The Great British Sewing Bee: International Week
May 5, 2021 8:02 PM - Season 7, Episode 4 - Subscribe

The sewers go international with a French pattern, a South Asian transformation, and a final challenge inspired by Frida Kahlo.
posted by Anonymous (5 comments total)
 
OK, I had to comment as soon as I finished watching because goddamn if the garment-of-the-week wasn't lifted entirely from Minju Kim (the winner of Next In Fashion). Minju Kim had a gorgeous finale collection that was ALSO inspired by Frida Kahlo, and the winning garment mirrors her work EXACTLY. I mean come on (that dress wasn't from the finale collection but shows you the shape). Kim even employed big bows during the show.

I am extremely annoyed not just because of the rip-off but because I really like the sewer who did it and the garment was well-made. It's a beautiful dress! It's just it's a total copy!

I dunno, maybe it doesn't matter, it's a sewing competition, not a design competition.
posted by Anonymous at 8:11 PM on May 5, 2021


I don't know - I guess since Kim's collection was inspired by Kahlo it's not a reach to say they could be connected (and maybe the whole challenge was designed by someone who was inspired by that collection). But -- I'm not a fashion maven so I can't back this up, but is that dress shape really unique to Kim? It didn't look new or unusual to me when I saw Farie's, and I've never watched Next In Fashion. (I just googled the collection now.) Plus Farie's had those sleeves, and the column, and giant bows are a total Sewing Bee staple (there was a reason Farie asked Esme if she thought it was big enough - Esme panning people's bows for insufficient drama has been a running thing for years). Besides the fact that it isn't a design competition and most people literally copy designs (using patterns), it really doesn't feel like a copy to me. A riff, at most. (And who knows, she might have explained where she got the design from but the editors didn't think it was important.)

But anyway, it does not matter. The true winner was Esme's necklace. Runner up, Joe's shirt.

First necklace of Esme's I've really wanted.
posted by trig at 2:41 AM on May 6, 2021 [1 favorite]


I was sorry to see Catheryn go home, but it was the correct decision. She made a sarong from ... a sarong, her Breton top wasn't great and her made-to-measure dress was badly thought-out and looked incredibly frumpy compared with the other dresses. This was a hard challenge and really tested the sewers' creativity. I liked the winning dress and I thought the contrast fabric was gorgeous, but I didn't see Frida Kahlo in it.
posted by essexjan at 10:06 AM on May 6, 2021 [1 favorite]


Since this is a sewing competition, I don't see any issue with Farie's dress (I loved Next in Fashion and Kim was terrific). Aside from the transformation challenge, everything they do is from a made pattern or a designed pattern of their own. She made the connection to Kahlo and sewed a beautiful dress. That being said, I wish Raph had gotten garment of the week--I thought his design with the matching sleeve and pants pleats was great and he made a much more modern take on the huipil top than Andrew did. I think Andrew is not long for the competition. His clothes are very staid and boxy and not very exciting.

I was pretty sure Adam was going to win the transformation challenge as soon as Esme said that sarongs are just rectangles with no shape and Adam was pinning pleats into like crazy. It was actually pretty spectacular considering he only had 90 minutes.

(Esme is aMAZing.)
posted by ceejaytee at 1:08 PM on May 6, 2021 [3 favorites]


It seems like Farie's dress may have been based on this pattern (note the bow in the back). If so, the changes she made are very stylish.
posted by trig at 12:49 PM on May 11, 2021


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