Sewing Bee 2024

[ThreeWordHarpy]

I expect there will be a thread in the crafts forum, but only posting this here because my usual sewing social media channels have gone a bit bananas because one of the contestants is a DEI director, has they/them pronouns and a drag persona/alter ego. https://www.williamgee.co.uk/the-great-british-sewing-bee-2024-air-date-and-contestants/

Aside from the central casting cliche, (the usual Love Productions approach) I wish the contestant luck and I look forward to seeing what they can do in the sewing room My main point that any discussion on the program itself is going to be impossible until and unless that contestant is eliminated. Interestingly, it seems that people are a lot less “be kind” than they were for Matthew last year. Or maybe the moderators of the FB groups I’m on haven’t yet swing into action with the ban hammer…

If its supposed to be a competition based on a skill, then that skill should be possessed by all competitors.

Not only is this thread on Mumsnet, it is in FWR. The BBC staff would all state they had suffered literal violence and go off sick for 12 months if expected to read a thread here.

"O" level needleworker here (shows my age), whose DM used to saunter off to do residential tailoring courses with the WI. I used to make a lot of my clothes/soft furnishings (less so now), but I am sure that I would panic in front of a camera. I faff about far too much.

In our house, "Sewing Bee" and "Bake off Professionals" take over from "Interior Design Masters" and "Pottery Throwdown" and "Race Across the World" in the summer months. These are some of the few programmes we record/seek out to watch as a family. Design Masters seems to attract some characters we don't care for, but we sit their rooting for contestants to succeed.

An extra hour or two would make a massive difference. I suppose it is a bit different with pottery, but it would be good to have the programme include a demo of a particular technique that contestants then had to duplicate.

I live in a small city and would observe that the staff doing alterations/tailoring tend to be Iranian/Asian/East European.

I think the programme needs to go back to its roots with the second challenge "making something wearable from used clothing". So far, "usable, practical and wearable" do not feature much at all

I think this is down to Esme, @ItWasnaMeGuv . Her and her edgy, punk designer stuff - she doesn't give a stuff if you can actually wear anything so long as it fits her aesthetic. Look at that perfectly wearable calico and madras outfit with the pleats rather than the scrappy daft thing she picked.

The first judge was May Martin, who teaches home sewing (like Mary Berry with teaching home baking). Patrick was the High Street professional (like Paul Hollywood before he disappeared up his own fundament). May's interest was in what was made and how practical it was, not whose unwearable nonsense would work on a St Martins student catwalk.

I like Esme and find her a fascinating person, but she doesn't care if something actually functions as a garment, and that is very frustrating as a viewer.

Chinela was the most fun to watch as a sewer of all the competitors they've had, and lovely deaf Lynda - with her sign for Patrick that I use to this day - was one of my favourite personalities. Series 2 was such a great series.

There’s a proper sewing bee thread in telly addicts, I was on a rant when I started this one and didn’t intend it to replace the usual watch along. If anyone wants that then it’s here: www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5102762-sewing-bee-2024-thread-2-5-down-7-to-go?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

I’m in a few sewing bee Facebook groups and they seem to have degenerated into arguments where people comment that they wish the contestants had more time, then someone complains about all the complaining and then someone else says the group used to be fine before everyone started arguing with each other. I’ve had to mute them.

I’m still watching mainly because I find it mesmerising watching other people seeing and handling fabrics and making stuff. I have no emotional investment in any of the contestants - they all seem nice people.

Surely choosing a fabric, then deciding someone else has chosen a better one, is very poor Sewing Bee etiquette?

Yes! I would have thought the haberdashery would have been stocked with enough suitable fabrics for each contestant to have a their own choice in cotton or linen. It seems to be a really basic error the contestants make again and again - they are attracted to fabrics that appeal to them aesthetically. Rather than being really hard headed and thinking - well the only suitable fabric left is poo-brown and I’d never wear it in a month of Sundays but it will sew up really nicely and hold its shape so I’ll be able to demonstrate my skills. Not a brocade or satin that looks lovely but a nightmare to handle.

I think I might be in the same online group @ThreeWordHarpy !

Having sewn for years I still make the odd poor fabric choice tbh. It's like there's a little demon in my head saying that one's lovely even though deep down I know it won't work so well for the pattern I am making. I really should know better and sometimes I end up deconstructing the garment half way through whilst saying "told you so" to myself 😂.

My entire stash is testament to my ability to spot a lovely bit of fabric while completely overestimating my skills to actually make anything useful out of it.

Someone could have made a perfectly executed jacket in that poo brown, @ThreeWordHarpy and then Esme would have marked it down precisely because it was brown.