{"id":692171,"date":"2026-07-15T01:53:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T01:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/692171\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T01:53:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T01:53:20","slug":"the-great-british-sewing-bee-contestants-2026-meet-the-new-cast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/692171\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great British Sewing Bee contestants 2026: Meet the new cast"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Great British Sewing Bee<\/a> is back for another year, and 12 talented new contestants are about to step into the studio. The amateur sewers will be hoping to impress judges Esme Young<\/a> (our latest cover star<\/a>!) and Patrick Grant<\/a> with their seams, buttonholes and bias cuts.<\/p>\n

This year \u2013 series 12 \u2013 the show will be presented by BAFTA-winning comedian, writer and actor Sophie Willan<\/a>, who will join Patrick and Esme in the studio alongside the new cast of stitchers. <\/p>\n

With the series about to start, we now know who will be battling it out to be crowned Britain\u2019s most sensational sewer, creating different garments and designs each week. After last year’s challenges with activewear, kidswear and sustainability, we can’t wait to see what tasks the contestants will face this year. <\/p>\n

The craft show will be airing from Tuesday 14th July at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. But before it begins, get to know this year’s cast of characters: Sam, Heather, Beth, Emma, Tim, Lewis, Rebecca, Minnie, Adele, Angie, Anna and Dawn. <\/p>\n

Meet The Great British Sewing Bee 2026 contestants below.<\/p>\n

Sam \"sam<\/p>\n

Love Productions\/Neil Sherwood\/\/BBC<\/p>\n

Age: 31<\/p>\n

Location: West Yorkshire<\/p>\n

Job: Heating engineer<\/p>\n

A proud Brummy, Sam now lives in a small village in West Yorkshire with his partner. He was taught to sew by his friend three years ago, and regrets not learning sooner as he wishes he could have had a career in fashion. Sam specialises in boxy style unisex workwear, inspired by his love of streetwear fashion. Sam would like to think that he is a methodical sewer, but really, he says he is usually scrambling around, in a state of “creative chaos”.<\/p>\n

Heather \"heather<\/p>\n

Love Productions\/Neil Sherwood\/\/BBC<\/p>\n

Age: 28<\/p>\n

Location: West Midlands<\/p>\n

Job: Project manager
<\/p>\n

Heather says, “nothing feels quite like wearing something you\u2019ve made yourself”. A lover of modern elegance and bold prints, sewing has been both a creative outlet and calming ritual for Heather since attending her first night class in 2022. She is carrying on a sewing family legacy that started with her Caribbean grandparents. She is passionate about sewing with second-hand or dead-stock fabric. <\/p>\n

Beth \"beth<\/p>\n

Love Productions\/Neil Sherwood\/\/BBC<\/p>\n

Age: 24<\/p>\n

Location: Oxfordshire<\/p>\n

Job: Student
<\/p>\n

Currently studying for a PhD in Engineering, Beth discovered sewing in her teenage years as a way to relieve stress, making a skirt the night before her English GCSE. Living with scoliosis, Beth has learnt to adapt her clothing to fit her body, which helps her feel confident and express her personal style. Beth sees sewing and engineering as two sides of the same coin: “Both come from a love for materials and problem-solving. When something goes wrong, I just get the unpicker out and fix it.”<\/p>\n

Emma \"emma<\/p>\n

Love Productions\/Neil Sherwood\/\/BBC<\/p>\n

Age: 45<\/p>\n

Location: Midlothian <\/p>\n

Job: Classical soprano
<\/p>\n

Originally from Northern Ireland, Emma now lives in a village just outside of Edinburgh with her husband and two children. Emma learned to sew as a child from her mum, who was a gifted seamstress. Emma hasn’t brought a single piece of clothing since she picked sewing up again in 2023, with her signature style described as being bold, colourful and full of life.
<\/p>\n

Tim \"tim<\/p>\n

Love Productions\/Neil Sherwood\/\/BBC<\/p>\n

Age: 60<\/p>\n

Location: Suffolk<\/p>\n

Job: Care farm manager
<\/p>\n

Tim lives in the countryside with his partner and their dog, where he runs a care farm that offers therapeutic placements to adults with learning disabilities and those working to improve their mental wellbeing. His love of sewing began in childhood, watching his mum make clothes for him and his siblings. But it wasn\u2019t until he cared for his mum many years later that a fateful scroll through social media led him to purchase a second-hand Singer machine. Tim\u2019s style is classic with character. He loves clean lines, thoughtful finishes and garments that tell a story. For Tim, sewing isn\u2019t just a craft; it\u2019s how he connects with people.<\/p>\n

Lewis\"lewis<\/p>\n

Love Productions\/Neil Sherwood\/\/BBC<\/p>\n

Age: 29<\/p>\n

Location: East Sussex<\/p>\n

Job: School teacher
<\/p>\n

Lewis is a primary school teacher, whose mum taught him to hand sew when he was a child. Having built on his skills over the last six years, he is now a fan of a large expanding pocket and making costumes for Lewes Bonfire night. He likes to use as many natural fabrics as possible and is a proud repairer of his clothes, breathing life and longevity into them. He\u2019s now passing this life-skill onto his pupils, who enjoy making pencil cases in his creative classes. <\/p>\n

Rebecca \"rebecca<\/p>\n

Love Productions\/Neil Sherwood\/\/BBC<\/p>\n

Age: 27<\/p>\n

Location: London<\/p>\n

Job: Chartered actuary<\/p>\n

Rebecca lives with her fianc\u00e9e, Sam. She loves fantasy and colourful handmade workwear. Originally from Hampshire, Rebecca grew up watching her mum sew, then took up the hobby herself as a teenager. She’s now a highly technical sewer, exploring everything from Victorian underwear to her own ivory satin wedding dress. Having lived with constant stomach pain for 13 years, she often adapts her designs for comfort and finds sewing helps distract from the pain. <\/p>\n

Minnie \"minnie<\/p>\n

Love Productions\/Neil Sherwood\/\/BBC<\/p>\n

Age: 30<\/p>\n

Location: Bedfordshire<\/p>\n

Job: Full-time mum
<\/p>\n

Minnie lives in Bedfordshire with her husband, Thomas, and their three children. Although the 30-year-old initially hated the sewing machine Thomas bought her for Christmas, she quickly became hooked. She now calls it the best present ever, as sewing gave her a creative outlet and sense of identity beyond motherhood. Minnie creates precise, fitted womenswear, traditional Chinese garments and kidswear, rarely making the same thing twice.<\/p>\n

Adele \"adele<\/p>\n

Love Productions\/Neil Sherwood\/\/BBC<\/p>\n

Age: 36<\/p>\n

Location: West Yorkshire<\/p>\n

Job: School teacher
<\/p>\n

Lancashire born and bred, Adele now lives in West Yorkshire with her husband and two children. The 36-year-old primary school teacher started her own sewing club at school, and once she qualified to drive the minibus, the first trip was to the very same mill where Sewing Bee is filmed. With initial dreams of becoming a fashion designer, Adele didn’t like the ‘soulless’ fast-fashion industry, but dusted off her sewing machine in 2020 and found her love of sewing once again.<\/p>\n

Angie \"tx<\/p>\n

Love Productions\/ Neil Sherwood\/\/BBC<\/p>\n

Age: 63<\/p>\n

Location: Warwickshire<\/p>\n

Job: Retired lecturer
<\/p>\n

Retired Business Studies and Computing lecturer Angie moved from LA to Warwickshire when she met her late husband 43 years ago. Angie was always in awe of her mother and grandmother, who could whip up a dress in record time, and would raid her dad\u2019s sock draw to make dresses for her Barbies. When her husband passed away and lockdown hit, she leant on sewing as an escape. She loves 50s and 60s silhouettes.<\/p>\n

Anna\"anna<\/p>\n

BBC\/Love Productions\/Neil Sherwood\/\/BBC<\/p>\n

Age: 27
<\/p>\n

Location: North Yorkshire<\/p>\n

Job: Barista and waitress<\/p>\n

Anna, who lives on a narrowboat with her boyfriend, originally got into sewing through repairing and altering second-hand clothes in her efforts to be environmentally conscious. She loves fashion history, recreating historical garments, including a Queen of Hearts costume, and corsetry. Her garments have a gothic, grunge and flamboyant tone to them, combining creativity with wearability.<\/p>\n

Dawn \"dawn<\/p>\n

Love Productions\/ Neil Sherwood\/\/BBC<\/p>\n

Age: 64
<\/p>\n

Location: London<\/p>\n

Job: Chief Financial Officer<\/p>\n

Dawn was taught the basics by her grandma and great aunt, Dawn started making clothes for her dolls at the age of seven. On receiving her very first pay check, the first thing she bought was a sewing machine in 1968, and she hasn’t stopped since. She likes her garments to feel good, and makes them stand out with shapes, pleats, stripes or accessories.<\/p>\n

The Great British Sewing Bee starts on Tuesday 14th July at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Great British Sewing Bee is back for another year, and 12 talented new contestants are about to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[230404,379,230403,381,96,190731,1156,230402,223205,225241,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-692171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-collection-great-british-sewing-bee","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-d5210c9c-4d6c-4b52-90d2-b06a0351779b","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-meet-the-great-british-sewing-bee-2026-contestants","tag-sponsored-false","tag-subsection-tv-film","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}