The Great British Sewing Bee is back with 12 more contestants ready to test their creative skills in the hopes of earning the title of Britain's best home sewer.
Presenter Sara Pascoe will guide the contestants through the next 10 weeks of the competition, where they will be tested on themes ranging from art and movies to the 1920s and South Korea by judges Patrick Grant and Esme Young.
The first week of the BBC show saw the contestants examined on their ability to create shape, including the Made to Measure challenge, where they were tasked with creating a perfectly shaped dress.
Here are the contestants on this year’s edition of the show.
Caz
Caz is 59 and from Staffordshire. She recently retired from her family’s printing business, which she had ran for the last 30 years. She began sewing when she was 11 and is a big fan of topstitching and French seams.
Kit
Kit is a 24-year-old digital marketer from Manchester. They took an interest in sewing as a child when their mother started to teach their sister how to make sock puppets. Kit then took up the hobby again at university, exploring haberdashery and “awful” fabrics.
Gaynor
Hailing from Port Talbot in Wales, 72-year-old Gaynor has flourished as a sewer, despite having only scraped a pass in needlework class at school. She is now teaching her granddaughter the craft.
Jess
33-year-old Jess from London began sewing when she was 11 by making garments for her sister using leftover fabrics. During sixth form, she started creating her own clothes but her obsession with the hobby truly blossomed during lockdown.
Órla
At 19, Orla is the youngest contestant on this year’s show and only began sewing four years ago, often making pieces for her friends and family and one day hopes to have a completely self-made wardrobe.
Peter
45-year-old Peter began sewing thanks to his mother, when he would help create dance costumes for his siblings. He took up the skill again after he tuned in to watch Sewing Bee with his daughters, which sparked their own interest in the pastime.
Glendora
Glendora, a 59-year-old bus driver from Luton, began sewing when she was eight and has continued ever since. Impressively, since June 2021, she has handmade 36 quilts.
Yasmin
Yasmin’s father taught her how to make clothes from a young age. When he died in 2023, she applied to be a Sewing Bee contestant in his memory.
Novello
After being inspired by an episode of Blue Peter, Novello began sewing when she was just five. By the age of seven, she had her own sewing machine and has continued the hobby ever since.
Dan
Although Dan is a stage performer, sewing has become an extra creative outlet for him, having first taken up the hobby at 10 years old. He now creates his own outfits for his performances.
Saffie
Saffie’s great aunt taught her how to sew when she was eight. She now creates her own wardrobe using patterns from indie designers that are both fashionable and practical.
Stuart
53-year-old Stuart only began sewing in 2020, having been driven by a desire to make hats. That soon evolved into making his own shirts and repairing his son’s backpack.
The Great British Sewing Bee is available to watch on BBC One every Tuesday at 9pm and can be streamed on BBC iPlayer.
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