We’ll all be in stitches
PICK DAY
ABOUT New host Joe Lycett THE GREAT BRITISH SEWING BEE
BBC2, 9pm IF television titles have taught us anything over the last few years, it’s that we Brits are great at a lot of things. Baking, pottery, menus... sewing.
This is the fifth series of the stitching competition, with brand new host comedian Joe Lycett taking over the reins from Claudia Winkleman.
You wouldn’t have thought that watching people sew could be that gripping. But this isn’t darning socks or replacing buttons.
There’s panic over patterns, anguish over arm holes and the trauma of fitting garments to actual real live people. Yes, there are plenty of chances for contestants to unravel.
Ten of the country’s best home sewers take up their needle and thread, watched studiously by Savile Row’s Patrick Grant and Central St Martins’ Esme Young.
First they have to make a Dior-inspired “wiggle dress” in cotton, before transforming three second-hand items of denim clothing into a single, stylish new garment in just 90 minutes.
Then they must make a made-to-measure jumpsuit that nips and tucks in all the right places.
There are some technical segments, with talk of zips, darts and hems, which probably aren’t really that interesting unless you’re actually into sewing, while the rest of us are mostly waiting for the big reveal of the finished outfit.
This is where Bake Off will always prove more popular.
But Joe does a good job of chatting up all the contestants and there’s some innuendo from the judges that would make a tailor blush.
Plus, if we’re really lucky, there might be some form of sleeve-gate or button drama to get the nation really talking.