Rent Kirstie's Handmade Britain: Series 1 (2011)
2.0 of 5 from 1 ratings
7h 1min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
In this Channel 4 series Queen of the Handmade Kirstie Allsopp turns her love of crafts into a sport, travelling across the country entering the toughest craft competitions at Britain's brilliant country shows. From hand sewing to paper crafts, flower arranging to baking, Kirstie struggles with the pressures of competition rules and tests her mettle in the cutthroat world of competitive amateur and professional crafters. She's got a lot to learn if she wants to stand a chance of making things good enough to win her a rosette, and under the guidance of some of Britain's best artisans Kirstie hones her skills and creates craft masterpieces fit to be judged against her incredibly skilled rivals. This series is all about crafts and inspiring everyone to get stuck in and go crazy for making things; but more than anything, this time, it's all about Winning.
1. Baking and Afternoon Tea at the Devon County Show
Baking competitions might seem like a genteel tradition, but Kirstie quickly finds out they're a cutthroat world full of competitive cake makers, and she has to work harder than ever to stand a chance of a rosette. At the Devon County Show she enters the Afternoon Tea Class. At the last minute, throwing caution to the wind, she decides to enter the Single Cake Class, as well making a Caribbean Fruit Cake - but things don't go entirely to plan. Will a win be the icing on the cake or will Kirstie's rivals pip her to the post?
2. Paper Craft at the Royal Welsh Show
The Royal Welsh Show is a national institution, attracting over 200,000 visitors every year. Kirstie has a go at grooming a cow for competition, and makes a hilarious attempt at herding ducks with a clever sheep dog named Glenn, but it's the craft tent that really gets Kirstie quaking. She focuses her efforts on paper crafts, making a decoupage seaside bird, a beautiful embroidered card, and some pretty paper rings out of damaged books, and it all goes brilliantly until show day when Kirstie loses her head as she races to get her items in before the competition closes. She's won competitions at other shows but nas her luck finally run out in craft obsessed Wales?
3. Needlecraft at the Great Yorkshire Show
Kirstie goes up against some of the country's most skilled and passionate crafters in a needlework competition at The Great Yorkshire Show, where the standard of entries is excruciatingly high. A fiercely competitive Kirstie decides to make a cushion, and under the watchful eye of an old needlework friend she masters the skills of patchwork, machine quilting, and hand embroidery, and makes a welcome return to machine embroidery. On show day Kirstie is still frantically stitching things onto her cushion, and the standard of the other entries leaves her stunned: will the hours of painstaking sewing pay off for Kirstie or will her rivals have it all sewn up?
4. Floral Art at the Royal Cornwall Show
Kirstie will be cutting a swathe through the Royal Cornwall Show when she embraces the world of Floral Art and enters not one, but two flower arranging competitions. This isn't just flower arranging, however, it's sculpture with flowers, and the competition is governed by the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies; anyone who enters has to abide by their rigorous rules and regulations, including Kirstie. In the face of stiff competition, Kirstie has to learn flower arranging techniques that will give her the edge, as only the fabulously talented or the foolhardy enter this exam-like floral competition. Will her rudimentary flower arranging knowledge stand her in good stead or will she wilt under the pressure?
5. Gift Crafts with the Women's Institute at the New Forest and Hampshire County Show
By now, Kirstie's an experienced competition veteran with prize cards galore, but how will she fare when she takes on the ultimate crafters - the Wl? To beat them she has to join them, so Kirstie hooks up with the Disparate Housewives. Together they take on three crafts: a mosaic mirror, a silver clay key pendant and a needle felt robin. There are 20 Wl groups competing in this category so competition is fierce - but will Kirstie and the Disparate Housewives be able to come together and take home a prize card?
6. Garden Craft at the Chagford Show
After weeks of trials, tribulations, triumphs and tragedies at agricultural shows up and down the country, Kirstie's facing her most terrifying ordeal yet - the local show she goes to every year in Chagford, Devon, surrounded by friends and family. To prove she can do it, Kirstie takes on more craft competitions than ever before. She's mastering four different amazing crafts - willow weaving, elderflower cordial, rosemary shortbread and her favourite craft of all, making a scarecrow.
7. Meat at the Nidderdale Show
Kirstie needs a strong stomach to get her through the meat show, and that's got nothing to do with competition nerves! At the Nidderdale Show Kirstie is up against show regulars who go there year after year. She's entering three very traditional pork classes in the Produce Section, making a Yorkshire pork pie and sausages, and butchering and boiling up a pig's head to make a mould of delicious, tender brawn; after all, they do say you can eat every part of the pig except its squeal!
8. Kirstie's Handmade Christmas
Kirstie is revving up for the holidays with a sleigh full of crafts to transform her Devon home, Meadowgate, into a winter wonderland and to make sure her Christmas stocking is jam packed with fantastic handmade gifts. Our handmade heroine shows us how to make amazing decorations and gifts that would be perfect for anyone. With a simple and stunning garland to snow globes and leather bound notebooks, Kirstie is determined to make this Christmas very special. Plus in a festive fairytale trip Kirstie takes us to the Big Apple to reveal just how New York celebrates Christmas. She guides us through the Christmas market teaching us how to spot bargains and learns brand new crafts that will be a big hit on our side of the pond. Finally Kirstie meets an American family who take the tradition of Christmas lights to a whole new level!
9. Kirstie's Home for Christmas
Kirstie wants to say a massive thank you to all the crafting friends she's met this year so she's throwing a party in their honour at her local Christmas Craft Fair. She's rustling up a rib of beef with a Michelin starred chef, concocting a scrumptious spice cider and providing a delicious cauliflower masala. But before the festivities can begin, there's the small matter of the Yule Log competition. In the ultimate clash of the Christmas crafters everyone will be going all out to impress the inscrutable judges with their own interpretations of this most traditional of the festive puds. Up to now Kirstie's entered 16 competitions bringing home 7 prize cards, will this be her 8th?- Actors:
- Kirstie Allsopp, Jayne Emerson, Richard Hunt, James Mackenzie, Gordon Atkinson, Jamie Chalmers, Martin Cheek, Christine, Claire Coles, Jo Colwill, Victoria Cranfield, Jean Curtis, Rosie Davies, Jenny Dooley, Eddie Glue, Chris Grassi, Stephen Hallam, Fiona Hammond, Margaret Hopkinson, Larissa Johnson
- Directors:
- Julia Bird, Laura Harding, Christine Butler, Sarah Sarkhel, Jonny Wharton
- Producers:
- Lisa McCann, Laura Harding, Christine Butler, Sarah Sarkhel, Julia Bird
- Studio:
- Delta Home Entertainment
- Genres:
- British TV, TV Documentaries, TV Reality Programming
