Great British Sewing Bee 2026

[LIZS]

Back on 14th July at 8pm

I don't really think it has to be something different for ever. But even on that basis that still gives them a lot of leeway in either using ordinary fabrics or using unusual ones practically (e.g. using the oilcloth for rainwear). If they included mending and alternations, even better.

I think mending and alterations would be a great idea.

They could easily ask for a matching set of curtains hanging at the right level. Or piped cushions.

Actually soft furnishings week as a lot of home sewing isn't clothing.

Patterned curtains that have to match.

Ooooooh, now there's a suggestion. I'm serious.

My daughter has just done GCSE textiles and did free machine embroidery as part of her coursework. Weirdly so did I when I did my GCSE 35 years ago! I was quite good at it and got asked to give demonstrations for the school open evening. There should be a picture attached of what she did - the bits hanging down represent veins, arteries, intestines, lungs etc. The ribcage is free machined. She also made a dress based on a Piet Mondrian painting in the timed exam.

Quite often you draw the outline with a washable pen. If you look at Emma's shirt you can see she has done this with the lettering.

I like a lot of these suggestions.

I'm very tired of them giving things like sails/umbrellas/weird stuff that they want them to make something 'sculptural' or 'a beach outfit out of a tent.' As others have said, no one is seriously going to wear this and much of it seems to consist or folding it on a dummy, sticking it with pins and then badly sewing it together. Often you can't get in or out of the garment.

I'd like alterations, soft furnishings or something practical.

@Letsgetthiswrongagain. Your daughter’s textiles project is great!

I am an avid SB fan but think people forget it’s a TV programme as well as a sewing challenge. Personally, I would find watching somebody mend something really dull. If I want to see that, I can look on YouTube. I can appreciate the skills involved but it’s not exciting TV for the casual viewer.

I don’t think anyone expects the transformation challenge to be that wearable, but they do like to see the ingenuity and imagination on show. The possibility of disaster is also a an appeal of this challenge if it was all about sewing there wouldn’t be a time limit on any of the challenges. The rush around not finishing and the edits showing chaos are what keeps the programme alive.

There may be a space for a more conventional sewing programme demonstrating skills, but this isn’t it

Thank you! We spent an afternoon at the Hunterian museum getting ideas.

I think the filming of mending tasks would be more problematic than the filming of cutting out fabric and sewing the bits together because it will often be a lot more intricate, so you'd need more cameras doing close-ups. And yes, I think some viewers would quickly tire of watching those close-ups as opposed to a more distanced view of someone pushing fabric through a sewing machine whilst exclaiming how fast the time goes.

Does anyone know the name of the woman who does pretty mending of woollens? I used to follow her on something or other but she has disappeared from my online world.

Totally agree. The viewing figures for SB are very healthy for a programme like this - 4-5.5 million combining overnight and catch up. If it went more specialised I suspect those figures would fall off a cliff.

Was it Alexandra Brinck? She does a lot of close-up invisible mending…

Thank you @TragicMuse , no that wasn't her name (not that I can remember what it was!) and the one I'm thinking of made a feature of the repair. I think she did classes or had a book. I've just had a good old google and am no further forward, but it seems that there are quite a few who do this.

Found her! Collingwood-Norris https://x.com/collingwoodnorr 🙂

Yes, she does online classes and there’s a book (which I have my eye on). Her woollen scarves are gorgeous. Fairly pricey but keep an eye out for her regular clearance sales.

Sophie is wearing a Joanie blue dress which I bought in an outlet shop bnwt after they closed down. I sold it at a profit on Vinted as I felt the sleeves were too big and puffy.

think I made the right decision!!

Not sure about some of the patterned spandex. It’s giving too strong swimsuit vibes for me. Looks like a bugger to see those tutus though

The stuffed animal challenge is new?

I quite liked the animal challenge. The octopus was great.

The octopus was very good but I loved the wonky monkey 😆

I liked the bee outfit best. Sad to see anyone go now.

Right person went. The pink cat girl thing was very Japanese anime rather than superhero. Loved the bee!

I don’t normally enjoy kid’s week, but that was great. The stuffed animals was the best transformation so far. Anna & Beth continue to shine so it was nice to see Rebecca get GOTW. And the right choice for Minnie to leave.

That octopus was adorable. I can see a manufacturer copying that.

I didn't get Zip Kid though. Shame about Minnie as the outfit was great but didn't fit the brief. Really enjoying this series.

Another great week. Loved the octopus. Delighted to see Rebecca get GOTW as she hasn't won anything yet as far as I can remember. Right decision to send Minnie home. She scraped through last week. Her concept was wrong and it wasn't immediately obvious what the superhero was.