It's Movie Week, our four
semifinalists will have to wow
the judges with garments
inspired by legendary films.
I'm paying tribute to the great
Kate Winslet in Titanic,
so I'm presenting the show,
wearing this and only this.
Paint me like one of your French
girls...
Welcome to the Great British
Sewing Bee.
Last time...
Ole! ..it was International Week.
I don't speak French,
so I've no idea.
Nicole stumbled...
Again, not finishing.
..but staged a dramatic comeback...
I think it looks fantastic. ..to
grab her third Garment Of The Week.
It's such a wonderful,
joyous piece of sewing.
And it was Mark...
Oh, you naughty machine.
..who said adios to the Sewing Room.
Oh, group hug!
Now... Oooh! ..it's the semifinal...
Come on!
..and we're off to the movies...
Jazz hands are out!
..with a bombshell
pattern challenge...
Something like that?
..a future shock transformation...
Oh! Really?!
..and a Made-To-Measure
straight from the roaring '20s.
Oh, stop it.
Whose period drama
will be a blockbuster...
Phew! Watch out for flying sequins.
..and whose grand final hopes...
Uh-oh! ..will flop?
It's not that bad, is it?
It's pretty bad.
MUSIC: Little Green Bag
by George Baker Selection
CONTESTANTS LAUGH
Shall we go to the ball?
I can't believe it's semifinal week!
Oh, my God! Can't believe I'm here.
Still, I really can't.
So excited!
After you, my dear. Thank you.
Well, I think, it being Movie Week,
I am expecting a lot of glitz
and glamour.
Will we be
recreating monster costumes
or science fiction outfits?
It could be anything.
Oh, it's empty.
Hopefully, I can go through
to the final.
Hopefully, an award-winning
performance.
Hopefully, an Oscar.
Oh, crikey.
Can hear your own echo in here now.
MUSIC: Pearl & Dean Theme
Here's...
..Joey!
Come forward, everyone.
Well, welcome,
all of you to the semifinal.
It's a Sewing Bee first
because it's Movie Week.
You will be asked to make garments
from all different types of cinema.
So, mystery, adventure, romance,
horror, all the things
that I experienced in the taxi
I shared with the judges
this morning.
Esme, tell us about
the pattern challenge.
Right...
ALL: Aah!
This is inspired by Marilyn Monroe's
dress in The Seven Year Itch.
It's a dress with a halter top
and a pleated skirt.
And, like all good movies,
this one has a twist
You won't be running
to the haberdashery
to choose your fabrics because
we're giving you pre-pleated fabric.
That's helpful.
It does mean, however, it's an
entirely level playing field.
We will only be judging
on the quality of your cutting
and your sewing.
Remember, your entire futures
rest on what you do
in the next three challenges,
so, try and relax about it.
You have four and a half hours
for this challenge,
and your time starts now.
Oh... Oh, I say. Ooh...
Wow.
The sewers have been given a mixture
of pleated and non-pleated
polyester...
Yeah, let's go with this one.
..to create one of the most
recognisable movie costumes
of all time.
So, I've gone for red.
They didn't have black so this is
the next best thing for me.
I really like this colour
and the original dress is white,
so I thought a light colour
would be closest to the original.
Not really worked with this
sort of crepe-y fabric before.
Can't be the only one who's
feeling really daunted by this.
So, you've never made a pleated,
halter neck dress before, Liz?
Never in my life. Bit of a Marilyn
fan, you know,
I've done a dress before.
Quite excited by it.
Can't be that difficult!
The little white dress was
the creation of Hollywood designer
William Travilla.
Worn by Marilyn Monroe
in the 1955 film
The Seven Year Itch,
its pleats were traditionally
hand-pressed
and set in a stove at 100 degrees.
Its seamless perfection leaves our
sewers with nowhere to hide.
When I look at you two,
I think of movies.
Esme, My Fair Lady.
Patrick...
..My Fair Lady.
Tell me, why Movie Week?
Well, costume's an enormously
important part of film.
I mean, it really helps
set the mood.
It helps develop the character.
And there aren't many costumes
that are as iconic as this one.
Is this a particularly difficult
garment to make?
This is an extraordinarily
difficult challenge.
So, we've given them pre-pleated
fabric for the skirt.
I dread to think how many
pleats there are here,
but it would take forever.
They still have to create a series
of eight, very regular pleats
in the under-bust area.
And the whole bodice is bagged out,
so, we get no seam showing.
The side, here where the bust is,
because it's on a curve
it could stretch really easily.
And getting the zip in
at the back could be a problem.
It looks simple,
but the simpler the dress,
the more difficult it is because
everything gets noticed.
So, I just need to figure out
what I'm actually doing here.
"Cut out your waistband and bodice
pieces from your un-pleated fabric."
I'm just colonising the floor here,
trying to make sure
to cut out accurately.
It's quite slippy, this fabric.
It's probably going to require
a lot of pinning.
Do you feel confident
about this garment?
Fairly confident, yeah.
Done dresses before,
I've done a Marilyn dress.
Look at that.
There you are dressed...?
That's from
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
And do gentlemen prefer blondes,
in your experience?
I'm not fussed!
The dress is comprised
of three main sections -
the skirt, waistband and bodice.
First, eight intricate pleats
are added to each
of the two bust pieces,
and a lining is attached,
before both are bagged out
and joined together
at the centre front.
The waistband is added,
sandwiching the bodice
between the fabric and lining.
The skirt is then attached
and an invisible zip sewed
into the back opening.
A hook and bar is added
to fasten the neck,
and, finally,
the skirt is hemmed to finish.
Well, hello, Liz. Hello. Morning.
How have you found this fabric
to cut out?
It's very slippy,
and I think we're all so focused
on being as neat and precise
as we possibly can be that
we're probably taking too long.
Well, it is the semifinal.
I know, I know... And there are only
four of you left. I know.
We've got to separate you somehow.
I know, even worse!
Nowhere to hide now.
With their bodice pieces cut out...
Need to get some interfacing.
..the sewers must iron on
interfacing
to strengthen the panels.
It's the only structure
the dress is going to get.
You definitely don't want this
neckline piece pulled out of shape.
It's got to keep everything in,
hasn't it?
How are you getting on with your
pleated halter neck dress?
When you come to these type
of fabrics, they're just like,
"Mind of my own...
I have a mind my own!"
I mean, I cut these two out exactly
and look how much
this one's gone this way.
What's the solution, recut it?
No, just go with it.
It's a lot of bodging in sewing
in case you hadn't sussed
that out by now.
Pleating is a pain in the bum,
let's face it.
It takes a lot of time.
God, tell me about it.
I know, right?
Every Thursday, I'm trying to pleat.
SHE CHUCKLES
I'm pinning the pleats in my bodice.
It's very tricky.
Each of the two bodice pieces
must contain eight pleats...
One, two, three, four.
..so, measuring and pinning
accurately is crucial
or the bust line won't be
symmetrical.
Obviously, this fabric just wants
to shift everywhere,
so the pleats want to move,
the pins don't want to go in it.
Certainly not an easy task.
Yes. Happy with that.
It can be tricky to sew
over the pleats because it can get
a little bit kind of caught
in the foot of the sewing machine.
Boots are off.
Boots are off, come on.
The more you sew it,
the more it grows.
If they stretch the fabric here,
it will result in irregular pleats.
SHE SIGHS
My watch is telling me to breathe!
HE LAUGHS AND BREATHES DELIBERATELY
One, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight pleats.
Yes.
Hopefully, my pleats are even.
Yeah, not too bad.
Have you looked at your pattern?
Yes...
I think you need to look again.
Uh-oh...
Oh, what have I done?
Well, I mean, it's very easy to see
when you put the two of them
together. Yes.
The pleats start
in very different places.
OK. All right.
I'll have to go and rework that one.
I'll make it work.
I pressed it in the right place,
but, somewhere along in the sewing,
it's sort of just moved about
and totally didn't match up.
Right, OK, so we're bagging
these out then.
For the dress to have
the seamless elegance
the judges are looking for
the sewers must bag out
the bodice pieces correctly.
So, bagging out is where you sew
something completely inside out
and then turn it all
to the right side,
and it just leaves you with
completely enclosed seams.
Out you come...
Don't know how it goes, but I guess
something like that.
My precious!
You've had half your time, sewers!
I need to get a shift on, I think.
So, I'm now attaching
the bodice pieces to the waistband.
I've put the first one on.
Wow, look at that.
Bagged it out. Bagged it out.
Yeah, I'm just worried it's a bit
too Margaret Thatcher, being blue.
Marilyn Mon-Thatcher! Yeah.
That's a film I'd love to see.
"Oh, shut those mines!"
How's the bodice gone?
I feel like I'm having
a bit of a nightmare. Right.
Got a bit of that
stretched out there,
and the more you press it,
obviously, the worse it stretches.
It's tough, this fabric, isn't it?
Isn't it?
Yeah.
So, that's more or less meeting
in the middle. Right, skirt...
"Now take your skirt pattern pieces
and pleated fabric
"and place them on the pattern
pieces and cut the waistline out."
I don't think I've ever worked
with pleated fabric before.
Definitely needs a lot of
control over it.
Try not to cut my finger off.
I've not seen the film The Seven
Year Itch, but I'm pretty sure
that most people
have seen the picture
of Marilyn standing over
the subway grating
with the steam billowing
and sort of trying to half-heartedly
stop her dress blowing up.
She made showing knickers
famous, basically!
Not sure there's going to be any
of that going on today, though.
Marilyn Monroe standing
over a subway grate
with her dress billowing
is one of the defining images
of the 20th century.
William Travilla was the mastermind
behind this cultural phenomenon.
William Travilla was a costume
designer and he was responsible
for creating many of Monroe's
famous looks,
but, despite defining her style, his
name is not particularly well-known.
Costume designers are often
the unsung heroes
of the film industry.
In 1952, he began working
with Marilyn Monroe
and they became close collaborators.
Travilla and Monroe's close
relationship helped push
the boundaries of art and beauty.
Travilla was expert
at dressing Monroe.
He knew her intimately.
They had been lovers
in the early '50s
when their careers
were really taking off,
so, he understood her body
very well.
She had a number of demands.
She often liked to be
sewn in to her costumes
so, they are skin tight,
but he was expert at doing that
and helped create these
immortal characters.
Monroe's hourglass figure
helped her become the most famous
poster girl of all time.
Her measurements were 36, 26, 36,
which is quite a unique shape,
and she became a national obsession.
People would flock to her films.
So, 20th Century Fox were very canny
at marketing her unique
and extraordinary shape.
A star as big as Monroe
needed a dress to match,
and this dress was
a technical masterpiece.
The dress is made
from rayon-acetate crepe
and then you have the sunburst
pleats falling down into the skirt.
So, moves very elegantly,
clings to the body,
and, then, could perform
this special effect trick
that the script requires.
In 2011, the dress was sold
for $4.6 million,
which is still the highest amount
paid for a single film costume.
That really shows
it has an extraordinary legacy
in modern popular culture.
Sewers, you have one hour remaining!
Ooh!
Oh... Gordon Bennett.
Got so much to do.
I think I quite hate pleated fabric.
Yeah, I don't like it.
I think Marilyn would have looked
better without pleats.
THEY LAUGH
The sewers must now attach
their skirts to their waistbands.
There will be lots of layers
of fabric in this waistband.
Need to concentrate on this bit!
If they don't match
their seams perfectly,
they'll fail to get that iconic,
figure-skimming fit...
With the right side of skirt
and the right side of bottom edge
of waistband,
not the waistband lining...
A task which is easier
said than done.
That's the waistband lining.
That's the waistband.
Too much ruddy skirt here!
I mean, I've got a couple
of little tucks.
Obviously, it wants to contract
naturally, but I don't think
it's particularly jarring.
Let's call that done.
Just putting a concealed zip in
but I get confused.
Give me a minute to concentrate.
I'm feeling pretty confident
with invisible zips now.
I think that's been
the Sewing Bee's legacy to me.
I don't seem to be getting
any better at invisible zips.
Right...
I need to get the teeth
on the edge of the seam
because the zip is quite
a different colour from my fabric.
Just cut the top off
my invisible zip.
My God...
SHE SIGHS
Look at that. Can't see it.
That's a pretty good zip.
Oh, that just is nowhere
near matching.
That's just horrendous.
This is the worst invisible zip
I've ever sewn in my entire life.
So, I just realised
I made a massive boo-boo.
Oh, no. What's your boo-boo?
Totally didn't...
..sew this together.
So, I've got a nice, raw edge here.
Well, it's not too late to sew
that together, is it? But then...
Oh, sh**t, no,
because I can't bag it out.
Oh.
It's not that bad, is it?
It's pretty bad.
I can't present that.
Sewers, you have ten minutes!
I didn't put the bins out!
Raw edge, raw edge.
I think I might just tuck
that in, top stitch it down,
that's all I can really do
right now.
I've got to put
the fastenings in at the top,
I've got to do the hem,
but I think I'm nearly there.
Clare, are you nearly done?
No. what needs doing?
Attaching the hook and eye,
doing the hem, loads of stuff.
It'll be fine!
Are you going to finish?
Marilyn's bum isn't going to be
hanging out, that's all I can say.
Her boobs might be. One or the
other's fine, I'm sure. Yeah!
Oh, can't even look at it.
It's awful.
My invisible zip is the worst thing
you might have ever seen.
Five minutes remaining!
BLOWS RASPBERRY
Oh, really?
I can't even fit two bars on here.
Just put one over the other.
It's a lot of hemming.
Oh, my God, you've done a hem.
It's all right,
I haven't done my hem, Clare.
Just be glad if it closes
on the mannequin.
One minute, sewers! Get your
dresses on those mannequins!
Yeah, good luck with that one.
Phew! I'm just whip stitching
the top of the zip now
in the hope that it will
stop the pull coming off.
Ow!
Well, one hook and bar it is,
I think.
Oh, mine doesn't even close.
Needles up! That is your time.
Bring your mannequins forward
and, remember,
just like Marilyn, they are fragile.
HE EXHALES
Wow.
Look at that. Lovely. Shall we?
Lovely, if you don't look
at the back.
# A kiss on the hand
may be quite continental
# But diamonds are
a girl's best friend
# A kiss may be grand
# But it won't pay the rental
on your humble flat... #
Four pleated halter neck dresses
in just four and a half hours.
Look at all these Marilyns,
just ready for a gust
up the gusset.
OK, let's go for it.
Clare, bring yours forward.
# But square cut or pear-shaped
# These rocks don't lose their shape
# Diamonds are
a girl's best friend... #
I think you've managed
this pretty well.
Your under-bust pleats
are pretty evenly done.
You haven't got round
to doing the hem.
I think it's just worth pointing
out that it looks very uneven
but that's just where the fabric has
dropped and I notice it's dropped
on quite a few,
so ordinarily you would let it drop,
level it and then hem it.
Your zip isn't bad. Can see
a tiny bit of tape there,
but nicely level at the top.
Let's check your hook and bar.
Yep, they're pretty firmly attached.
Can you see this is stretched?
So, we get a bit of side boobage.
So, it's not going to give
support to your bosom,
but, overall, you've done well.
Well done.
# Best friend. #
From the front, it looks
pretty good, actually.
You've got the pleats
in nicely under the bust.
The waistband is sitting very flat.
But, when we turn it around,
we've got a huge gap.
You haven't run the zip
all the way to the top.
As a result,
it's not going to stay up.
You also haven't got the hook or bar
on at the top of the neck
on the halter.
I mean, it's a big shame about that.
The other thing, can you see
the side of the bodice is stretched?
I think, from the front,
it doesn't look too bad.
Round the back,
it is a different story.
# We're just two little girls
from Little Rock... #
I just noticed something.
You haven't bagged this out.
Yeah, massive boo-boo.
It's a big shame.
But your pleats, they're pretty
even at the front.
Your zip's been put in very nicely.
We can't see the tape.
You've got the bars, but no hook.
You also haven't had time to hem it.
You were missing a pleat on one
side, but you you've put it in
and taken one out and fixed it,
which is great because it would
have been incredibly noticeable.
It now looks very neat
across the centre front.
# ..in Little Rock! #
Pretty good.
Looks finished.
We have the hook and bar.
The pleats look fairly even.
I think your waistband is not bad.
It's a little loose in places.
But the zip's in well.
The overall effect, I think,
is really stunning.
Well done. Thank you.
OK, you've got to make
some decisions.
Yeah.
Patrick and Esme must now rank
the dresses from last place
to award winning.
In fourth place
is Liz.
It's not finished and the zip wasn't
exactly in the right place.
That's an understatement.
Yeah.
In third place, it's Nicole.
You didn't bag out the top and
didn't quite get it finished either.
In second place...
..is Clare.
It's really good sewing...
..but it's not absolutely perfect.
Which means, in first place,
it's Matt!
APPLAUSE
It's a well-finished piece of sewing
and looks fit for Marilyn.
Well done. Thank you.
You going to try it on to celebrate?
I'd LOVE to try it on.
Well done, everyone.
Got through a very tricky
first challenge of Movie Week.
There will now be an intermission
and we'll be back
for the Transformation Challenge.
# You won't admit you love me
# And, so, how am I ever...
I'm really happy with that result.
It was a really complicated pattern
and takes the pressure off
a little bit and, semifinal,
I need that.
Well, thank goodness that's done.
Well, that was pretty shocking,
wasn't it?
# Perhaps... #
So, I've got to pull it out
the bag now, don't I?
# Perhaps... #
In Transformation, I have got to try
and do something absolutely epic.
# Perhaps. #
For this week's Transformation
Challenge,
the sewers are leaving
retro dresses behind...
Oho! Really?
..and are headed for the future.
Welcome back, sewers.
It's time for the Movie Week
Transformation Challenge.
Movies are full of transformations,
particularly if the movie
you're watching
is Transformers: The Movie.
Patrick, tell us about
the challenge.
Well, this week we'd like you
to boldly sew
like you've never sewn before,
inspired by sci-fi.
As you can see,
we've turned the haberdashery
into a cross between
the scrap yard and a charity shop.
You can use as much
scrap as you like,
but only three items of clothing.
OK, we're going to send
the judges away now.
One, so that they don't know
whose is whose,
but, mainly, so they can be
transported back
to the mother ship to bring
news of Earth.
MUSIC: 2001: A Space Odyssey Theme
You have 90 minutes
for this challenge.
Your time starts now.
Oh, damn it!
Oh! Did you want that? Yeah.
Lost his head!
The sewers are allowed to choose
three garments...
It's easy to get a top off a lady,
isn't it?
..and as much scrap
as they can carry.
Look at this!
A doormat!
It's MY laptop.
Right, I'm going to make
a start on these.
Hello, Nicole.
What are you going to make?
It's going to be something
quite sci-fi, over.
Can't wait to see it.
Good luck, over. Thank you.
This is a difficult challenge.
To make something that looks
beautiful out of all of this junk,
it does require a great
leap of imagination.
We want them to combine
the scrap and the clothes.
Some of the scraps
are stiffer than the cloth,
so, it's how they combine them.
The best designers in the world
have played with some
of these elements. I think, notably,
of Alexander McQueen's
Atlantis collection,
which was this extraordinary vision
of the future.
The difficult thing is to try
and bring it all together
in a coherent way so that it doesn't
just look like somebody's
covered themselves in glue
and rolled around in a scrapyard.
We want this to look like couture,
and that's not easy.
Definitely not.
I find it interesting how sci-fi
films always portray
the future as being bleak.
The future is not
all doom and gloom.
It's what we make it.
OK. So, I've got a sort of wet suit
type thing.
I want to make some sort of
exaggerated collar,
maybe add on a skirt, just so it's
not completely, like, wet suit.
I love anything with a bit of,
like, ridiculous gore.
Like, The Thing. Most famous scene
in that is where
a guy's head falls off and then
it sprouts legs and walks away.
I've gone for this leather skirt
that had some really great studding
all over it.
So, I'm going to attach it
to this top.
I need to think about what skirt
this is going to have.
The, sort of, junkyard aspect
of it makes me think of Red Dwarf.
The, sort of, rundown spaceship.
I am going to start by trying to put
some of this copper tubing
around the edge of something.
A thing.
No, you hang up.
No, YOU hang up.
No, you hang up.
I love you, I love you. OK, bye.
Wrong number.
What are you making?
Like, a 1960s Barbarella kind of
dress, I think. Cool.
I mean, I don't really know
what you just said.
But it sounds cool.
You know Barbarella, though?
Jane Fonda? No, I don't. Really? No.
Let me Google it. Barbarella.
Whoa!
All right, Jane.
Put it away, Jane.
Sewers, you have one hour remaining!
I'm in the Matrix.
Oh, dear...
The top's pretty much down
the Mad Max route.
I might slash it up little bit,
like they've just gone through some
weird sci-fi trauma.
I think my repertoire
in embellishments is going
to be taken to a whole new level
with this challenge.
So, what I'm going to do is add
a few spacey panels and details
and this will be interesting to sew,
won't it? Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop!
Just popping everywhere.
Greg, my other half,
has never seen Star Wars
and I'm like, "What?!"
So, I'm going to do, like,
in Clockwork Orange,
where they peeled his eyes open and
make sure he watches all of it.
I'm going to hopefully attach
that copper tubing around
the bottom edge of the peplum to
make it stand out,
like, Blade Runner style.
If I have a circle of this...
Yeah? ..around the edge of here,
it will stand away like that.
How are you going to affix this?
Some stitches, probably.
You're going to be there for days!
I may be some time.
Let's just go for sewing
this into a big tube.
So, I have a nice,
sparkly shower curtain.
It did put me in mind a little bit
of Alan Partridge,
when he dresses as a zombie
in the Travel Tavern.
He uses the shower curtain
as his cape.
It's quite funny.
These are getting blunt!
I'm actually going to use these
seams
as a guide for cutting
other panel pieces
and then I don't have to worry
too much about
the pattern cutting itself.
There we go.
Oh, this is horrible!
Could fasten it with that.
Like a clip thing. A few of those
down the back...
..rather than the zip. That's so...
..last year.
So 2020, that.
The skirt, it's going to have,
like, hip fins
attached to it, which
I'm just going to sew
a little pocket for them to sit in.
Sewing the panels together.
It's definitely mixed media.
So, I'm just working out
how I'm going to do the collar.
This lovely PVC that you can get
lovely and sweaty
on your spaceship with.
HE CHUCKLES
One more, I think.
Yeah. Look, this is a bit bigger
than I intended!
DARTH VADER BREATHING
Sewers...
..I am your father.
Also, so you have 30 minutes to go.
See you, then.
OK, so that's one
exaggerated collar.
I don't even know how I can get this
under the machine now.
The machine really doesn't like PVC.
I'm just forcing it through.
THE SEWING MACHINE DRONES
It's not good.
I'm going to try and make a pencil
skirt from these trousers.
I need to separate the legs and put
an additional panel in.
Oh, have I got enough of this left?
So, we kind of have a crazy skirt
with hip fins.
I'd probably go out wearing this
for Halloween or something.
This goes straight side
to straight side.
OK, so, not that far off.
I might just put an extra bit of
tubing on
to tie it all in.
Can just sew it on, I think.
What can I do to
zhuzh it up a little bit?
I'm worried that if I start,
like, adding more madness
they'll just be like, "Yeah, well,
this person clearly just threw
"everything at it cos they
didn't know what they were doing."
Ooh...
Not put the collar on yet, on here.
How long have we got?
Ten minutes, sewers!
Maybe I'll just put a couple of
stitches in here,
just to hold it in place.
This is really, really difficult...
..to sew.
This needs a bottom.
I don't think it's particularly
exciting. It LOOKS exciting.
If I passed that in a high street
store...
..I'd certainly think,
"What on Earth is going on there?"
Is that cheating if you try to
travel into the past
and tell yourself never to use PVC?
Then you wouldn't know.
Cos if you haven't used it,
you wouldn't know.
Oh! It's a time paradox!
Five minutes, sewers!
Stressing a little bit.
Fabric's actually impossible to sew.
It just keeps sticking
on the machine.
It doesn't want to go anywhere.
Oh, my goodness.
I can't even get this through.
SHE GASPS
I just snapped that...
What have you snapped?!
Oh, your computer! Oh, no. Oh, no!
I'm just going to keep sewing to try
and secure the armholes a bit more.
I'm running out of time.
One minute, sewers!
We have a zip!
Not that far off.
Oh!
Oh, God.
Here we go.
Oh, come on.
Oh, come on, you beast.
Do up.
Needles up! That is your time.
Bring your creations forward
and jumble them up
as quickly as you can.
Mummy and Daddy are on their way
back from the spaceship!
Not as finished
as I wanted it to be.
I'd wear it. I'd wear it.
Well done.
Second-hand garments and heaps
of scrap
transformed into cosmic couture.
What do you think?
ESME: Oh, I say!
The judges have no idea
which garment belongs to who.
This is very striking. Feels quite
Barbarella, actually, doesn't it?
Yes, it does. It's got a very
'60s Cardin kind of feel about it.
Yeah. It feels like the future
told in the '60s,
which I really like, actually.
There's not an awful lot of junk.
We've just got three of these rings
with ball bearings down the back.
The fit of it is good.
I mean, it's obviously very daring,
in terms of its wear.
Very! I like this collar
and how it stands up.
I think it's really striking.
It's quite simple but it's really
effective. Definitely.
# Spaceman, I always
wanted you to go... #
Well, this looks pretty sci-fi,
doesn't it?
Definite flavour of Mad Max to it.
We've got this little circuit
board. It's quite pretty, actually.
I wish it was sitting flatter
so that you could see it.
I think it's a shame there isn't
more of this, actually. Yeah.
I'm just not sure, really,
what this is supposed to be.
I mean, is that a waistband?
Is it supposed to be
sitting up here?
I think I like the top but I'm not
so keen on the bottom.
# This is Ground Control
to Major Tom
# You've really made the grade... #
You know what, Esme?
I think this is an absolute stunner.
I agree.
This is an extraordinary combination
of the original garments
and scrap tubing.
The shape it creates...
It looks so well-balanced.
This is the person
who's used the most scrap
and they've made really
good use of this.
I think they've cut this tube
to fit the fabric in,
which is also smart.
It definitely feels like something
that could grace a catwalk.
MUSIC: Doctor Who Theme
It's almost like it's, sort of,
insect's eyes. It is, isn't it?
Yes, and a little nose here
and a mouth.
This has been really well thought
about, actually.
The placement of
the different fabrics.
The sleeves are great
and the collar, I think,
it works well, actually.
I think it's a really good
combination of fabrics
and space junk.
I mean, these different textures
are so odd.
It's very strangely tactile.
You've got, sort of,
industrial rubber matting
sewn onto an incredibly fine,
sort of, gauze.
It's a really good combination
of texture, colour, fabric.
High five for the sci-fis.
Patrick and Esme will now rank
the garments
from the dark side to Obi-ONE.
In fourth place...
..it's the leather-studded
cap sleeve number.
Liz. We really liked the top
but we just felt that the bottom
didn't quite match up somehow. OK.
In third place...
..is the red and black PVC. Matt.
We loved the reference
to the '60s,
but you haven't used much scrap.
In second place...
..it's the black and silver number
on the end. Nicole.
We absolutely loved the combination
of the different
textures and bits of scrap.
Really strong, very impactful.
Well done.
There's only one person left!
Clare.
APPLAUSE
This is fantastic.
It's really impactful
and I could absolutely see it
going down the catwalk.
MORE APPLAUSE
Well done!
# Two little men
in a flying saucer... #
I was pleased with how that went!
Spring-summer 2021...
..is definitely going to be
hose pipes, all the way.
Quite pleasantly surprised
at that outcome.
I was actually going into the
judging fully expecting the worst.
Yeah, I think I forgot to go
to the scrapyard.
Think it would be disappointing
to go, you know,
with the final just there,
within grasp.
If I don't, like, pull it out
of the bag tomorrow,
make something
absolutely exceptional,
it'll probably be me going home,
I think.
But I will try.
I'll have a good go.
There's just one more garment
to make before we find out
which three sewers
will make it to the final.
# Here I am, stuck
in the middle with you... #
Action!
So, it's day two of Movie Week.
How've you found the standard?
I think the Pattern Challenge
was hard.
Nobody got it absolutely perfect.
But, I've got to say,
I was enormously impressed
with, particularly,
Clare's transformations.
As a piece of scrapyard couture,
it's quite phenomenal.
And it's cool!
Who else is doing well?
Matt had a good Pattern Challenge.
He did finish it.
In fact, he's the only one who did.
So, there's only three places
in the final next week.
Somebody has to go home
at the end of today.
Who's looking most likely?
Well, at the moment,
it's looking most likely
that it's Liz.
She made some pretty fundamental
errors in her Pattern Challenge,
but Nicole completely
failed to bag out her bodice.
Yes. Whoever does a fantastic
Made-To-Measure,
it's absolutely crucial
to who stays in and who goes out.
OK. Cut.
You were marvellous, darling.
We'll replace him with CGI. OK.
For the closing scenes of
Movie Week, the models are back
in the sewing room
for the very last time.
Welcome back, sewers!
Welcome, models!
It's time for the Movie Week
Made-To-Measure
and this week the judges
would like you to make
a flapper dress.
It's an iconic garment of
the Jazz Age and the women who wore
these were seen as daring,
dangerous, and drunken.
Kind of like my Auntie Maureen.
You have five and a half hours
for this challenge
and your time starts...now.
Right. Ah!
Where do I start?
practise
The sewers have been able to
HE CHUCKLES
their flapper dresses at home.
Practised it the once.
Read my instructions.
I'm just trying to stay calm
today and not, like, flap.
Get it?
To earn their place in the final,
they will have to capture
all the glitz and glamour
of the roaring '20s.
The images that they cast off
their corsets and staying out
late at night
and drinking c*ck!
NICOLE: I just love
the opulence of that era.
Jazz hands are out!
Why a flapper dress?
Surely, all dresses flap?
These costumes have always had
enormous cinematic appeal.
Films like The Great Gatsby
and Chicago.
I mean, between them, they've won
three Oscars for costume
for this style of clothing.
Fit is obviously very important
in this challenge.
What is the kind of fit with these?
Well, it needs to sit easily
on the body.
I mean, this was a period where
they deliberately moved away
from highlighting the female form.
So, almost disguising
the female form.
Yes, it's meant to give
that straight shape.
So, to make it a bad fit
is to make it too tight on the hip,
too tight over the bust,
and they could actually
make it too fitted.
Now, I've never seen fabrics
like this before.
What are the fabrics that are
involved in these dresses?
Well, you get beaded,
sequined, fringing,
so, they probably make
a dress out of the beading
and, then, underneath, they'll have
some kind of petticoat. Hm.
So it isn't see-through. And what
are the little bits to this?
I can see there's some...
What do we call this? Beaded fringe.
Are these essential?
I think I would be surprised
if there wasn't some elements
of bead work in the garment.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Embellishment is key.
And how you sew a seam on a sequined
or beaded dress
is a real skill.
You can't sew through
these beads and sequins,
you'll break your needle.
And beads in the seam allowance
would be lumpy and awful.
So, you have to take the beads off.
It seems to me like another tricky
challenge for the semifinal.
I want to see the shape, the fit,
the finish, the embellishment.
I want to see a sense of fun.
And it has huge scope to deliver
an exceptional piece of clothing.
Hm. That's quite big.
Flapper dresses are traditionally
made up of two parts -
a simple slip that sits under
a glittering sheer dress.
I've done lots of research online
and I found this vintage pattern.
I love this kind of era.
So, I got this blue underdress
and, then, over that,
I have this sequin fabric
that comes from New York.
But it was just absolutely the
perfect thing that I wanted to use,
you know, it had that
1920s feel to it.
Matt's keeping the silhouette
of his dress simple,
a boxy, silk slip will sit under
a highly embellished sheer dress.
It's his handling of this
tricky-to-sew sequin fabric
he's hoping will give him the edge.
So, I have practised at home
and I did find it is quite bulky
with the sequins.
But... So, you sewed over the top of
the sequins? Yeah.
And left them in the seam?
Yeah, but it's going to take forever
to take off all those sequins.
I did try, but it's quite
tricky to do.
That's the challenge.
Yes. It has the potential
to look absolutely stunning,
but it has to be well finished.
Yeah.
Matt's not the only one
with concerns.
LIZ: It's my fabrics
that I'm worried about.
I think everyone else has chosen
beaded, fringed, feathery...
You name it, they've gone for it.
But Liz is making up for her lack of
glitz by adding her own unique spin.
You're working with cobwebs.
Is this a Goth flapper dress
that you're making?
Yes, it is.
I didn't specifically set out to try
and find cobweb fabric. No.
Well, in the north, as you walk by,
they just attach to your clothes
anyway, don't they? Yeah.
I was looking on the internet
and this literally appeared
and I was like, "That's going to
have to be done."
And the bat in you was like,
"This is it." Yeah!
Liz's alternative take
on a flapper dress
will feature a simple, silver slip,
covered with a crossover dress in
lightly beaded cobweb tulle.
She's hoping extra details,
a sash at the waist
and a fringe back yoke
will help boost her chances of
reaching the final.
Are you feeling the pressure
on this one?
A little bit because I had such
a bad day yesterday
and everybody else did
relatively OK.
But, if I go home, I don't want
to go out, like,
having been horribly stressed. Yeah.
I just want to try and have fun.
Yeah.
And just make something rad.
So, I'm going to take this
to the machine.
LIZ: Right, let's get these shimmies
sewn together.
The slip will serve
as the foundation of the dress.
I mean, the dress is fairly simple.
OK.
There's no darts or anything in it.
Basically, just side seam
and shoulder seam.
But achieving the simple shape
is deceptively difficult.
Mm, this fabric is such a nightmare.
The construction is simple.
The fabric is not.
It's like a really slinky satin.
This doesn't look right.
LIZ: How are you doing?
Silk is just, like...
It's horrible, isn't it?
Yeah. Like, I thought
that was a straight line.
But, you can see, it really isn't.
And, true to form, Nicole's picked
harder-to-handle fabrics than most.
This is my crash course in every
single tricky fabric
ever made by man.
So, this week, featuring 100% silk,
feathers, and sequins.
Nicole is combining three, demanding
fabrics to create a black, silk slip
finished with a deep feathered hem
that will sit under
a gold, sequined overlay.
Kind of wanted this to be
an exercise in embellishment.
Going really all out
with the sequins.
This is absolutely extraordinary
fabric. Mm, isn't it just?
It's so nice.
What I'm planning to do is dazzle
Esme with the sheer glitz of it.
Well, this fabric is a good start.
Clare also has a plan
to dazzle the judges.
My dress is complicated,
in comparison with the others.
While the rest of the sewers'
dresses are made up of two layers,
she's adding a third.
There'll be a non-translucent
slip underneath,
but this green bit is going to be
the middle layer
made out of this Georgette,
then it's going
to have a beaded, sequined overlay
with Art Deco diamond motifs.
It's going to be very
time-consuming.
Clare's ambitious three-layer
dress will be cut to hang loosely
from the body,
creating a relaxed silhouette.
She's hoping to impress further
by finishing the middle layer
with an eight-point
handkerchief hem.
What about this bottom section?
So, those are
handkerchief hem segments.
I'm hemming all four sides
of all eight squares.
OK. A lot to do.
Yes, there is a lot.
You're testing yourself. Yeah.
I'm slightly concerned
I may have bitten off more
than I can chew.
Oh! Down we go.
Start with the inner dress
and fit that.
So that it's suitable for dancing
the night away...
Right. We're looking for skimming.
Skimming.
..the fit of the flapper dress
should skim the body
and allow for vigorous movement.
This is not really designed
to be something
that needs lots of shaping.
Making sure the slip
doesn't cling to the body...
Oops!
..is essential.
Since it is for
Charleston and partying,
you do need to be able
to move in it.
I heard a vicious rumour that you
can dance a Charleston?
Is that right? You step back...
Yeah?
Tap. Tap.
Step. Step.
Tap. Tap.
Step. Tap. Step. Tap.
Oh, stop it!
Oh, my God. We're in the '20s!
And then you move your hands.
Yeah. Isn't that fun?!
Yeah, I think it's just round the
bust that I needed to bring it in.
I don't want it too tight
at the bottom.
The slip dictates the shape
of the overall dress.
So, any mistakes with measurements
will mean the classic '20s
straight silhouette will be lost.
I don't want to take it in
at the sides.
Otherwise, it's not, like,
going to go over your head.
Oh! No, no.
May I put this over your...? Yeah.
What's going on? It's so she doesn't
get make-up all over everything!
You look like a beekeeper.
A 1920s beekeeper.
Even if they're happy with the fit
of their slips... Eek!
..the sewers can't move on
to the next layers just yet.
I'm just going to cut out some bias
binding for the neckline.
Patrick and Esme are expecting
perfectly finished undergarments.
And, as the overdresses are sheer,
there'll be nowhere to hide.
Everyone is being a bit more
meticulous today
but, to save myself time,
I did a bit of a sewing hack using
some ready-made bias binding.
Haven't quite decided how
I'm going to finish the V neck.
Going to be extremely fiddly
on this fabric.
More of a U than a V.
Any tips on doing a bias binding
around a V neck?
That's what I'm giving
consideration to now.
This doesn't look right.
OK, so I'm just going to redo this
to get it nice and pointy.
Sewers! You've had half your time!
How are you getting on, Nicole?
I'll be glad when
I'm done with this slip.
Not my most beautiful neckline,
but done.
I can move on to the outer dress.
The fun bit!
But with sequins and beads to
contend with...
Come on! Untangle, you beast.
..this layer will be even more
time-consuming.
I'm taking some sequins off
the seams
so they're not big and bulky.
It's very fiddly.
But Liz has got a short cut.
Oh, there we go!
I'm going to do some hammering.
You can't cut these beads off
because it'll all unravel.
So, what I'm doing is I'm just
smashing them off with a hammer.
The thread that held them on is
still intact on the garments.
NICOLE: Is that really
therapeutic, Liz? Yes! It is!
It's so tricky, taking them off.
I'm ripping the fabric underneath,
so...
I'm just going to go with it.
Yeah. I've given up.
Liz, are you done with your hammer?
Yep.
I'm just working out whether
I can hammer my beads,
but I don't think I can.
They're too small and too solid.
How's your bead crushing?
They've all come off fine, so...
Good.
..I'm a happy chappy.
How's your hand sewing?
Getting there.
This is proper heart-in-mouth
kind of sewing.
It's just so intricate.
I think I'm going to hand sew
the sides, to be honest.
A few beads are
neither here nor there.
Come on, thread!
You know you can get there!
As most sewers' outer layers
take shape...
Side done.
..Nicole is still
struggling with her slip.
I don't know why that is not V-ing.
It looks to me like this might be
a bit of a nightmare to sew.
The slip seems to be taking ages.
It's not quite a V neck, is it? No.
I'd say that's, sort of, erm...
More of a tick, isn't it?
Yes, it's a tick.
It's correct.
Was that big in the '20s?
Oh, no, I think you've invented it.
Oh, God.
Here we go.
I've now got to do that again.
You going to have enough time?
Hopefully! Yeah. If I can get this
slip finished.
"He looked at her the way all women
want to be looked at by a man."
I wonder what that is?
Hang on. You've got
one hour remaining, sewers!
I'll ask you to try this on
in a sec.
I'm going to need you to,
as they say, adopt the position.
Oh, my God, I'm scared.
I think it's quite a good fit,
actually, as it is.
Hm, it feels good.
LIZ: Yeah, that's exactly how
I want it.
Yeah? Yeah.
It's a bit snugger
than I intended...
Damn it.
Doesn't fit.
SHE SIGHS
Clare has just tried
her dress on the model.
Well, it looks a little bit tight.
That's a shame.
Haven't taken the beads out of the
seam allowances
and that made it too tight.
Nothing to be done about it now.
She's attaching the beaded section
to the main dress.
She does need to get
those hankies on.
She definitely does.
Cos, otherwise, it's going to look
quite flat.
Fits you quite nicely
but it is quite bulky.
Matt has finished his dress and left
all of the sequins in the seam.
So, you've got great,
big, lumpy seams
all the way down the side.
Maybe I can hand press it,
so it lay a little bit flatter?
Now, how do you think Liz
is getting on?
I like that she's chosen
the spider's web.
It looks quite nice over the grey.
I just think it looks really pretty.
Yeah, it does.
Erm, I'm not happy
with the slip at all.
And I just worry it's going
to spoil the dress.
Nicole doesn't like how her
petticoat is,
so, I think she's in
a little bit of a meltdown.
I need a change of scenery
because I'm just...
I'll just go nuts over it.
Is she going to finish it?
She's got a hell of a lot to do.
I haven't actually got a dress yet.
Well, it's close to the wire.
This is proving to be
a very difficult challenge.
I am hemming these eight squares
to make panels.
Sewers! You have
half an hour remaining!
All right.
Watch out for flying sequins.
I think some of the plans
are going out the window, now.
Just going to be ramming it
through the machine.
I just need to get
something finished.
Going to add the trim.
It'll fit. Cool.
Sashay. Sashay. You stay.
I stay? Yeah. Good.
My plan is now to sew the feathery
bit onto the sequin bit
to make a complete dress.
I didn't have time
to hem all the Georgette squares,
but four is better than none.
I'm just stitching the slip
onto the dress,
so it's kind of like a lining.
Could be a life-saver or it could
be a massive mistake.
Ten minutes, sewers!
Dresses on models, please!
Ten minutes?
Come on, then. Let's go.
And armhole, armhole...
It'll be fine, just be careful.
I don't like the way
that's looking, at all.
Stitching up the slip.
Oh, God, it's a mistake.
Hang on, hang on.
I've got to rip this... God.
Let's go for that side.
Hopefully, it doesn't fall apart.
That is a wrap!
God. Needles up!
Done!
No more sewing, Nicole!
I'm not sewing, I'm not sewing.
That looks beautiful, Liz.
Four silver screen flapper dresses
made in just five and a half hours.
Well, it's very pretty.
I'm going to have a little look
at this front here.
Oh, that looks quite dodgy.
The bottom of the V...
..it's not covered in the binding,
so it could rip there,
if she does too much wild
Charleston-ing.
I think the fit's pretty good.
It's easy over the hip.
There are two things
that kind of leap out for me.
The first is that
the slip is too long.
I'm seeing little glimpses
of blue underneath
and we shouldn't see any of that.
Right.
And the other thing
is that this bulky seam
is just k*lling the shape of it,
really.
This challenge is all about
finishing a dress with embellishment
and you had to get rid of
the sequins in that seam.
I think the colours work very well.
The sequined fabric works very well
where you've placed it,
but I can't get away from the fact
that it is too tight over the hips
and, because it's
too tight over the hips,
the top part is being forced up
and it's all looking gathered
and you're not getting that delicate
fall with that handkerchief hem.
So, it just sort of knackers it.
Can I turn you around?
You've hand-sewn the sequined
overlay very carefully on,
and I think you've done that well,
and you've hand-sewn
these side seams.
But, because it's too small, your
hand-sewing is just separating.
I very much like the V.
I mean, you've really
thought about that.
But, as Patrick says,
it's too tight.
Right, Nicole.
Well, I know you had
quite a few problems.
I mean, I think the thing that put
you off track was the slip.
But you managed to do this edge
and we've got the scallops.
Let's turn you round.
It's a very good fit over her hip.
The overall impression, I think, is
really powerful, it's really strong.
It looks very 1920s, high contrast.
There's a lot of sparkle,
but I had my heart in my mouth
watching you in the last
two and a half minutes
sewing this slip onto the inside.
And I...honestly, I had
my head in my hands thinking,
"Please, please don't do it."
If you hadn't cut it off,
it could have been an absolute
disaster for you.
I know it's Movie Week, but we
didn't want a horror flick.
# Children, have you ever met
the Bogeyman before?
# No, of course you haven't, for
you're much too good, I'm sure... #
Liz, you look very nervous.
I don't think you need to be.
I think it looks terrific.
It's got lovely movement.
I think the length is great.
The fit looks right.
I think it looks very '20s.
I like the combination of fabrics
and her spider's web,
which...it's very you.
I was concerned that the cobweb
might look a little bit Halloween,
but it actually looks very delicate.
It looks very chic.
Now, this is hard to sew,
but the seams are very neat.
And if I turn you around...
..this is fantastic.
The shape of it is great.
The way that you've applied
the beaded fringe is fabulous.
I think it's really successful.
Well done, Liz. Thank you.
Well done. Thanks.
I think I could have done
enough to stay, perhaps?
SHE EXHALES HEAVILY
It would be amazing to get through
to the final but, yeah...
I don't know whether I deserve
to be there or not.
I've done what I could do.
It could have gone better,
obviously.
I think it was good, as Patrick
said, that I managed
to rip that last seam away
cos I think that would have been
a definite nail in the coffin.
BLOWS A RASPBERRY
My flamenco skirt was too big.
The fit was too small.
Hopefully, if I do get
through to the final,
my Made-To-Measure
will be just right.
It's been a long, long journey
to get to this point
and we've all worked
really hard to get here.
Nothing more we can do.
It's all on Esme and Patrick now.
Well, that judging,
I found pretty tense.
There's a lot riding on this.
For me, there was one that was head
and shoulders above the others
and that was Liz's.
The fit was good.
It moved beautifully.
It had that 1920s spirit about it.
I love it cos it sums her up.
Clare set herself
a very ambitious target
and fell short
because the fit wasn't right.
Whereas, for me, I think
Matt's lacked ambition
and he hasn't even bothered to take
the sequins out of the seams.
So, Liz, does that mean
she's Garment Of The Week?
No, I think we also have to take
Clare's Transformation
into consideration. Yes.
She used the scrap intelligently.
Exceeds anything that
I imagined we would get.
So, Liz is both in contention
for Garment Of The Week
and going home.
Liz's Transformation
we put in last place
and, with the Pattern Challenge,
there was a big mistake.
Whereas Matt won
the Pattern Challenge...
..but his Transformation,
we did place it in third.
For me, he hasn't used
any of the scrap.
So, I think it's between
Matt and Liz.
But, unfortunately,
I think there is one of them
who is just sitting
a little below the other.
I would agree with you there.
OK.
This is always the hardest part.
And it's even harder when there's
a place in the final at stake.
We have a nice thing to do first,
and that is to find out who has won
Garment Of The Week.
Patrick. Our Garment Of The Week
this week is...
CLAPPING
It's Clare.
This was beyond,
I think, our expectations.
It's really very beautiful,
it's very elegant.
It feels like, you know, an
extraordinary vision of the future.
So, really, really well done.
First Garment Of The Week.
Well done.
OK.
Now for the not-nice bit.
I know I've said this a few times,
but this was genuinely very, very
difficult for the judges this week.
You're all worthy of the final
but somebody has to go home.
And, this week, that person is...
..Liz.
It was close.
Really, really well done. Thank you.
It's been fabulous having you here.
You've been an absolute joy.
Really, really loved you being here.
Oh! Fiona said you give good hugs.
LAUGHTER
VOICEOVER: I have lived
and breathed Sewing Bee.
I've sewn things I never
thought I would sew
and I've gone further
than I ever thought I would.
So, yeah, really proud of myself.
And I love how Liz has brought
her own punky, Goth aesthetic
to things she's made.
Liz's Made-To-Measure
was the best of the bunch,
but not quite good enough
to save her.
Oh! Group hug.
Oh! Don't make me cry, you guys.
I'm going to go home, going to have
a glass of Prosecco,
raise it to my fellow sewers.
I'm so proud of them all.
Man, that's going to...that's
going to be a good final.
I've been wanting Garment Of
The Week for a while and...
..woo!
I'm through to the final!
PHONE: YE-E-EAH!
I just wanted to ask you...
..would you like to be
my model in the final?
PHONE: YE-E-ES!
I knew you'd be happy about that!
Get the champagne on ice, OK?
I'm coming home soon.
THEY LAUGH
Next time...
Will our three finalists
please come forward?
Pressure. Pressure,
pressure, pressure.
I can now reveal that the winner...
Oh, my God, it was so tricky.
..of the Great British Sewing Bee...
This is not the finale
I was visualising.
..is...
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06x09 - Episode 9
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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.