‘Fruitellas to Cola Maoams – that is now her drug of choice’ – 7 must-know facts about Sewing Bee judge Esme Young!

With a sewing career spanning 50 years, she’s designed iconic outfits and worked with big-name stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Renée Zellweger.

We’ve found seven facts about Esme that you might not know, but if you want to find out even more about her interesting life, you should check out her autobiography, Behind the Seams.

Seven must-know Esme facts!

She’s smaller than your average sewist

Esme Young is 1.5m (5ft) tall, which can look significantly small when standing next to co-judge Patric Grant, who is 1.9m (6″2) tall!

She’s lived in the same flat for over 40 years

Esme has rented her one-bedroom social housing flat in Islington, north London, from the charitable housing trust, Peabody, since 1982. 

She’s always on the lookout for interesting necklaces

Esme’s always looking fabulous on the Great British Sewing Bee, thanks in part to her collection of bold and unique necklaces. We’ve always wondered where she finds them…

“All over the world – wherever I go I’ll buy something. Quite a lot are vintage and are from markets; Ridley Road market in Dalston is very good for fabulous necklaces. It’s not to do with the value, it’s more to do with how they look and how I get attracted to them”

She sewed her first skirt when she was seven

Esme learnt sewing, embroidery and knitting at school. She made a gathered skirt when she was seven – all hand-sewn. Coincidentally, it was at age seven that it was discovered that Esme was also partially deaf.

She’s got a sweet tooth

When Esme started on the Sewing Bee, it was Mini Cheddars that were the staple snack in her green room. However, for the new 2025 series, it’s her love of sweets that co-judge Patrick picked up on – “Esme has switched her allegiance from Fruitellas to Cola Maoams – that is now her drug of choice.”

She has a dress in the V&A museum

Perhaps Esme’s most well-known design is the Amorphous dress, which she designed for Linda Kozlowski to wear in the 1986 movie Crocodile Dundee. It is now part of the V&A collection, and a version of this dress recently sold for £5000.

She’s met all the icons

“I once met Andy Warhol… years ago, obviously. He was having an exhibition at the ICA [Institute of Contemporary Arts] in 1978 and my friends and I at Swanky Modes were invited. It was silkscreen prints of athletes, including Muhammad Ali, Chris Evert and Pelé. It was very Andy Warhol. I was introduced to him and I just said, ‘Oh, it’s great…’ He’s such an icon. I love his work.”

Find out what Esme thought about the 2025 series

Learn about what Esme thought of this year’s contestants, her favourite themes from the new series and what she’s been up to outside the Bee in our interview with 2025 Sewing Bee judge Esme Young.

Matt Spiers

Matt Spiers is an artist and experienced craft writer. What started as a hobby over a decade ago led to Matt developing a passion for crochet (which led to a career with Simply Crochet magazine). Matt now dabbles in all sorts of creative past-times, everything from music production to gardening to whittling – he’s an all-round craft master.

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