Great British Sewing Bee 2026

[LIZS]

Back on 14th July at 8pm

I have seen The Big Lebowski but the style of shirt must have passed me by. I dont even remember any bowling tbh.

Re clothes, I expect Anna's are her own designs anyway.

🤣 stalkerish to want sewing pattern inspiration from a sewing programme?

okay.

I think the instructions on the bowling garment were ambiguous as the presenters stressed that it should “ fit” their models rather than saying “ it should be loose enough that your model could bowl comfortably in it without being excessively baggy” Calling the third task” made to measure” is a bit misleading when they are asked to create a loose fitting garment or are able to choose one. I wasn’t sure how much of the applique work they were able to do in advance. The windsurf outfits were just silly. Creative, but silly.

At least one poster wanted far more than sewing pattern inspo. This was the level of info they were wanting:
‘Amanda - Cotton blouse first worn by her mother to a disco in 1978. Culottes from Boston street market.
Beulah - First successful dress made using her own pattern.
Charlie - Uni amateur team rugby shirt. Jeans rescued from brother’s house moving clear out.’

C’mon- that is intrusive & nothing to do with wanting a sewing pattern.

No - I said those are the sort of things competitors might be willing to offer. The point being that not everything they wear would be home made.

There would be no ‘pressure’. At least not in the format I’m imagining.

I can’t comment on anyone else’s interpretation of words - but I’d be surprised if people who volunteer for a nationally broadcast TV show are so epically reserved and retiring that they couldn’t bear making some vague reference to something they’re wearing on the show. Not everything, and not if they didn’t want to.

I predicted Anna from wk 1 for the win. It’s not a love bit fgs!!

@deeahgwitch agree I love Esmes necklace this week. Anyone know where it’s from? 🙏

The contestants can choose to share as much or as little as they want on social media, so lots of inspiration on offer
Putting it as an element on the tv programme would be quite different in my view. The programme is about their sewing ability on the day not what they do away from the show.
I wouldn't want time taken away from the actual sewing challenges.

Come on, get real. If they start promoting where things are from it won't take long before sponsorship and brand deals overshadow the whole show.

Circling back to Rebecca's cat jumper, she has said on Instagram that she made it from this YouTube video by VivCrochets which was based on a blanket pattern from Ravelry https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cats-afghan

I watched Tuesday’s 11th and he’s still bunged up! Do they film these over a couple of weeks?

I think what bothers me more than the waste is that these challenges are just so unrealistic. No-one is ever going to wear somethiing made out of shopping bags, windsurf sails, tents etc, and the only thing made out of oilcloth that anyone is going to wear is raincoats and similar garments - yet the contestants get penalised for making something that is actually wearable.

The attraction of the programme at least partly lies in the fact that the sewers are just individuals broadly like us, doing something they have learnt to do purely as amateurs and for the benefit of themselves, their families and friends. You would never inflict even the winning windsurf garment on an enemy, let alone a friend

Agree , prefer the recycling to be more relatable, such as to make a child’s costume/outfit, dog coat, even home furnishings or bags, and creative.

I think it's that they go about wasting nothing then have unusable items made that gets me. Plus it's too much about personal taste - you never hear"I hate it but it's skillfully done".

I’m also a bit bemused by the posters obsessed by ‘waste’ - it is a fun sewing competition, not an eco doc. In the scale of what we are doing to the planet, a few tablecloths seems a pretty minor crime. Do they berate amateur artists for the ‘waste’ of canvas & paint I wonder?!

Nah. The point is about repurposing. Usefull skills and very interesting. Windsurfing sails? Make a water resistant messenger bag with at least one gusset and one zipped pocket.

The transformation challenge has gone rubbish. Really stiff fabrics the last 2 weeks so we get "structure"? Meh.

The Big Lebowski is as shit as the other film of that era that people love to worship: Withnail and I

Patrick is very hot on waste and highly critical of fast fashion and environmental damage caused by the fashion industry. His book which is called "Less" is very good. He champions companies who are reusing and reducing waste but these are high end companies like Elvis and Kresse who make bags/belts out of olf fire hoses, or Molly Sellars, who makes bags out of discarded festival tents. So it's really surprising that he is happy to put his face to a show which has them making such ludicrous things.

On the one hand it's good that they are driving home the message of reuse and repurposing old fabrics in creative ways, and it would get boring if it was "make a bag" every week. But I do think there could be more emphasis on creative repairing, taking a size 32 dress and altering creatively to fit a size 12, or even making art to hang on the wall from fabric (|I have been watching a lot of Instagram reels about Kinusaiga)

Mending would be great!

I just did some unapologetically visible mending on an old cardigan and I really like it now.

Also, they can have technical challenges without a whole garment.

Just a placket, or different types of collars.

An evenly spaced row of buttonholes.

An invisible zip.

I noticed that when they were getting into pairs for the windsurfer challenge the time on one persons watch was quarter past 5 in the afternoon. It must be a really long day.

I have not been a contestant on anything like the Sewing Bee but have been an extra in loads of productions and yes, filming takes FOREVER and days are looooong.

Fairly typical to be called to arrive at 7am, sign in, have a coffee, hair and make up, wardrobe take photos to make sure you look the same all through the day, bacon roll, hang about, bus to filming location, hang about while techies dicuss lighting and how to shoot the scene, extras placed into scene and stand around for another 45 minutes while lengthy discussions with directors, one rehearsal, more lengthy discussions, then it's lunchtime and everyone downs tools for 90 minutes, then checks again by wardrobe to make sure you've not spilled lunch all down yourself, then back into position, more hanging around, another rehearsal or three, director changes their mind and moves peoplre about or changes what you're doing, another rehearsal or three, then finally a take, more discussions, couple more takes, director calls wrap after getting approx 20 seconds in the can, back on the bus, another coffee, sign out. By which time it's about 8pm. No exaggeration.

This reminds me of Anna’s work:

https://www.prada.com/gb/en/p/printed-compact-fabric-dress/P3T60_6685_F0009_S_OOO

What pattern did you use please? I keep putting off starting as always worry I'll regret how I've placed the pattern once I start cutting!

Yup stilled bunged up. Even more so as was watching on iPad with headphones.

Right person went this week… writing as been in the wall for them for a couple
of weeks I thinks

They have to push the sustainability angle but it’s got to be something different each season. It’s only an entertainment show when all is said and done.

I think they do pretty well on the whole but I agree with PPs that this particular format has reaching it’s natural end.

I do love sewing bee but am
keenly aware that in reality it is most often ‘following a pattern to make clothes bee’. There have rarely been any accessories challenges, and yet bags and soft furnishings exist!

OTOH, adding in free-motion-embroidery and appliqué felt really odd this week. I’ve been sewing for 10 years, I’ve never done either of those, they’re entirely different skills to making a blouse or a skirt. And given that it was part of the made to measure task I thought it didn’t meet that part of the brief at all. It was assessed on the embroidery, not on the fit which was, in some cases, way off.

And on that, they get the same model each week don’t they? Wouldn’t they get better at fitting their model? At least 2 of the female models appear to have relatively generous busts, and since most standard patterns are drafted for a B cup, I’m assuming they must be doing FBAs? Or choosing patterns with a wider cup range? But that did not appear to be the case at all with some of the shirts.

Not sure what the answer is, they clearly need to keep it interesting, and I loved the adaptive fashion week as that really showed both the technical considerations and how they can be addressed.

But I’m not sure it’s entirely fair to chuck dressmakers in to embroidery…