Last week real life took over a bit, so my review of international week on the sewing bee didn’t really happen. Sorry everyone. But I’m back on track now, so it’s time for Sixties week – sadly without Josh. This year’s sewing bee is now ladies only.

Is anyone else excited by the idea of sewing Sixties-style? There are so many iconic styles from that decade – I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the sewers.

They seem to be looking forward to it as well – although they don’t seem so thrilled at the idea of 1960s sewing machines.

First up is colour-block shift dresses. How on earth can there be 14 pieces in such a simple dress? I recognise the style of dress but I always assumed the blocks were printed rather than it being such a patchwork dress. Obviously I was wrong.

Joyce appears to have learnt her lesson after last week and is following the pattern to the letter. She does seem to have an advantage here having used those machines before, and she seems determined to prove she can follow a pattern exactly.

Personally I really liked Jade’s monochrome block dress. I can see the other colour combinations are striking but just not really my taste. I kind of like Rumana’s pastel blocks as well (anyone who’s seen my house will tell you I like pastels), but I’d have gone with something other than orange.

Am I the only one who loves the little historical snippets each week. I knew a little bit about Sixties fashion from art at school, but I really enjoyed learning more about the Mondrian dress and how it became so widespread. I’m sure there are some lessons for modern-day marketers in there.

The precision demanded of the sewersat this stage is just unreal. I know it’s a competition but I never want to be in a position where anyone is judging my sewing with a ruler.

Incidentally, is anyone else slightly confused by Esme’s outfit this week? It’s very individual but really?

Back to the challenge… A few people seem to have been caught out by the the need for precision here. Jade, Tracey and Rumana all got pulled up on using the wrong colour top stitching. Add to that the trouble people had with that zip and there’s a few in trouble here.

Patchwork patterns done with, we move on to alterations. This week we have PVC raincoats. Well why not?!? Why would anyone want to wear PVC clothing? Friends who have worn PVC (you know who you are), is it as uncomfortable as it looks?

They’re starting to get more daring now with the alterations. Admittedly, working with see through plastic makes anything seem daring, but there’s certainly a lot more variation in what they come up with.

I like Tracey’s target pockets idea, I’ve not seen anything like that before. Having said that, I can see what Esme means about the shape of the dress, but then Tracey doesn’t really seem to do anything fitted. That might trip her up soon if she’s not careful.

Joyce is having a really good week. Top of the pattern challenge and again with her alteration. She’s obviously in her element this week.

This week’s made to measure challenge is jackets. Not just any jackets – they have to use vintage 60s patterns. 

My personal favourite is Charlotte’s Jackie Kennedy-inspired jacket – such a classic shape. Angeline’s orange monstrosity on the other hand… Ok, orange is possibly my least favourite colour so I was never going to love this one, but adding Paisley and faux fur to that? Psychedelic is the right word!

I like the look of Jade’s jacket as well. Not fabric I’d have personally chosen but it’s a lovely style and if she does it well it could be stunning. Let’s hope all that pattern-matching pays off.

Had anyone else ever heard of grown-on sleeves before? I have this bizarre image in my head of some sort of tree with sleeves instead of leaves… I do like that there’s a story behind Tracey’s jacket – it obviously means a lot to her and I hope she’s happy with the end result.

And we’re back to bagging out! This looked bad enough when they were putting the linings on their capes a few weeks ago. Adding sleeves to that? I don’t know how they didn’t end up tied in knots.

Angelline’s really isn’t having a good week. Even taking orange fabric out of the equation her coat’s a mess. It’s not hanging right and her lining’s pulled everything out of shape. I don’t know if she’s done enough to be safe this week. Usually made to measure is her strong point.

Oh no, we have tears! We’ve not even got to the judging yet. Anyone want to join me in giving Tracey and Rumana virtual hugs?

All of Jade’s patience and hard work has paid off. That jacket is lovely, a well-deserved garment of the week.

And we say goodbye to Angeline! I don’t think she was surprised – like we saw with Jamie, she just had an awful week. Can you believe we’ve had five weeks already? There’s so few sewers left now.

So next week we move out to activewear. I’m not sure what that will involve – running gear, yoga tops? I guess we’ll find out next week.

So to sum up Sixties week:

• I now know how important interfacing is, especially with tailoring
• I need to start looking out for some vintage patterns – love those jackets
• I still don’t like orange – not sure that will ever change…

It’s lingerie week on the Great British Sewing Bee. This week the sewers are dealing with delicate fabrics and first up is stretch lace bras.

I can’t imagine sewing your own bra – although I guess it could be handy. I have a few friends who struggle to get bras that fit properly. I’ve had more than one BBQ conversation about the difficulties of finding the right bra (how expensive they are when you find them). When I saw what the sewers were making I thought “maybe I could do this for people…” Having watched this challenge – so not happening!

I love lace but sewing with it? It so delicate and fiddly, adding stretch to that? No thank you. I need to get a lot more experience under my belt before I try anything this complicated.

I think the boys may be at a disadvantage this week. I suspect lingerie isn’t going to be something they’ve made for themselves in the past. Or I could be wrong – maybe they have…

We’re starting to see a bit more of the sewers now They’ve started to settle in.

Tracey’s definitely growing on me this week. I don’t always agree with her taste (that horrific blue top with the lace curtain from week one has stuck with me) but I love her attitude and some of things she’ll say. At some point I’ll figure out who she reminds me of.

Josh is just endearingly honest. Not many blokes would have so openly admitted how little attention they pay to bras. The last few weeks he’s just scraped through, let’s hope he starts to pick up a bit.

Angelline’s been a bit mixed. She seems to do amazing at the things she wants to sew but on this challenge the picot elastic really scuppered her. Wasting all that time unpicking meant she was the only one not to finish her bra. I thought the judges were surprisingly mild given it was held onto the mannequin with pins. Can you imagine Paul Hollywood being that nice to a baker who ran out of time to ice their cake?

Jade’s bra had a few issues too – slightly lopsided and the back looked a bit of a mess. 

Everyone else seemed to do quite well on this challenge, the odd twisted strap aside. The main issues seemed to be with straps and any gathering or pleating they had to do to get it to fit together. Joyce’s did look perfect though.

On to alterations. We saw slightly more variation this week. Maybe they’re starting to get a bit more confident in chopping up items of clothing.

My favourites in this challenge were Angelline’s and Tracey’s camisoles (after dissing Tracey’s taste a few minutes ago). Rumana’s twisted top was an interesting idea but didn’t really work in practice. I’m not entirely sure what Josh was trying to make, but then I’m not sure even he knew. Jamie didn’t have a good challenge either. If his first waistband had fit, it wouldn’t have been so bad, but the stirring elastic really didn’t work. Not up to your usual standard Jamie!

For our final challenge – made to measure luxury robes. I love the made to measure challenges, you really get to see part of the sewers’ personalities. Plus they always make beautiful garments.

So far I’ve loved Angelline’s made to measure items. I want both the skirt from week one and an adult version of that cape. This week she’s done it again – that red robe with the lace and billowing sleeves is just gorgeous.

Jamie, Jamie, Jamie… That robe could have been great, but I think time was just against him (and that fabric). He just tried to do too much and then everything started to go wrong.

Other than Angelline’s, my favourites from this challenge were Jade’s (I agree with Esme on the fabric), Rumana’s and Josh’s. I think he saved himself again with the final challenge. 

For the first time Angelline’s didn’t win garment of the week. I wasn’t surprised Charlotte won, she put so much work into finishing everything perfectly. And the end result was stunning.

No more Jamie! I never saw that coming, I thought he’d be in the final. He took it really well though, he knew he’d had a nightmare week and sometimes that’s all that it takes.

So three down, seven left to sew again. Next week the sewers go international (and apparently Claudia auditions for the Marvel Cinematic Universe). This could be interesting…

P.S. Sewing Top Trumps needs to be a thing!

Summary of week three:

• Thing’s I’ve learnt:
  • That’s what picot is!
  • Always, always read the pattern
• New projects to add to the list:
  • Angelline’s dressing gown