SPOILER
Regarding Project Runaway and Jeffrey. I did a lot of googling yesterday. The whole thing did he do it himself or had help. If he had problems finishing a dress within the 1 or 2 day time frame during the show's competition. He had 3 (?) months to work on 12 dresses. Why couldn't he have finished them all of them ahead of time?
I never did like Laura. (Maybe the edited her that way) I thought she was a B*TCH, but changed by mind and thought she was the C word.
Two things before the spoiler:
1) Jeffrey did show his line at fashion week.
2) The past two seasons when there were 3 winners the the last designer to be cut also showed at fashion week as a decoy because fashion week was before the final shows aired.
There was question about him sending out the shorts for pleating. The pictures from his collection which are posted on line do not show these shorts, but alternate attire. So
1) He was disqualified but still showed his line as a decoy.
2) He wasn't disqualified but was not allowed to use the shorts as he did not have the receipts for the pleating service.
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I did not get a sense that the shorts were a central issue. The pleating by an outside source was supposed to be an "allowable" thing. If he didn't show them, that may have been a concession as a tonic for Laura. As Tim said, such an accusation is a very difficult thing to prove...and I don't think they found any evidence of anything more than his admitted "pleating" help.
That "no receipt for the pleating service" gambit is an interesting thought. Is that your guess or did you find something concrete via Google? (I Google this issue daily and find very little that is new).
It's my belief the issue was "outsourcing sewing" in terms of hems, finishing, hooks, etc. Laura was taken aback by the quality of finishes on Jeffrey's garments and refused to believe he could have done it himself based on her exposure to his skills during the competition.
Laura (and Michael) had much altering and "finishing" to do and Jeffrey was twiddling his thumbs. Laura, with 5 kids running around, one in the oven and a rather "randy" professorial husband (!!!) could not have devoted as much time as did Jeffrey. As for Michael, I think he was mostly reworking that top that Tim found "comic bookish" rather than futzing with all his pieces. I think they just couldn't fathom Jeffrey being "totally" prepared and ready to roll. As he said, though, it's one thing to design an outfit in one day in a room full of bitching designers and something totally different to have three months and your own space in which to work, unbothered and uncriticized (by Tim, one imagines).

In past seasons, ONLY three went to fashion week "in competition." In Season 1, Austin Scarlett also showed his line even though he had not made the final cut. In Season 2, Kara Janx showed "out of competition."
This season, the show sent four "in competition." No one was a decoy. I know there has been comment on the internet that four went but only three were in competition, but that was PRE-final challenge speculation...the writers did not realize that the producers/judges for Project Runway 3 would decide to send all four (i.e., not 'auf" anyone else) to be "in competition."
Unless, heaven forfend, Jeffrey is considered out of competition due to improprieties, I fully expect FOUR designers to be on that runway for the final judgment following the showing of their lines.