Tension mounts in sewing room

But the finalists of The Great British Sewing Bee can also add another achievement to their CVs – they have all completely charmed presenter Claudia Winkleman.

“I fell in love quite a few times. These are not people who want to be on telly, they’re not particularly competitive, they just want to sew as best as they can.

And there’s no ‘I want to do better than her’, they all want everyone to do well,” she says.

“This is what they want to do. They’ve sewed forever in their front rooms with their grans or mums, and now they’re doing it with a camera on them.”

Now the final is here the atmosphere in the sewing room is going to be tenser than ever.

They’ll certainly need their powers of concentration as judges May Martin and Patrick Grant present them with their last challenges, which are based around the theme of couture.

First up is the pattern test, which this week involves making a man’s tie. That may sound relatively simple compared to some of the other garments they’ve made over the past weeks – those toddler dungarees spring to mind – but it’s designed to test their hand-sewing skills. And the knowledge that the judges are expecting perfection is enough to reduce one hopeful to tears.

Next up is the alteration challenge, as they are presented with a selection of wedding dresses they must refashion into a child’s bridesmaid dress.

And then finally, it’s time to make a stunning, made-to-measure gown for a very special model.

It’s going to be tough and Winkleman is glad she’s not the one making the final decision. “It’s a sewing competition and they’re going to choose the person who made the best clothes so it’s not going to have anything to do with me.

“Patrick and May go off into a room and look at everything, the zip fastening, the cross stitch. They’re sticklers, so I don’t feel like they’ve done it on a whim, or on personality.”