| AIR DATE | 22nd April 2020 |
| CHALLENGE | Made to Measure – Tea Dress |
| PATTERN USED | 1940’s Vintage Tea Dress Pattern |
| MATERIALS USED | Double Dot material purchased from Frumble.co.uk (Sadly no longer in stock) |
| TIME ALLOWED | 5 Hours |
| POSITION | Garment of the Week |
Another day, another early start, and another greasy breakfast. This routine is definitely not helping my waistline! We were all instructed to wear the same outfits as the day before for continuity purposes, even though it was clearly a new day. I guess it made it easier for the audience to distinguish us, especially with all the bearded male contestants. Since leaving the show, I’ve been mistaken for Peter and Mark a few times, so I can see why they made us wear the same clothes!
We kicked off the day with the usual vox pop and cafe ‘breakfast’ before heading over to Tanner Street for another round of filming. When we arrived at the sewing room, our models were already seated at our workstations. This was the first time I met Meg, but I had all of her measurements in advance, so I was ready to start on my made-to-measure project.
“The overall impression is delicate and bouncy, and chic and modern, but with that nod to the past. There’s not much more good I think I can say about it” – Patrick
Our task was to create a tea dress, and my mind immediately went to a vintage 1940’s style. After browsing through several patterns, I settled on one that I thought would work well. I wanted to add a modern touch, so I opted for a double dot fabric from Frumble fabrics. Luckily, they had two color options – yellow with blue dots and blue with yellow dots – which would provide the subtle contrast I was looking for. I made a few adjustments to the pattern, including moving the zip to the back instead of the side. I struggled with the instructions for the side zip, so I decided to play it safe and stick with what I knew. However, this change meant that I had to modify the collar to accommodate the zip going all the way up to the top of the dress.
We were given five hours to complete this dress. During the practice at home, I finished on time, but that was without the pressure of being in the sewing room and the constant interruptions from the crew asking how I was doing. Joe was always fun and gave some light relief to the pressure of finishing on time.
For my first made to measure challenge, things went quite smoothly. I was quite surprised when I fitted the dress to Meg for the first time and it fitted perfectly. I think that may have been luck more than my expertise of fitting a garment! The only trouble I had was tying the bow, it never seemed to sit properly! The diamante buckle was also too heavy for the belt and it kept coming loose. I remedied this by sticking a pin in the belt so that it wouldn’t come undone. I don’t think Esme and Patrick noticed!
The judging went on for ages again, well into the evening, every seam, hem and zip scrutinized. I was pleasantly surprised by my feedback and it was certainly a sense of relief! Once judging was complete we retreated to the flat and nervously waited for the outcome of who was going to win garment of the week and who was going to be going home.
During the wait we conducted our usual vox pops which occurred after every challenge and asked how the day went, who we thought might get garment of the week and who might be going home.
We were all called back to the sewing room and lined up in a row, a mannequin with the winning garment of the week covered up until the big reveal. On cue, Patrick came forward and revealed what was on the mannequin. It was my dress! Absolutely total shock, I thought I had done ok but I never thought it would have won garment of the week. There were so many amazing dresses with each person interpreting what a tea dress was.
After my final vox pop of the day, I made my way home, walking past the park, where a day earlier I sat and thought I wasn’t good enough for this competition. I really couldn’t believe that I won garment of the week in the first week. This gave me renewed confidence and I couldn’t wait to film the next episode in three days time – Holiday Week.