Sewing Bee back tonight

[Dottiethekangaroo]

I have just seen this in the newspaper. I am so excited, brand new host too.

Got to say, I didn't really enjoy watching the sewists on this: quite a few of them seem to be not very good, and that's just painful to watch.

I know they go for 'personalities' but a couple of them seem so delighted with their quirks that they can't be real.

I loved it in previous series because I want to watch nice people doing something well! Not arseholes being mediocre. I can be mediocre at home!

I know time will tell but I'd like a few genuine eccentrics and I hope the skilled sewists hang on, there's just nothing to wow us right now!

Your Brother is about on a par with the Sewing Bee machines both price and capability wise, @Brefugee.

I did start to find my janome M50QDC a bit limiting so I bought a second hand Pfaff Ambition 630, last year, while I worked out what I really wanted from a big girl machine. It does glorious topstitching and I can stitch very precisely with it and definitely has more oomph than my janome but it's not better at everything so I'm still on the hunt. I spotted something like a Janome HD9 in one of the bios and I would have one of those in a heartbeat if I had somewhere permanent to set it up. They're just too heavy for me to move around like I currently have to. 12kg is probably my limit!

i am getting back into sewing after a long time out of it. And i am lucky that i have my own sewing room. But I'm happy with the machine i have, i tend not to do flashy projects, i prefer to either have good tailoring or good fabric, so a basic machine is fine.

I'd be useless on the Bee. I can sew and talk, I've got a reasonably interesting background, but when i am in a hurry or need to concentrate I'd be tempted to stab anyone who interrupted me.

I can sew and talk but only to myself and my machines 😂

I’m the same - a competent sewer but under pressure I can also get very sweary!!

I really liked the first episode, although I'm glad I had the heads up to fast forward the spoilers at the beginning!

Not as annoying as the Bake-offs where they end up with something raw though. The winner of the pattern challenge did a lovely skirt with no button holes.

surely they tested the pattern and thought the time was reasonable for the competition? The can't just have picked a time out of the air. They clearly got it very wrong though!

they do say that Esme can do the pattern challenges in the time allowed. But i think it's like Bake Off: just because an expert can do it, doesn't mean we can all do it.

I still thing 7 panels with topstitching AND 8 (or 6?) buttonholes is really pushing it.

You'd think they would know how to adjust Esme Time to Real Time by now!

but giving them plenty of time cuts out the (manufactured) tension, which is apparently what viewers want

I know. They still need to adjust it from Esme Time though.

What they need is to hire a previous winner or runner up and time them doing the challenges.

Or just add an hour to Esme time.

Even experienced sewers would need time to get a new to them pattern into their heads. Even similar looking garments can have different details and some variation in construction order and techniques and for the pattern challenge, the judges (not actually Patrick and Esme) are looking for that garment done that way rather than contestants doing their own thing because they have a favourite way of doing button plackets or whatever.

I hope there's a Japanese origami pattern challenge this year. I love those as they're completely alien to me.

i do like Kiell Smith-Bynoe so will have to watch this

Enjoyed episode 1 but there doesn’t seem to be a standout sewer in the pack like Asmaa in the last series. Suzy reminds me of Bubbles the Jane Horrocks character in AbFab. She looks, sounds and dresses like her. She’s very much stronger on design and fashion than technical sewing

I agree.
So far there doesn't appear to be a stand out sewer as in previous years.

I think I like there not being a stand out sewer this year. Maybe one will become clear in future weeks but it's nice not having an obvious candidate for winner.

@SoupDragon yes in every series so far there has been at least one outstanding technical sewer so it’ll be interesting how not having that in this series changes the dynamics. I’ve just finished reading Esme’s autobiography and in it she says she was specifically bought into the SB as the producers wanted more of a fashion/design element in the programme rather than just focusing on technical sewing. Her background as a lecturer at Central St Martins for fashion and having had her own clothing company makes here perfect in that role, whilst Patrick leads on the technical sewing being a Savile Row trained tailor.

Patrick isn't a Savile Row trained tailor though, is he?

He's an entrepreneur who bought a Savile Row tailors, and undoubtedly knows a lot about tailoring but it's quite far from being a Savile Row trained tailor himself.

i always thought he was because he seemed to know so much about tailoring but it doesn't look like he is trained, no.

Evening all

Evening! I assume this counts as my exercise for the day seeing as it's sports week.

Evening all