Great British Sewing Bee 2026

[LIZS]

Back on 14th July at 8pm

Oh that's sad. I didn't realise Joanie had gone bust :(

Checking in to say I enjoyed the episode and the little jokes. I hope they don't go too far with being camp and carrying on.

Watched this later on iplayer. Some good sewers, there.

Have you seen postmen in the winter? Or there's always that one dad in the playground. We need a name for those shorts 😂

Yes, or my DH playing golf in wind and driving rain in shorts.

Perhaps this could be a new round? Winter Shorts for Men. Not to be confused with Summer Shorts that they just keep wearing in snow.

Sophie is a great host

Loving Sophie as the host. She was excellent value when she was on Taskmaster.

They seem to be a lovely bunch of contestants.

Hipster shorts 😁
Are spoilers allowed, or not?
I thought in the first few minutes "that one's going" given how much air time they had, and I was right 😁

Seems like a good bunch this year, I'm looking forward to seeing more

How can you say that!

Patrick is svelte, suave, gorgeous and has dreamy dark brown eyes. Tim's just a bloke in his 60s who's gone grey.

Oh no, just one bearded fellow.

No, we have pudgy ginger bearded plumber, lanky dark bearded ex rugby player and sub-David-Archer older bearded bloke.

Sophie hit her stride very quickly. She's really likeable.

Soprano woman's wasn't my favourite but it was far and away the most difficult and she did a really good job, so I can understand it getting GotW.

I loved the Glasto outfit, the strawberry dress and Anna's mad tablecloth outfit. She was smart to listen to Esme's advice, while leopard print woman was daft to ignore Patrick's.

All in all, what a marvellous start to the series!

Purposely checking in and not reading the thread so far as I haven't watched the first episode. Glad it's back, I am so fed up with the Summer of Sport!

Not Tim! The other younger one!! With the brown hair and hipster tache. Very tall.

The one who had to announce that he doesn't eat meat?

Very good🤣

I thought the ginger guy was the ex rugby player? The one you call lanky (who I don't think is!) is the one whose dad wore smocks on holiday in France and got scouted as a model until they discovered his weird shape. He's the young Patrick. Don't remember a rugby conversation with him - it was why I thought there were two ginger beards because they discussed rugby with him at one point and then something else completely different later.

Think we need this!

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/entertainment/great-british-sewing-bee-2026-cast-line-up/

Lewis is from Lewes. This tickles me.

Oh, I think Tim is proper annoying!

According to the BBC biogs Dawn is 64 and bought a sewing machine in 1968 with her first paycheque... so was a very precocious 6 year old!

On this first outing, I really like Anna and Beth. Minnie and Heather also seem impressive. Very talented young sewers.

I think Esme recognises a kindred creative spirit in Anna.

Ah, right! I was thinking about the waistcoat maker and forgot far-too-short Cezanne smock. Yes, I can see the junior Patrick vibe.

Sophie's a cheeky mare, asking Sam is he'd moved to Yorkshire as a punishment or whatnot. Flipping Lancastrians.

I notice we've three out of 12 from Yorkshire this year then it's Midlands and East/South of England plus the Northern Irish singer who lives in Scotland. No one from Wales, the South West, North West or North East. Usually they are more geographically scattered.

Smock/teacher man did say he plays/used to play rugby. Esme said her father was captain on Wasps rugby back in the day.

Oh right, I thought they were talking to ginger guy. I may have zoned out at rugby conversations. I remember the Wasps thing.

I was so glad to hear the contestants called sewers, not sewists.

To my surprise I think Anna is great, very creative. I like singing woman but otherwise they’re still mostly random anons.

I've been around that world a bit and a fair number of professional singers/music are quite crafty, especially knitting and tapestry because they can pick it up easily during longueurs in rehearsals.

This was a great first episode! They all seem very capable which I appreciate. I liked that the vast majority of garments were finished.
Sophie seems very good, not seen her before but she got the right balance of fun and friendly across.
Tim got right on my nerves though, I can’t place why just yet. He’s just a bit much.

I do think the right person went home, although with a visual impairment it must be incredibly challenging to compete against others without. My mum loved the outfit she created.

I temporarily lost any useful vision in one eye a few years ago and it made everything so much harder. Even the movement of the needle and the flickering effect it caused impeded the ability of my good eye to focus and the loss of depth perception made not just needle threading but trimming and unpicking quite frustrating and a little risky. I often ended up saying sod it, it's staying like that, during that period.

The glare of the studio lights must have been torture for her.