As the Great British Sewing Bee returns for a new 2026 series, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to chat with judge Esme Young about our all-time favourite sewing show.
Esme Young has enjoyed a sewing career spanning 50 years, but truly came to our attention when she took over as judge alongside Patrick Grant on the Great British Sewing Bee.
Her passion for unique stitching and design, as well as her drive to encourage beginners to get behind their sewing machines, sets her apart – and we’re huge fans of her amazing style too!
Let’s find out what Esme thought about the new series.
How would you sum up this year’s competition?
Well, it’s always fun. And the sewers are getting better and better. Every year, I love how they help each other, but – in this series – they have to actually work together. There was a transformation challenge in Sports Week where they had to work in pairs to make a two-piece from a windsurf sail. And another – in Music Week – where they had to work in a team to create outfits for a pop trio. I think they enjoyed collaborating, but it’s different. At Central Saint Martins [the world-renowned arts and design college where Esme teaches], the students sometimes do this. Some of them really like it and some of them hate it.
In the fashion industry, people often create in teams, so it’ll be interesting to see how they fare when it’s an individual competition, but they have to work together…
Swanky Modes was four women and we definitely helped and learned from each other and all had an input into a collection. You can bounce ideas off each other. Definitely. We would do things and someone would say, ‘Oh, that’s interesting. How about if we added such-and-such?’ The sewing bees all become friends. They did help each other naturally anyway, but to make that part of challenge is such a lovely idea.
In the opening episode, British Summertime Week, there’s another first: the bees had to model their own made-to-measure – an outfit for the perfect summer’s day…
They enjoyed that challenge. I make things for myself, but it is quite difficult to fit on yourself because you can’t fiddle with the back. That’s an issue to overcome when you’re fitting yourself. I’ve got a block. It’s a basic cardboard pattern – you take a series of your measurements so you know things will fit you – and you can change it around. If you make one for yourself, then it’s much easier to fit.
You almost need a tailor’s dummy modelled on your own body, don’t you?
Yes. Well, you can stuff them. That’s what I used to do quite often, when I made things for films. I’d stuff the stand. I’d do the bum and the tits to match the person I was making the outfit for.
Did you do that with the Bridget Jones’s Diary bunny outfit for Renée Zellweger?
I can’t remember…
That must have been quite a difficult thing to fit as it’s very figure-hugging, isn’t it?
Yes and she wanted it tighter and tighter, but I did a lot of fitting on Renée and I measured everything.
Tell us about some of the pattern challenges this year…
One thing they did was a pair of knickers. *LAUGHS*
Who makes knickers? Don’t we all buy them from M&S?
*LAUGHS* Well, there was a twist. We asked them to make a set of three pairs out of secondhand T-shirts, so it was from a jersey fabric. It was for Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Week. Sewing the elastic around the legs and the waistline can be tricky. We didn’t want them to stretch the material. I loved the colours. They used coloured elastic, too. I’ve got a selection of vintage underwear because I used to teach at college a whole course on underwear, bras, knickers…
Esme Young – Speciality: lingerie…
*LAUGHS* Well, I do everything. Absolutely everything. But over the years, I’ve gathered a whole collection of underwear from the 1800s to modern day. It’s very interesting how underwear changed. You know, in the 1950s, they had very pointy bras. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, they did all these bias cut clothes, so the underwear was bias cut, too. The underwear contributes to the final silhouette of the outfits.
Talking of underwear, another pattern challenge is a Madonna-inspired cone bra in Music Week…
Do you know what? When we were at Swanky Modes, we were jokey backing singing at [British Sculptor] Andrew Logan’s famous Alternative Miss World. One of our customers was Yvonne Gold [former make-up artist and conceptual consultant] and she was singing, so we were her backing singers. It was such fun and we wore those cone bras. It would’ve been 1978. [Check out the documentary movie I Wanna Be A Beauty Queen on YouTube for footage of their act.] Madonna’s was 10 years later.
She was copying you, then?
*LAUGHS* Well, I don’t know. It was John Paul Gaultier who designed hers.
What sort of problems do you encounter making a cone-shaped pointy bra?
Well, it’s a circle with a seam cut out and bits cut out, so it’s how you put it in the bra shape. Also, what fabric you use is very important – you want something with a bit of body. With ours, we used leather. I think we used cardboard as well. *LAUGHS* They had to make tutus, too, for the pattern challenge in Kids Week. I’ve made tutus for my niece because she did ballet. It’s important how you sew the tutu. You want it to stick out.
You must have to use metres and metres of net…
Yes. At the bottom it’s short and then the fabric gets longer and longer and longer – that’s how it sticks out. The underneath supports the top, so there are complications with that pattern. They had to make a deerstalker, too – in Literary Icons Week. *LAUGHS* Few people will have ever made a deerstalker. Like anything, if you’ve never made it before, it’s tricky with its various sections.
The transformation in Colours and Prints Week saw you and Patrick challenge them to make an impactful garment you actually liked from old clothes in colours you can’t stand. That sounds fun!
Oh yes! *LAUGHS* I’m not very fond of brown and Patrick is. I like purple and Patrick doesn’t. It was quite a fun challenge. Brown is dull, isn’t it?
I guess it depends on what shade it is. Tweed’s nice, isn’t it?
Yes, but it isn’t necessarily brown. We asked them to make a stuffed animal out of children’s fleeces for the Kids Weektransformation. That was great. Kids quickly grow out of fleeces, so it’s really nice to give people an idea of what they can make. And in Mexico Week, they had to transform Mexican oil tablecloths into a structured garment. That’s quite a difficult fabric to sew if you’ve never used it before. It’s stiff, not loose and floaty, so it makes creative shapes. Statuesque things. Our guest judge Erika Alvarez enjoyed their interpretations of traditional Mexican clothes. It’s great we have challenges from different countries and guest judges. We learn so much.
Have you visited Mexico?
Yes. I really like Mexico. I’ve been twice. I even went to Frida Kahlo’s famous blue house which is now a museum. The first time, I was staying in Washington in America and I used to go to this club. I met these guys who invited me to go with them – one of them was delivering a car to Mexico City. It was great. The second time was when my brother lived in Mexico City. He worked for Reuters. We travelled all over and I bought quite a few traditional Mexican clothes in bright colours.
Was the tequila flowing in Mexico Week?
*LAUGHS* No! That was an opportunity missed.
What about the made-to-measures?
In Colours and Prints Week, they had to make monochrome outfits, but not in black and white. They had to choose one colour. That was fun and, you know, it makes them think in a different way. You need to be open to things. They used light and dark variations of the same colour to show shape.
We know you’re a punk at heart, but they also created a made-to-measure outfit inspired by disco…
Oh yes. We did lots of disco clothes at Swanky Modes, too. Grace Jones was a disco icon and she wore our Padlock Dress in the Sunday Times. There’s one of those dresses in the London Museum. The Amorphous Dress – which is in the V&A – was lycra and that was very much a disco era fabric. It was sexy. We were looking for something sexy from the bees.
And shimmery?
Yes. You can have lycra and sequins and metallic fabric and satin. That’s all disco era.
We’ve seen photos of you in your punk days. Were you also a bit of a Disco Diva later on?
Yes. At the Andrew Logan Alternative Miss World, we were wearing lycra all-in-ones. Catsuits and leotards were very disco. I’ve got a photo of us all with Divine [the US actor/singer/drag queen]. Divine called us her daughters. LAUGHS Honestly, we were so lucky. It was a big creative community in London and young people could afford to live here, whereas I don’t think they can anymore. We squatted. I lived next door to Sid Vicious. We also had a made-to-measure outfit inspired by Jane Austen in Literary Icons Week.
It’s disappointing they didn’t have Patrick dress as Mr Darcy emerging from the canal…
*LAUGHS* Yes! That would have been fun. For the made-to-measure, we wanted a contemporary version of Jane Austen-era clothes. In fashion, you reflect back to past trends. Our lycra dresses at Swanky Modes in the 1970s were inspired by 1930s bias cut dresses. That same thing happens every season. People look back and translate fashions into new items. The past really influences fashion.
Bridgerton has been a big hit on Netflix – a drama set in that late Georgian/Regency period – so people have got used to seeing those styles…
Yes. Empire line dresses with a high waist, low necks and short puffed sleeves. And men’s clothes were quite sexy with the waistcoat, breeches and jackets with tails, but showing off the front of your body. Eventually, it filters through to the clothes you might see on the High Street. Everything reflects back and is reinterpreted.
There’s always such a broad cross-section of people passionate about sewing on Sewing Bee…
Definitely. There was an engineering student, someone who works on a care farm, a barista, a heating engineer, teachers and a classical soprano. She sang for us. My brother supports the English National Opera and my sister supports the Royal Opera House. Actually, my sister’s husband was the director of the English National Opera. They take me to the opera.
How good was the final?
They all did really well and expressed themselves, but the winner was clear. It’s not just the stitching, it’s to do with creativity. Their vision is what’s important for me. The things they come up with are extraordinary.
You welcomed a new host: Sophie Willan. How much fun did the three of you have?
Sophie was great and she did enjoy herself. Well, I’m pretty sure she did. She was a lot of fun. A lot of fun. She has funny bones. She was very pregnant throughout with huge bosoms.
Any outfits or necklaces you’ve made that we need to look out for?
Oh, well, now I wear more and more and more and more necklaces at the same time. Not understated. Definitely overstated. My sister Fiona knits necklaces out of wire and every year she makes one for me. The first one she made for me was grey and it had my mum’s pearls in it, too. Not real pearls. I wear one with different colours in the semi-final. That one had purple wire.
Purple – just to annoy Patrick…
*LAUGHS*
Have you and Patrick ever made an item of clothing for each other?
He made me a shirt. I was wearing this dress that I had altered the pockets to and he really liked the pockets, so he put them on a shirt for Community Clothing. He calls it The Esme Shirt. I’ve not made anything for him. LAUGHS.
Perhaps you should make him something purple for the next series…
*LAUGHS* Yes! I could make him a tie.
Learn more about Esme Young
Esme Young is a renowned fashion designer who has worked with a whole host of celebrities in the course of her long career. She was one of the creators of the iconic Amorphous Dress, which was a popular garment to wear to nightclubs in the 1980s.
Esme first took an interest in art and design at the age of seven and says she was encouraged by her form teacher, Sister Mary.
As a teenager, she continued to draw and became interested in fashion designing. Inspired by fashion magazines, she began buying clothes from charity shops and altered them to suit her own unique style. She went on to attend the prestigious St Martin’s College of Art in London.
She teamed up with her friends to launch a fashion brand, Swanky Modes, in the 1970s. They couldn’t find the kind of clothes that they wanted to wear in the shops, so they decided to make their own. The London-based brand soon became popular and their dresses were worn by the likes of Grace Jones and Cher.
In the course of her career, she’s worked with a variety of celebrities. Esme designed Renee Zellweger’s iconic bunny girl outfit for Bridget Jones and created the Hawaiian shirts worn by Leonardo DiCaprio in The Beach. She had to sew 10 identical shirts for Leo to wear in the film for continuity, which she found very challenging!
In addition to her appearances on the Sewing Bee, Esme is currently a lecturer at Central St Martin’s College. In 2022, Esme released her autobiography, Behind the Seams, which gave an insight into her remarkable life (order your copy below).
Why Esme Young is a brilliant Sewing Bee judge
Esme has decades of experience in the fashion industry and is able to scrutinise the competition with an expert eye. However, Esme’s teaching background gives her a real insight into the struggles of the contestants.
She’s created some of the most iconic looks in British fashion and the sewers are guaranteed to learn a lot from her!
Meet Sewing Bee judge Patrick Grant
Esme and Patrick are the dream team that makes the Sewing Bee work. They get along famously and it wouldn’t be one of our favourite craft TV shows without them sharing praise and feedback with the contestants.
Like Esme, Patrick also has decades of experience in the world of fashion and knows quality sewing when he sees it! Get to know Patrick Grant with Gathered’s in-depth guide.
First image courtesy of BBC/Love Productions/Neil Sherwood
