit up here,
it kind of all goes out the window.
Their concern is that I'm combining
lots of different fabrics
with lots of different colours and
trying to actually put too much in.
The reality is I only showed them
half of what I was putting in.
I think, Neil,
I'm going to lose the lights.
I didn't get the good vibes
about the light.
I'll have 'em!
No. But we'll see.
It could be very nice.
I think I've got enough time to
complete everything.
There's not too much leeway.
This is the complicated bit.
This is where I'm mixing
basically a polyester
with a very fine sort of microfibre
which is very stretchy,
like a thin Lycra,
and that one's got no give in it
at all.
But it was quite crucial to get the
mixture of colours and the shape.
So, on one side of the dress,
it hangs and it's stretchy.
On the other side,
it's actually quite stiff,
but flows, if that makes sense.
I'm letting the walking foot
pull it through, so it's not
overstretching the top one,
and I've just changed my needle
to a jersey needle,
which is a flat point,
cos it was just catching the Lycra.
Matt will be using boning
for his hooped skirt.
So, this is going to make the channel
for the inside of the skirt,
so this is where the hoop
will feed into.
Lorna's also using boning
in the seams of her bodice.
Right, let's experiment.
Probably not the thing you
should be doing on a day like this,
but there we go.
Not going to experiment now,
Lorna, are you?
Bit avant-garde thinking. Exactly.
Whoop, I've made a big mistake.
I've just put it on the wrong side,
cos they look quite similar,
the back and the front,
material-wise.
Getting a bit overconfident,
which is not good.
The sewers are halfway through
their final challenge.
I'm going very slowly.
I'm enjoying this and I shouldn't
be, I should be just working hard
because I can hear it all going on
behind me here.
Got lots of big darts in there,
and so then, in theory, this is
kind of like my
Chinese lantern effect.
Attaching the lining to the dress.
Neil has created the lining
for his dress,
but actually stitching it in place
requires all of his concentration.
You make the outside
and then you make the inside
and then you sort of join them
up the neckline.
I was just making sure
I get it the right way round.
I'm just a bit worried
that everything sounds
very technical round here
and mine is exceedingly simple.
I don't believe that for one second.
Your is the only one that requires
an electrician to complete it.
I'm worrying about the zip
on the back. OK.
I might have to do an exposed zip
or something different
if I can't do an invisible zip. Yep.
I might have blown it on this one.
I've chosen wrong fabric,
wrong pattern, not going well.
I've got time to get it finished.
It's whether it'll look any good,
that's the thing.
How is the corset?
The corset is good.
You HAVE made the corset?
I haven't made the corset.
But you've cut all the pieces out?
I've cut all the pieces out,
pinned it, had a bit of
a think through. And that fits?
It fits well enough at the moment.
This laces up at the back
through eyelets.
You don't think a zip will be
easier, nicer? Lacing will just
give me a little bit of adjustment.
What's worrying you most of all?
That it ain't going to work.
Why do you think
it's not going to work?
I'm just at that bit of
negative stage at the moment.
Right. These are probably
the trickiest bits to sew? Yes.
Just trying to put two in.
It needs more than one piece
and I just need to know
whether two is enough
or whether it needs three.
Brilliant.
Brilliant. You've done it.
I've got, now, 3 hours 40.
Man up. Man up!
So, the next stage is,
you're going to put that onto that?
And then put an invisible zip in.
Right. Your nemesis.
Yes. Um, that is the one thing
I'm dreading.
"Pin the remaining zipper tape
to right opening edge." Eh?
Oh, I'm shaking now,
cos I know I don't like doing this.
Oh, wow! Matt, that's superb.
Thank you.
Oh, check you out!
Excellent.
The material is handling
like my worst nightmare.
Neil's choice of finely woven fabric
for his ruched panel
means he will have to add pleats
he hadn't planned on
to prevent his dress
from dragging on the floor.
If you want something that flows
and folds, you've got to live
with the fact that, actually,
it's fine and it moves.
Skirt finished.
I'm going to do a corset now
in 1 hour 50 minutes.
This is more adrenaline-grabbing
than gambling at roulette, this is.
It's so concealed, I can't see it,
which is a good sign.
I'm just going to finish a really
nice dress and all the extra stuff
I was thinking of adding, pfff,
I'm just going to just finish it.
Where's your tulle? Oh, it's down
here, so I'm going to add it...
That's still got to go on as well?
Yes.
Pressure's definitely on now,
knowing that we haven't got long.
The original plan was to try and
stick something around like this
but, actually, I quite like that.
I've got to put a waistband on this
to be able to connect it
to the skirt.
So, I'm just bias binding
the top edge of the corset now.
Nice bit of edge stitching
and we may have...
I have no idea how I'm going to do
this, no idea at all.
According to this, you've got
about 40 minutes' work left.
I've got to do the hem
and then once the hem's done,
I've got time to actually
sort of just titivate.
Sewers, you've got half an hour.
30 minutes.
Time is running out. Whoops!
Oh. Let's see what happens.
Come on.
This is going to be one of these
glamorous red carpet dresses.
You're going quite fast?
This is good. Come on.
I love your calm. Ooh, I'm not calm.
OK, good. I'm having palpitations.
Good. I don't want you to be calm.
Ooh! Ole!
Loving it.
I'm going to put the bow at the
front, cover up a multitude of sins.
One minute left. You look amazing.
I think this is probably
the last stitch
I have to do on the Sewing Bee.
Poignant.
Considering where
I was four, five hours ago,
I'm actually quite pleased.
I'm sure this goes on
at fashion shows as well,
a few pins here and there.
All right, that's it. Time's up.
Very well done.
ALL APPLAUD
Very well done.
It's a proper bromance.
They're in love.
Well done, Lorna.
It was so much more complicated
than I thought it would be.
Really, really was.
I mean, at one stage,
I just didn't know
whether I was coming or going.
We got there in the end,
after a fashion.
That crazy drawing
with lots of angles
and lots of chalk everywhere,
it turned out.
That garment rocks.
Firstly, congratulations
on the fit of your bodice.
And you have created
some really interesting shapes.
The shape of the skirt and also this
little straight skirt underneath.
The fit is lovely, it moves well,
there's a lot
of great elements to it.
However, the thing
that is bothering me is this.
What the tulle does is make it look
somehow less modern,
it does look a bit twisted,
it's not one piece, is it?
No. We didn't get it all... So,
your back seams are not lining up.
No, we rushed it.
Some of the stitching down the front
is just a little off, here.
Yes, and we're slightly uneven
on this side as well.
We've got some wider stitching
and some narrower stitching.
The absence of the underlighting,
I have to say,
I'm very pleased about.
I don't think
it would have made the dress better.
I have to say,
you've created a stunning shape
and, also,
your bodice is a beautiful fit.
I think it's stunning.
You've definitely saved
your best sewing till last.
I mean, I'm just looking at the
binding on the top of that corset,
and it is immaculate.
A slight negative -
just the bounce in your seams.
Yeah. And it would have been
really nice
to have had those pressed out
a little bit. Yeah.
And, obviously, a little bit
of a ripple in the back seam
cos, obviously,
you've got the zip in there. Yeah.
I worried a little bit about how
this lacing was going to look,
but it's exactly the right colour,
it's the right weight of lace,
the spacing is perfect.
It looks stunning.
The brief was to create something
that was avant-garde.
And the best of avant-garde
takes something from history
but it feels
so very much of the moment
and, you know,
you've just done a tremendous job.
Thank you. Thank you both very much.
When I saw the drawing
and when I saw you starting off
with all of those different
materials, I was really nervous.
But, actually, it's very novel.
It's got this tremendous asymmetry,
it's got curves going in all sorts
of different directions,
there's nothing in it
that feels usual.
And that's exactly what
we'd asked for.
We've asked you to remove yourself
from normal everyday sewing
and give us something new.
Was the right-hand side
supposed to be gathered?
In the pattern, it wasn't actually
supposed to be gathered like that,
but the material was actually finer
and it just hung at the bottom,
so I actually I put the pleats in.
The pleating just affects
the balance a little bit,
makes it a little bit chunky
down that side.
These four maybe needed to be
just a little more even.
There are bits
that could be sewn better.
This lining needs to be...
It needs a tug around inside.
It needs to be inside. Yeah.
The neckline doesn't sit
quite as perfectly as we'd like.
But this great big seam, you know,
this is tough, tough stuff to sew.
I mean, it really was so mobile.
I think you've done
a good job of it. Thank you.
A huge well done
on three cutting-edge dresses.
It's time for you to go off
and have cake and a cuddle.
When you come back,
the judges will announce who has won
The Great British Sewing Bee.
See you later. Love you.
Oh, thank you so much.
After you. After me! After me!
Oh, well done, guys.
Whilst the finalists
wait for the judges' decision,
the sewing room opens its doors
to their families
and a few familiar faces.
It feels great being
back in the sewing room.
It's just so lovely to see
everybody's lovely things.
I'm really liking the lace skirts
that they made.
They look really nice.
You can just see how
well people have come on
and improved
over the last few weeks.
Now everything that the finalists
have made is there,
it's kind of really tough
to kind of see who could win.
I just can't give you
a "who should win".
I think they were all
just very well deserving.
Having seen Lorna's dress,
I think she's going to win it.
I would like Matt to win.
Before I went out in the first round,
I said I think Neil will win,
and I haven't changed my opinion.
We're not doing Garment Of The Week.
Nobody's leaving.
You now have to choose the winner.
Let's talk about Neil.
In challenge one, he demonstrated
again that his competence
is right up there, but I just
don't know what to say about this.
There were elements of this dress
that I wasn't completely happy with.
The pleating down this side
was very lumpy
and it affected
the flow of the gown.
We've seen much better sewing
from Neil.
Has Neil blown it?
If I was to have picked a winner
before yesterday,
I'd have put my money on Neil.
But this is the final
and I think we have to consider
what has been made in the final.
If there was one of these final
three that embodied everything
that I was looking for
in avant-garde, it was Matt's.
It didn't just fulfil the brief, it
actually is tremendously well-sewn.
If I can just take you back, though,
he came last in the first challenge.
But, to me, there was little
between his and Lorna's.
There was hardly anything.
And he made a very good stab
at the alteration.
I think this is
a really well-sewn garment.
There's a little bit untidiness
but, for me,
it just didn't feel like
it fulfilled the brief of modernity
that we were looking for.
All of this just spoilt it.
It just affected the balance
of the garment and its sharpness.
That's exactly what it lacks.
But then Lorna's alteration
was, for sure, the most successful.
For me, it now boils down
to a choice between these two.
Can we just have five minutes?
You may.
ALL CHEER
Hello!
ALL: Hello!
Hi! A huge welcome
to friends and family
and a massive welcome back
to our sewers. Hello.
There's something we have to do now.
Look what's in my hand.
Please could our finalists
step forward.
The judges
have made their decision...
..and the winner of
The Great British Sewing Bee is...
..it's Matt.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
That's yours!
Well done, darling.
Thank you, darling.
They loved it!
I'm flabbergasted, gobsmacked.
All those great big long words.
I made that...there, which was
just exactly as I pictured it
and it came out
exactly as I pictured it.
And, hey, I think
that just won me through.
Timing is everything
and Matt kept his very best
for the very last sewing challenge.
We had three incredible sewers
in the final.
Really, really tough competition,
but Matt's dress
was just incredible.
I'm really thrilled to bits
for Matt, absolutely.
It was a fantastic outfit
and thoroughly deserved it.
What I'll miss most about
the sewing room is the camaraderie
that we've all had together.
We've been such good friends
and we haven't really been
up against each other.
We've shared things and it's been
really a wonderful experience.
So many memories
I'm going to hold so dear.
Just some lovely, lovely people
that I've met.
The fact that
we all want to help each other,
bowled over by the friendships.
The confidence
that it's given me as well.
I'll tackle anything now.
Honestly, anything.
I wouldn't shy away
from a single thing.
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03x06 - Episode 6
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Amateur sewers take on challenges as they compete to be named Britain's best home sewer.
Amateur sewers take on challenges as they compete to be named Britain's best home sewer.