Sewing Bee 2024

!00% agree @ThreeWordHarpy

I totally agree, he is flat and without spark. He is probably a diversity hire so suitability for the job is irrelevant, sadly.

GBSB is my favourite annual programme and I was disappointed by the first episode. Hoping that it improves and I didn't so much mind the contestants more that I don't think the skills are necessarily there. I too have never seen a pattern challenge where no one manages to finish it.

I watched it wondering whether they had to fill a list of criteria for the contestants? I also wondered about the man who got sent home, were there more able women who could have taken that space?

My DM is a sewer, and fits the usual older demographic. She is appalled by the standard, and thinks it’s just a race against time. I actually have done more dress making recently, and enjoy Sewing Bee.

The youngsters are used to fast fashion so to them, it's normal to whizz it up and head off. I'm like your mum - hand sewing hems is deeply satisfying.

@CocoapuffPuff That's interesting- I guess it may also depend on how long you want the garment to last. Each to their own and it's great that more people are learning to sew. I love a bit of hand sewing too which it seems is not very popular these days (DM (83) who taught me many moons ago is still horrified at the thought of machine sewing a hem!).

They used to have space for people who sew like you and I. We're not often shown insides of garments so I suspect they're up against it in terms of finishing. I couldn't do it, and it's my job!! I actually wish they'd dump the stupid "turn an umbrella into swimwear" middle challenge and give them more time on the first pattern.
My sewing students vary, from precision perfectionists to "I want to wear this tonight so I won't bother pressing the seams" - both make things they're proud of and enjoy wearing and I'd say the latter group were the largest by far.

That has made me realise that they don't do the name the ingredient test on Masterchef anymore. I used to be quite shocked at the lack of knowledge in some of the contestants and I'm not a foody by any stretch of the imagination.

Back to the Sewing Bee - I found this episode really quite boring, I'd been looking forward to it.

I wish they had gone with another comic as co-presenter rather than an actor, it seems a bit flat without the corny jokes (although I’m only 20 mins in). Maybe I will grow to love him though, I didn’t like Sara Pascoe at first either and she grew on me.

Is this downplaying of the basic skills happening on other similar shows too? How far would you get on Masterchef for example, without knowing how to make a shortcrust pastry or a roux sauce?

Its interesting that you say that about home sewing @CocoapuffPuff and precisely why going on the Sewing Bee would be my idea of hell. My sewing is anything but slapdash as I enjoy taking my time and have quite exacting standards. If my dress wasn't finished then I would wear something else. Am in the process of finishing my daughter's prom dress which I have been working on since Xmas. Four toiles later I am fairly pleased with it although can still see places where the finish is not perfect. No one else can spot these though and my daughter is delighted with it (which is the main thing).

I agree that it's not so much about the sewing anymore but more the creativity which is also important as it would be pretty boring if they just churned out perfectly sewn but boring garments. It's a fine balance I think.

Oh yeah my home sewing is appallingly lazy and slapdash, which is precisely why I have no interest in seeing it replicated on TV.

Plus Esme and Patrick - but Esme in particular from what I've seen - have up until now been very much about neat finishing and accurate cutting, so if there's going to be no place for that any more then I fear for them too.

It's not about sewing though. It was, at one time, but now it's a novelty show with "wacky and quirky" participants who tick diversity boxes. The cast are invariably sweet natured, often funny, sometimes creative and have some skills, but excellent sew-ers they are not. Even if they were, they don't have time to be. Nor are they professional sewists, so their homemade stuff can be as rough as they like. Nobody's paying them to make the skirt, so why worry about neat seam finishes and accurate cutting? It's very slapdash, because most home sewing is. Why go to all the trouble of binding seams when you want the dress finished for dancing tomorrow night?
Like most skills, there are levels of accomplishment. These guys are usually on the lower steps. It's truly a delight when someone like Claire, who won a few years ago (surgeon, I think? 40s afficianado) comes along with traditional skills.

I'm still not watching.

It still unsettles me to think that the winner of Sewing Bee 2024 will quite possibly be someone who doesn't know how to top stitch.

Yes, it's a TV show and entertainment is the priority. And I really do think it's great that it can reach people who had never thought sewing was for them. But yet again it's the devaluing of skills that are predominantly held by older women that depresses me.

I do hope that Esme can hold the line for standards, and that Patrick is watching her back.

Comfort.

Getting to be an architect as a person of colour does suggest a rather steely personality. Besides, she got closer to finishing than most of them.

Thanks for starting thread, @ThreeWordHarpy . I'd heard about the "they/them" and my heart sank again. Dr Who has been destroyed by this sort of nonsense, I just can't bear to watch it and be lectured and I don't want it infecting my other favourite programmes, too. On Pottery Throwdown I was singularly unimpressed with Rose's revolting comments on sm. I don't care what he wears as long as he keeps out of the women's toilets and changing rooms.

As for last night's first challenge, blimey it was grim. I've never seen no-one finish a garment so I reckon they should have had another half hour so that was the programme's failure not the contestants. The woman who came (quite rightly) last admitted she tended to cut corners and was slapdash so I was surprised to see some great design from her later (her final garment was very clever and effective). However, that won't be enough as the weeks go by. I have a couple of seamstress friends who can beautifully alter and create stunning pieces but not in such a quick timeframe. I really do take my hat off to the contestants, the stress of being filmed and using strange equipment (not their own) plus the time limits must make everything harder.

I was also struck by the low standard of garments produced in the pattern challenge.

It was shocking wasn't it? Not one person finished which I think is a first in Sewing Bee.

I don't watch the sewing/pottery/baking programmes, but your comment reminded me of an episode of The Apprentice a few years ago, where they had to make pizzas, and one team ended up ordering enough chickens to put 1/2 a chicken on every chicken pizza! There was another episode where a contestant was trying to sell double glazing, and came up with a quote of several thousand for one window, due to mismeasuring it as, say 10m x 20m (I forget the exact details). I hope these are not the brightest and best that this country has to offer!

@illinivich - I agree about the waste and find it somewhat ironic given how much they bang on about sustainability (rightly so imho bearing in mind the impact of clothing industry on the planet).

It seems somewhat laughable to have them create 12 unwearable skirts from denim (a very carbon heavy material), when given another 20-30 minutes they would have been wearable. I still think it would be possible to judge and some would be better than others, in the spirit of the competition.

Esme has said in an interview that she is able to do all the challenges in the time.

However I think she forgets that she is a professional fashion and sewing tutor, who has worked her whole life in fashion. While the contestants all have other unrelated day jobs. And aren't selected to be the best at sewing but to tick the production company's casting criteria and be good on telly.

As there's no doctor, surely the architect will win?

I suspect a lot of the patterns used and fabric provided have been donated by suppliers, so you may find their hands are sort of tied.
I can't even be bothered to watch this year.

I haven’t watched sewing bee, but had to stop watching pottery throwdown as I found it so frustrating. Much is not done properly and imo would not be usable due to slapdash step-skipping. Lots of people have turned up at the studio I occasionally use with very mistaken ideas of how quickly something can be made. The instructors and technicians have to handle very disappointed people, like the sewing teacher above. More time on the process and less time on the backgrounds of contestants would be more interesting for me. I couldn’t really care less about some random’s dead grandmother or sexual preferences.