New Sewing Bee Series to start this week ...

I think the mustard dress was quite complicated to make but he had matched it up well. My choice would have been for the turquoise one made by the young lady - student doctor?

TV is exactly that - 'a spectator sport'. Well spotted !
You sit, you listen, you watch and -sometimes you can learn something !

Sewing. in terms of creativity and teaching, is no different from the unending and seductive pull of cookery programmes and any series about DIY, pottery, painting and sketching, gardening, keep fit, sport, horse-racing, farming, driving, renovation, restoration, antique collecting, bird-watching, diving, silversmithing.....you name it.

If it's on t.v. you are naturally spectating and if you're interested, you watch, you learn and you're entertained. If not, your choice and you go off and do something else! Maybe it's the whole principle of t.v. that's being criticised here.

12 clever people choosing some fabric and quickly turning it into something to wear? If I couldn't thread a needle, I'd still be fascinated by the process. And fortunately, so would thousands of other lively-minded souls.

I have no aptitude whatsoever for sewing but really like this programme.

There were some weird outfits in this first programme weren't there. I was amazed at the competence of the French chap who, I think he said, had only taken up sewing as a result of lockdown.

Pippa I know there are a lot of younger sewers but I would suggest that participants in the programme are not necessarily the best sewers out there. I doubt if the proportion of women : men sewers is reflected in the programme. I understand why the programme makers do it, as if it were just older ladies who’d had a lifetime of practice and were possibly technically better it wouldn’t be so interesting.

Chewbacca

Sewing Bee and Pottery Throwdown are the only 2 tv programmes that I watch. I can neither throw a pot nor sew a garment but I thoroughly enjoy both programmes just for the joy of watching creativity.

Like you I don't sew or do anything creative but I love these programmes and watch in admiration about what the participants can do. I've also just started watching the jewellery making series as well. I am just so impressed by what these people can do that I can't, and I don't want to be able to do it - I am perfectly just watching other people do it.

When Sewing Bee started the producers did go out to get really good amateur sewists, and after the first series they applied in droves, but the problems was they then had to start setting them more and more difficult sewing tasks and, as that happened the participants had to concentrate more and more on the sewing and somehow the programme lost its edge and almost became quite boring.

Given that this is a tv programme, so should entertain, I think the current method of getting good competent sewers and pulling together a really interesting group of people who seem to work well together, works really well. There are more spills and thrills and emotions. This week's programme was worth seeing, just to see Patrick Grant corpse, when he saw the pussy apron.

One of the nice things is how much the competitors help each other, whether it is showing someone how to do something or a comforting hug when someone gets upset.

I shall be watching the Sewing Bee as I did the Pottery Throw down. We all have a choice of what to watch and I don't understand why people decry what others choose. There is plenty of old rubbish I don't watch, that's why I have a remote control.

I love it and so does my husband. I sew, but he doesn’t. Let’s face it, I can’t think of any other sewing programmes on tv and therefore it’s something different. I don’t think the contestants are given enough time to finish off the garments properly, unfortunately. I would struggle to complete a garment in the time given. It’s a very entertaining programme. Esme and Patrick are great judges and Joe’s innuendoes are just this side of acceptable (sometimes very risqué though!).

I agree vegansrock. I was just expanding a little as I have found the growth in the craft market fascinating, especially the sewing side.

I don't know if you remember the first series; that was won by an older sewer who was meticulous in all that she did and knew a lot about it. We haven't seen anyone like her again I don't think.

Yes the first series was won by a lady in her 70s/ 80s who was very experienced, I think she’d done couture training but hadn’t worked in it so qualified as an amateur. She was head and shoulders above everyone else , I remember her Chanel jacket. It makes better telly I guess seeing some of them making schoolgirl(boy) errors - sewing sleeves upside down or facings back to front.

Several of the early series were won by older women and the standard was high and exacting. Even then, some of them made the most elementary mistakes and had to right them in a hurry.

If there is anything I miss from the earlier years, it is the knowledge that even the most superb needle men/women, can make very basic mistakes, especially under pressure.

I'm a late comer to Sewing Bee. I only started watching it a couple of series ago. I love it, and have got DH hooked too.
I was put off sewing for life by having to do it at school.
We were in kinks at the tee shirt creations, DH and I haven't laughed so much for ages.

As a by the way, has anyone watched Blown Away on Netflix. What an art glass blowing is!

I absolutely love the show. I used to make my own dresses many years ago but no way was I as creative as the contestants are.

If you are a sewing fan- There’s a series on Netflix called Next in Fashion which is a bit like sewing bee only for professionals. Some of the things they make are totally amazing - make the garments on Sewing Bee look really amateurish .

Well, Sewing Bee contestants are meant to be amateurs, that is the point.

Yes Monica, I know they are amateurs , but sewing fans might like to see the professionals at work.

Yes, I appreciate that. I think what I meant to say and you understood are at variance. I will try an be more explicit next time.

I can barely thread a needle but I love Sewing Bee. This week's episode really cheered me up after a particularly stressful day. Patrick and Esme are brilliant judges - and had me crying with laughter over the pussy teashirt dress. Joe just gets better and funnier.
I also watched All That Glitters this week - a jewellery-making competition. The judges were cold and over-critical and the presenter, Katherine Ryan, was just unfunny and unpleasant. So different to Sewing Bee which is always gentle and kind.

I love it too and I found Esme and Patrick’s laughter at a couple of the outfits very infectious, they are both lovely people. I am warming to Joe as well.

I can't sew for toffee but I do like this programme a lot. I laughed out loud along with Patrick (oh sigh!) and Esme but I did think that Joe Lycett's high-camp innuendos were unnecessary; we all know he's gay but we don't need constant reminders. That said, he's very sweet to the contestants and is clearly a likeable person.

I enjoy this programme but I wish they wouldn't put quite so many 'I'm mad I am' types into the mix. In the earlier series the majority of the contenders were just ordinary people who were brilliant sewers and it really added to both the quality of the sewing and the relatability of the participants.

I’m a fan of sewing bee and pottery thriwdown but was really disappointed i the jewellery one with misquoted title.
I love jewellery (don’t really win any!) but it was very boring,

I loved the light coloured buffet dress made by older lady (jean) I’d have worn that like a shot.

An interview with the first person to leave the Sewing Bee

Beswitched

I enjoy this programme but I wish they wouldn't put quite so many 'I'm mad I am' types into the mix. In the earlier series the majority of the contenders were just ordinary people who were brilliant sewers and it really added to both the quality of the sewing and the relatability of the participants.

I agree with this to a certain extent. I know ‘ordinary’ people who are just good amateur sewers might seem a bit boring, but as with the cookery programmes, it now seems all about certain types.

There’s nearly always a student doctor or a consultant, one or two arty theatricals, gay men who are often really skilled and creative sewers, a ‘blokey’ chap who has taken up sewing for his family, and a few mums.