So, past the half way mark and we’ve reached Week 5 with an all-female group left to battle it out for the Sewing Bee crown! This week was 60’s week! Being a child of the 80’s myself I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was looking forward to it nonetheless.

The Pattern Challenge was my favourite one this week, a fantastic colour blocked shift dress. Made from a mere 14 individual pattern pieces, this was going to be interesting! The contestants were also provided with vintage sewing machines, beautiful machines!

I loved hearing about the history of the pattern, how Yves Saint Laurent had created the iconic dress as haute couture, for the most wealthy of his clients. But how he also embraced the fact that home sewing was enjoying a resurgence and decided to create a pattern for his iconic dress (even including labels to be added by the maker) thus making haute couture accessible to all!

The lap zip required at the back of the dress seemed to be the trickiest part of the pattern for a lot of the contestants, followed closely however by the need to ensure all the bands around the blocks were precisely cut and sewn together.

When Patrick got his ruler out to measure the bands, I knew him and Esme were super serious and ramping up their expectations of the contestants as the series progresses.

My favourite garment was Jade’s monochrome dress, I loved her colour choices.

The Alteration Challenge was the strangest yet, a PVC raincoat! The contestants were tasked with creating something that shouted 60’s and made the most of the materials available.

Esme showed off some of her own PVC creations, including some shower-curtain trousers! Not exactly my cup of tea but I definitely appreciate the creative gusto!

Tracey’s dress with the red target shapes, especially the pockets, was my favourite garment of the challenge.

Finally, the Made to Measure Challenge – jackets made using vintage sewing patterns. Lots of tailoring, cropped lengths and huge buttons!

The contestants made use of lots of different fabrics, my favourites were those used by Tracey and Jade – the houndstooth style fabric was beautiful with a hint of colour.

Interfacing was necessary to ensure the garments kept their shape, across the button holes, collars and ensured a crisp finish. Fancy making a similar garment yourself or adding some interfacing to another clothing project (it’s great for stiffening brims of hats) you can buy it here.

Jade’s beautiful jacket was my favourite, her simple pattern (in comparison to others used) was executed perfectly! She took her time, re-did pieces that needed to be amended and nailed it! I was so pleased for her. She really did try her best.  I was chuffed that she won Garment of the Week!

 

It was then revealed, next week will be……Activewear! Until then, Happy Sewing!