When is the Great British Sewing Bee 2025 kicking off?
It is finally that time of year again where we are all super duper excited to tune into some great sewing based telly. Yes you guessed it, the Great British Sewing Bee is making a grand return and boy, did they keep us waiting to announce the new series! It is finally starting on Tuesday 15th July, at 9pm on BBC1 almost 2 months later than last year.
The GBSB Series 11 Contestants
(Image Credit BBC/Love Productions/ James Stack)
This year as usual,12 contestants will battle it out at the sewing machine testing their creativity, sewing skills and ability to work under pressure - hopefully they will be whipping up plenty of inspiration for the rest of us in the process. As ever, this year's hopefuls will include people from all walks of life with varying degrees of sewing experience. So far, we don't have all the background information on the contestants,
Caz, Dan, Gaynor, Glendora, Jess, Kit, Novello, Orla, Peter, Saffie, Stuart and Yasmin, but we can't wait to get to know them over the series. There are just so many reasons to be excited....
Who are the GBSB Season 11 Judges and Host?
(Image Credit BBC/Love Productions/ James Stack)
This year, we are excited to see Sara Pascoe back from maternity leave, after Kiell Smith Bynoe stood in for her in Series 10.
Sara will be presenting alongside seasoned judges and sewing Pin Up Patrick Grant together with the gift that keeps on giving, Esme Young. (By the way, we featured Esme in our blog on 5 Inspirational Women in Sewing. )
GBSB: what we know so far…..
Just as in previous years, there will be 3 challenges each week. The pattern challenge, the transformation challenge and the made to measure round, all testing the sewing bees' skills to the limit.
In the first episode of the new series, judges Patrick Grant and Esme Young set the tone with a trio of shape-focused challenges. The Pattern Challenge kicks things off, tasking the sewers with constructing a tie-front blouse that uses gathering techniques to create volume and form.
Then, it's on to the Transformation Challenge, where they have just 90 minutes to turn a simple circle skirt into an entirely new garment.
Finally, the Made-to-Measure round puts their pleating skills to the test as they design and sew a dress tailored to fit perfectly and showcase expert shaping.
We can feel the pressure already and can't wait to see how they cope with Patrick and Esme's on point critique.
GBSB Highlights from last year
There are so many highlights from last year to even remember so we had to remind ourselves with our handy GBSB Series 10 round up blog.
But a definite Team FG favourite was Episode 3 in Travel week when contestants had to make a blouse from an old tablecloth, create a bag from nautical items and the French Riviera challenge was our absolute favourite with the oh so chic wide leg sailor trousers.
So many highlights and plenty more to look forward to this year in Series 11.
GBSB: Stay Up to Date
Worried you might miss out on an episode? Well, don't forget you can catch up on BBC iPlayer and we'll do our best not to post any spoilers on our socials; we will also have a Sewing Bee Collection on the website, which we will update regularly to include any suitable fabrics for the week's tasks. So you really will never miss a thing….
Discover our Great British Sewing Bee Collection
The team at Fabrics Galore London will be following the new series avidly and will be featuring fabrics for each of the weekly challenges to celebrate the return of the beloved Great British Sewing Bee! In the meantime, please browse our range of latest fabrics for all your own Sewing Bee projects!
