It’s a stitch-up

TV CRITIC Christopher Stevens certainly stuck the knife into The Great British Sewing Bee (Mail).

I agree it could be more informative as you have only to look at the state of many people’s clothing today to realise lots of women (and men) have no idea how to shorten trousers or skirts, replace a button, carry out a simple repair or use an iron.

For some of us, a needle and thread is one of life’s pleasures, whether it’s embroidery, tapestry or dressmaking. When I was growing up, we all made our own clothes to a far higher standard than can be found in Primark. Interested in fashion, we copied clothes worn by Twiggy for a Saturday night out dancing, and we all owned a sewing machine.

Now needlework has been removed from schools and many young teens relax with Facebook rather than sewing or knitting. We were all taught by our mothers and at school how to sew, iron, knit and cook.

I would love to carry on making my own clothes, but the difficulty is finding fabric as most dressmaking shops and haberdashers have closed down. Buying quality buttons online is a nightmare as when the arrive they bear little relation to how they appeared on screen.

We have dozens of cookery programmes on TV offering dishes that many never make at home, but it’s obvious with the loss of more than a million viewers since James Martin left Saturday Kitchen that learning to stuff a chicken was not their reason for watching!

Other than The Great Sewing Bee, there are no programmes for people who enjoy dressmaking and jewellery making, which are hobbies enjoyed by so many women, yet Mary Berry is a permanent fixture on TV telling us how to make the perfect cake.

It’s all very well criticising The Great British Sewing Bee, but sadly it’s all we have.

J. F. LUND, Doncaster.