The Great British Sewing Bee - Season 3

The Great British Sewing Bee returns for a six-part series presented by Claudia Winkleman. Ten of the country's best home sewers face three challenges to make or alter an item of clothing under intense time pressure. Each week, their creations are judged by Savile Row's Patrick Grant and sewing expert May Martin, until one of them is crowned Britain's best amateur sewer.

In the first episode, ten nervous home sewers are asked to work with a core fabric found in every dressmaker's cupboard: cotton. With shaking fingers and sweaty palms, the sewers attempt to create their best work under the watchful gaze of the judges. The fabric-lovers take on 3D construction in a pair of women's trousers (complete with complicated invisible zip), have to totally transform a bog standard denim shirt in just 90 minutes and are asked to produce a stunning summer dress for their real-life models. Everything from uneven hemlines to spots matched with military precision is offered up to the judges, but who will crack under the pressure of the sewing room?

The Great British Sewing Bee returns for a six-part series presented by Claudia Winkleman. Some of the country's best home sewers face three challenges to make or alter an item of clothing under intense time pressure. Each week, their creations are judged by Savile Row's Patrick Grant and sewing expert May Martin, until one of them is crowned Britain's best amateur sewer.

The nine remaining amateur sewers prepare to do battle again, in a bid to bag garment of the week and secure their place in the running to win The Great British Sewing Bee. The three challenges this week test the sewers' ability to make clothes on a miniature scale, starting with a child's waistcoat done the tailor's way, before attempting to breathe new life into a boring t-shirt and hand-me-down dress. The sewing room enters completely into the atmosphere of child's play for the final fancy-dress challenge - creating everything from miniature boxing shorts with matching gloves, a pink elephant ballerina and even a blue-footed booby bird.

The Great British Sewing Bee returns for a six-part series presented by Claudia Winkleman. Some of the country's best home sewers face three challenges to make or alter an item of clothing under intense time pressure. Each week, their creations are judged by Savile Row's Patrick Grant and sewing expert May Martin, until one of them is crowned Britain's best amateur sewer.

Claudia takes the eight sewers back in time to the 1950s, when home sewing was at its height. Having transformed the sewing room in line with the era, judges Patrick Grant and May Martin have also tracked down one of the biggest-selling dressmaking patterns of the time - dubbed 'the walk-away dress' because you could 'start it after breakfast and walk away in it for luncheon!'. Next, the sewers enter the world of make do and mend when they are given a vintage gem which they must transform into a wearable garment. Finally, they face an ambitious made-to-measure challenge when they are asked to make a 1950s blouse in unforgiving sheer fabric. This delicate and fiddly fabric shows every stitch, both inside and out. There is nowhere to hide as the sewers struggle to control the most mobile of materials.

The Great British Sewing Bee returns for a six-part series presented by Claudia Winkleman. Some of the country's best home sewers face three challenges to make or alter an item of clothing under intense time pressure. Each week, their creations are judged by Savile Row's Patrick Grant and sewing expert May Martin, until one of them is crowned Britain's best amateur sewer.

Claudia opens the sewing room doors once more as the seven remaining amateur sewers prepare to take on a set of tasks designed to test their ability to add shape and structure to clothing. The sewers try to keep track of the twelve pieces of fabric needed to make a boned corset, then it's back to the 80s to deconstruct a power suit Maggie Thatcher would have been proud of!

Finally they face the most demanding made-to-measure challenge yet, making a traditional kilt from scratch. This iconic garment requires precision and skillful pattern cutting. The sewers take Patrick back to his roots, but whose ode to the Highlands will impress him most?

The Great British Sewing Bee returns for a six-part series presented by Claudia Winkleman. Some of the country's best home sewers face three challenges to make or alter an item of clothing under intense time pressure. Each week, their creations are judged by Savile Row's Patrick Grant and sewing expert May Martin, until one of them is crowned Britain's best amateur sewer.

It's the semi-final, and the intensity in the sewing room increases as the five remaining sewers are welcomed back to demonstrate their skills with tricky and technical fabrics. The first task sees the sewers coming unstuck with delicate lace and slippery satins, next they take on the totally unexpected in the alteration challenge, and finally they are asked to make an entire leather jacket in just six and a half hours. There are triumphs and disasters as the sewers race against the clock to finish their garments, and the stress levels reach a new high as they learn that not one, but two sewers will be leaving the sewing room.

The competition reaches its conclusion as the three finalists enter the sewing room for the very last time.

Judges May Martin and Patrick Grant must decide who has done enough to be crowned Britain's best amateur sewer, and they have saved their most complicated and demanding challenges for last. Across the three garments, they will be looking for avant-garde cutting-edge designs and the trickiest pattern cutting ever seen on the Sewing Bee.

The formidable first challenge sees the sewers taking on a pattern as complex as origami - with no diagrams to help them. The brain-teasing instructions almost prove too much for one of the finalists.

The next challenge sees alterations so extraordinary they leave Patrick speechless, and finally they are asked to fit an avant-garde dress for a model they weren't expecting, before Claudia Winkleman announces the winner of this year's Great British Sewing Bee.