The Great British Sewing Bee: Episode Four

Sustainability was the name of the game in this week’s Great British Sewing Bee (catch up on iplayer if you missed it, we won’t be revealing any spoilers here). The episode was not, as host Kiell Smith-Bynoe quipped, about the three Rs of rhinoceros, romance and Rod Stewart, but rather Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

This week began with a break in tradition. Instead of the usual pattern challenge garment, the sewers were tasked with making a quilted bag using scraps of fabric. We’ve never seen rotary cutters wielded with such wild abandon in the sewing room! Tiny pieces of leftover fabric were sandwiched between layers of transparent organza, then oversewn with neat rows of quilting.

It’s a fantastic way of using up scraps and we can’t wait to try it. We loved Pascha’s top tip of using masking tape technique when machine quilting to help ensure straight lines. Genius!

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At the start of the transformation challenge, Patrick shocked us all with the statistic that 92bn kilos of textile waste goes to landfill every year. With that in mind, the producers rescued a huge pile of clothing from a textile recycling centre for the sewists to turn into a new outfit - the twist, it all had to be using one single colour palette.

As we know from more than a decade of watching, 90 minutes is a surprisingly short time for anyone to come up and complete a fully-fledged ensemble, so we were very impressed with the final results. We saw tops, skirts and waistcoats, made from a variety of fabrics including denim and pleather.

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The final Made to Measure challenge saw pre-worn wedding dresses get a new lease of life. The sewists were able to dye and deconstruct the dresses at home to allow the full sewing time for getting the perfect fit and finish. As the material had to come from the existing dress, there was limited fabric available, meaning the sewers had to be very careful with their cutting.

There was a real personal touch as Marcus used his wife’s wedding dress, which he wanted to turn into a two-piece menswear outfit. Luke also kept it in the family, using their mum’s wedding dress – they also dyed it hot pink!

Alex had fun with paint on the sheer skirt of her dress, while Suzy opted for printing a bold black and pink effect on hers. Georgie drafted part of her own pattern, while Aisla brought the hardware, adding some serious buckles!

While the contestants sewed, we learnt more about the origins of the white wedding dress, which was popularised by the ever trend-setting Queen Victoria. Her impressive gown was made from Spitalfield’s silk and Honiton Lace from Devon. She also encouraged passing the dress down through the generations with the lace bequeathed to her daughter Beatrice for her own wedding day.

Have you tried the scrap quilting technique?
Who made your favourite outfit of the week?
Would you deconstruct a wedding dress?
Join the conversation on our Facebook page.

Images: BBC/Love Productions

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