The Great British Sewing Bee is back for a brand new season, with a new group of contestants competing to be named Britain’s best amateur sewer.
As ever, 12 amateur sewers head to Sunny Bank Mills in Leeds, where they will battle it out across the pattern challenge, transformation and made-to-measure rounds, hoping to impress judges Patrick Grant and Esme Young.
This series will once again features reduce, reuse, recycle week, sports week, music week and kids week, alongside new themes such as Mexico week, literary icons and wardrobe heroes.
Want to know more about this year’s cast? Here’s a guide to the contestants taking part in The Great British Sewing Bee 2026.
The Great British Sewing Bee 2026 contestants
Sam
Age: 31
Job: Heating engineer
Location: West Yorkshire
A proud Brummy now living in a small West Yorkshire village with his partner of seven years, Liv, Sam was taught how to sew by a friend three years ago and specialises in boxy, unisex workwear inspired by streetwear fashion. He works on both industrial and domestic machines in a hired studio after work.
Sam loves shocking his plumbing customers when they discover he can sew, and is keen to develop his pattern-drafting skills.
Heather
Age: 28
Job: Project manager
Location: West Midlands
Heather lives with her mum and took up sewing at a night class in 2022. She favours modern elegance and bold prints, and is passing her knowledge to her 12-year-old niece, continuing a family legacy that began with her Caribbean grandparents, a tailor and a seamstress from St Kitts.
A passionate advocate for second-hand and deadstock fabric, Heather sees sewing as both a creative outlet and a calming ritual.
Beth
Age: 24
Job: Engineering PhD student
Location: Oxfordshire
A hard-working high achiever, Beth discovered sewing as a teenage stress-reliever, once making a skirt the night before her English GCSE. Living with scoliosis, she has learnt to adapt clothing to fit her body and enjoys creating bespoke garments, including trench coats for herself and her boyfriend.
Beth sees sewing and engineering as two sides of the same coin, united by a love of materials and problem-solving.
Emma
Age: 45
Job: Classical soprano
Location: Midlothian
Originally from Northern Ireland, Emma learned to sew as a child from her mum and picked it back up in 2023, since when she hasn’t bought a single piece of clothing. Her style is bold, colourful and full of life; you’ll never catch her in black.
When she isn’t performing in operas and concerts across the UK and Europe, Emma is at her sewing machine, ready to put her self-taught skills to the test.
Tim
Age: 60
Job: Care farm director
Location: Suffolk
Tim runs a care farm offering therapeutic placements to adults with learning disabilities. His love of sewing began in childhood watching his mum, and was rekindled when he bought a second-hand Singer while caring for her. His style is classic with character, favouring clean lines and thoughtful finishes.
For Tim, sewing isn’t just a craft, it’s how he connects with people.
Lewis
Age: 29
Job: Primary school teacher
Location: East Sussex
Family-orientated Lewis started hand-sewing aged seven or eight and now favours utilitarian, classic workwear influenced by American 1930s garments. He makes costumes for Lewes Bonfire night, repairs his own clothes and teaches his pupils to make pencil cases.
A proud repairer who prefers natural fabrics, Lewis is keen to prove his skills after six years of building on his craft.
Rebecca
Age: 27
Job: Chartered actuary
Location: London
Nicknamed the “Executive Hobbit” by her fiancée, Rebecca balances a career in marine insurance with a passion for colourful handmade workwear, famously a hot pink three-piece suit. Inspired by Victorian fashion, she has made costumes for Doctor Who conventions and her own ivory satin wedding dress.
A highly technical sewer who adapts designs for comfort after 13 years of stomach pain, Rebecca loves the feeling of wearing something she made herself.
Minnie
Age: 30
Job: Full-time mum
Location: Bedfordshire
Beijing-born Minnie moved to the UK in 2013 and lives with her husband Thomas and their three children. Known for her dry humour and glamorous handmade wardrobe, she creates precise, fitted womenswear, traditional Chinese garments and children’s clothing, often using beautiful Chinese silks.
Having stepped away from her career for family life, Minnie is eager to reclaim a creative outlet and challenge herself beyond motherhood.
Adele
Age: 36
Job: Primary school teacher
Location: West Yorkshire
Lancashire-born Adele once dreamt of becoming a fashion designer before a soulless spell in fashion merchandising led her to teaching. She started a school sewing club and rediscovered her love of the craft in 2020. She adores bright, bold prints, leopard print and matching family outfits.
A Blackburn Rovers faithful and nine-time marathon runner, Adele is backed by her dad, who proudly tells the local pub, “Our Adele made me this shirt.”
Angie
Age: 63
Job: Retired business studies and computing lecturer
Location: Warwickshire
Angie moved from Los Angeles to the UK 43 years ago for love. Sewing became her escape following the death of her husband Paul in 2018 and through lockdown. She loves ’50s and ’60s silhouettes and feels fabulous heading to the theatre in a handmade frock, petticoat and matching handbag.
Inspired by her mother and grandmother’s dressmaking, Angie says sewing has always been there for her.
Anna
Age: 27
Job: Barista and waitress
Location: North Yorkshire
Anna lives on a narrowboat she and her boyfriend built from a shell. She got into sewing by repairing and altering second-hand clothes, and during lockdown began recreating historical garments. Her style has a gothic, grunge and flamboyant tone, and she loves corsetry.
Ethically and environmentally conscious, Anna is ambitious in every project, combining creativity with wearability.
Dawn
Age: 64
Job: Chief financial officer
Location: London
London-born Dawn has been sewing since 1968, having bought a sewing machine with her very first paycheque. She has a “me-made-marmite” wardrobe of garments that make her feel good, adding shapes, pleats, stripes and accessories, and only really buys underwear.
Taught the basics by her grandma and great aunt, Dawn is a strong believer in close-knit community and loves making garments that stand out.
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The Great British Sewing Bee returns to BBC One on Tuesday 14 July 2026 at 8pm.
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