Series 12 "Literary Icons" week on The Great British Sewing Bee tasked contestants with a Matilda-inspired transformation and a Sherlock Holmes hat pattern test. The deerstalker hat test required extreme precision: judges and a viewer analysis noted it needs 31 cut pieces, fused buckram, and six crown panels that must align across two peaks, making precision cutting a quarterfinal deciding factor. Viewers praised Sophie Willan and singled out Anna’s Matilda-inspired outfit as a favorite, while several posts predicted Anna might be the next to leave. The episode included an emotional exit that moved at least one viewer to tears, and some viewers questioned the judges' choice to keep a sewer whose made-to-measure garment showed major flaws. Multiple commenters said many contestants lacked experience with hatmaking and covered buttons, and others criticized pattern and time difficulty as approaching final-level challenge complexity. Commenters also called for longer history-of-fashion segments by Amber Butchart and noted the show leaned heavily toward womenswear this series.
