The Great British Sewing Bee - 2nd April BBC2
soapfan_1973
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Just when we thought that reality tv couldn't scrape any lower we get a sewing competition on BBC2 from the people that brought us the Great British Bake Off.
Hosted by Claudia Winkleman it features 8 contestants being set three tasks each week before two are voted off by expert judges.
Not sure how well this will do with it being BBC2 but I expect the first show will have many viewers tuning in just to see what it is all about.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2297051/After-Bake-Offs-success-The-Great-British-Sewing-Bee-revive-fortunes-traditional-craft-predict-shows-judges.html
Hosted by Claudia Winkleman it features 8 contestants being set three tasks each week before two are voted off by expert judges.
Not sure how well this will do with it being BBC2 but I expect the first show will have many viewers tuning in just to see what it is all about.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2297051/After-Bake-Offs-success-The-Great-British-Sewing-Bee-revive-fortunes-traditional-craft-predict-shows-judges.html
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Knitting used to be very poplar at one time as it was a way to produce garments relatively inexpensively. It eventually got turned on its head as yarn became ridiculously expensive compared with finished knitwear from China and the far East countries and that was decades ago.
Although many women still knit, few of the younger generations do.
If it were that popular, the craft TV shopping channels would be full of knitwear options, but they're not, it's mostly decoupage and jewellery making items, which are the "in thing."
However I'm sure the BBC will have worked out "cost v ratings" and decided it'll be worthwhile.
If they can get "some drama out of cooking a pork chop or whatever" in a programme,
I'm sure they think they will out of a dropped stitch.
It'll be difficult, because watching someone knitting as about as interesting as watching paint dry.
Claudia Winkleman doesn't do it for me but if she gets people sewing that's all that matters.
Is it all about knitting, though? I thought it said sewing.
Yes my wife would consider knitting and sewing as much the same. As well as knitting she had an expensive British made Singer sewing machine I bought her which compared with today's examples, did "naff all." She made some of her dresses and some for our daughter when she was very young.
The number of yarn and fabric retailing outlets has dwindled country-wide to a few compared with what there once were. This is a measure of the appeal such activities now hold.
As for the sewing machine, we gave it to our daughter years ago which gets dragged out maybe once a year to make something for the grandkid's school Christmas play.
This programme might make a "refreshing change" from those involving food from which at certain times of the day, there seems no escape for those switching channels. But some of the appeal I'd suggest as in cookery programmes, could have been a bit of schadenfreude over the efforts of a few "C listers," but members of the public?
I'd be interested to see what sort of reception it gets from the general public, rather than from the few who still enjoy this hobby.
To be fair SCD is only successful because of the involvement of "C listers" or whoever.
Come Dancing, a far better actual ballroom dance programme died, although being pitched at the "middle classes" didn't help..
How on earth does a little buzzing insect relate to a competition anyway? I've never understood that.
Judging by the number of knitting and sewing blogs on the web, sewing is not a minority pastime..
The web isn't a good yardstick. What is, are the number of outlets where those who are interested can obtain their materials. Yet another fabric, yarn and haberdashery store closed down in a town near where we live, only a few weeks ago, the local market too no longer has a stall selling materials etc., Locals would now have to travel quite a few miles to somewhere like John Lewis to find any variety.
I'm sure some "kit" can be obtained on-line, but those interested like to be able to "feel" the materials they intend to use.
As for younger women, when there's TK Maxx and Primark where they can buy clothes cheaply wear a few times then discard, it'll be "no contest."
You have to be very good at this hobby to achieve something that doesn't look "home made."
Well if you take the African and Asian immigrants into account, they're still keeping shops open.
My Sister is a bit of an 'expert' knitter and gets asked for some very expensive 'commissions' but she doesn't have the time or inclination these days.
Bake-off, SCD, and other competition shows are of no interest to me, but someone is watching them, wait and see if this puts bums on seats, if there is a market out there.
Not that I'll be watching, just thought it was an interesting/odd idea.
Fair enough it's highly unlikely I'll watch more than 5 minutes while surfing about.
You seem to spend a fair bit of time living in the past anyway with your various 'bring back X program' threads.
Anyway I think, I could generate a couple of hours of passable TV using texting as a jumping off point.
Must be a 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon type angle to be worked from texting.
Well I'm a bit of a nostalgia junkie, Prince, but there are modern shows I like as well. Believe it or not, I quite enjoyed Splash.
Having said all of that I don't think this will capture the imagination of non-crafters the way the bake off interest even those who don't bake. But I'll enjoy it.
My wife is has been into decoupage for about fifteen years and for the last two, into jewellery making. She says these two pastimes dominate the craft channel she watches, sewing and knitting come a poor third.
As you say, this programme may have some novelty interest as a change from the endless cookery programmes, but it probably won't sustain that.
However, last week I got it out and made loads of lovely cushions to pile up on our bed and they literally cost pence because I had 2 BIG pairs of curtains made for our bedroom and asked for the offcuts. I can't tell you how pleased I am with them and how good they look.:)
I have a friend who makes her own dresses, skirts etc and people are always stopping her and asking her where she buys stuff because she seeks out fab fabrics and uses gorgeous patterns.
I always assumed the word "Bee" in this context was so called because of a busy bee. However, I've just looked it up and it means "a gathering" - so a gathering of people to do any project together - quilting, sewing, knitting whatever.
She's the only fly in the ointment for me too. She does that squinting through her fringe and that irritates me. The little-girl-lost look is plain silly she must be well in her 40's.
Like I said C&C (the only craft shopping telly) have traditionally been a paper crafting channel - but are now expanding into other crafts. Judging the health of those other crafts by C&C's current scheduling isn't really accurate - it is what it is because that is how it started. The number of programmes for sewing and knitting is on the rise (tomorrow's 4 day deal is a sewing one!) and as I said they have recently acquired one of the UK's largest online yarn shops, and have opened a very large online sewing website. (Both are run independently of the telly shopping.)
I paper craft, but I also knit and sew and I can tell you that the forums and blogs and SPENDING of knitting and sewing is big.
Again - none of this means that the show will work - just that the hobbies are alive and well.
Thank goodness it's not just me. Maybe someone will correct us but it doesn't sound 'Great British' at all by calling it a 'bee.'
"Bee" fair, they've got to call it something to attract potential viewers' attention.