Behind the Seams: The perfect gift for fans of The Great British Sewing Bee

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BBC Two - Richard Osman's House of Games, Series 6, Week 14: Thursday". BBC . Retrieved 11 December 2022. Camden was so full of life and creativity at that time and, at Swanky Modes, we wanted to make and sell clothes we wanted to wear – in fact, a lot of Willie’s final collection ended up on the rails. Mel, another member of Swanky Modes, and I used to get tarted up and tour the magazines to try and meet the fashion editors. We had no idea about PR, but we’d take our clothes along and see if they were interested in using them on photoshoots. The only star I was slightly intimidated by was Dustin Hoffman,” she says. She fitted him for a costume on the set of Last Chance Harvey in 2008. “I came into the room and it was ‘ooh’ but it didn’t last long,” she says. a b "Births". Bedfordshire Times and Independent. 25 February 1949. p.8. On 19 February 1949, at the Nursing Home, 34 Kimbolton Road, Bedford, to Patricia (née Cole), wife of Wing-Commander B. P. Young, a daughter Now Esme, a graduate of the prestigious fashion school Central Saint Martins, where she teaches pattern cutting, is hoping to help inspire more people to take up sewing.

As with most memoirs, I found the chapters about her early life slow going - these sections always take me longer to read as it’s not the part of the persons life you are familiar with but give a great insight into what makes this person who they are. Her most famous creation is Renée Zellweger’s iconic Bunny Girl outfit from the hilarious first Bridget Jones film. My siblings would help me if I got into terrible debt but I’ve never had loads of money. I have had enough money to survive.” He’s tall, I’m small, we’re a double act,” she says. But they get on so well they share a dressing room.More recently, Esme has released a memoir titled Behind the Seams: My Life in Creativity, Friendship and Adventure. Bauer Consumer Media Ltd, Company number 01176085; Bauer Radio Limited, Company number: 1394141; Registered office: Media House, Peterborough Business Park, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA and H Bauer Publishing, Company number: LP003328; Registered office: The Lantern, 75 Hampstead Road, London NW1 2PL It also felt disconnected, we didn’t get to really know and see her, to feel any emotions. It was just a light collection of memories. Taking place next April as the perfect way to blow away the cobwebs on a short break with like-minded Prima readers, our three-day trip is set to be a fabulously crafty escape. One of the best sewing courses Bath has to offer

Esme typically makes costumes for a film’s leading actors. This meticulous process involves understanding the context, the cultural and the fashion references of the film’s time and setting. She utilizes her broad set of skills by providing advice, sourcing fabric, collaborating with the costume designer, fitting and producing the garments. Singer songwriter Lucy Dacus tells Janet Christie about bringing her Home Video to the Edinburgh International Festival Before Sewing Bee came along, Esme had considered winding down. Now she has no plans to retire. She got the job after meeting a show producer by chance at a party prior to the first series being aired. I don’t find it hugely difficult being a judge on the show – it’s not dissimilar to the appraisal process you do as a teacher, and I can spot when things aren’t quite working. The most important things are the silhouette and the fabric you choose to work with. The correct fabric is what counts – not just quality – because you need it to do what you want it to. I also look at sewing technique. I know first-hand that the only way to learn is often through mistakes.” Chapter Eight: The Future Of Fashion

A very engaging and interesting autobiography by the Sewing Bee star. I felt, as a reader, almost as though she was sitting with me, telling her story - it's that immediate. Her own voice comes over very strongly, and she had a most interesting life: at the forefront of fashion in the 60s and 70s with her Swanky Modes, a tutor at Central St Martins, and then a judge on Sewing Bee. It's straightforwardly told, with a few chapters on sewing skills too (eg, pattern cutting which is Esme's own speciality). She's good at recognising the contribution of others to her success - not always the case in autobiographies - and it's a book I'd enjoy reading again. The contestants had been tasked with making a co-ord two-piece trouser and top set, as inspired by Esme's tropical silver screen designs. Caroline Baker was the fashion editor at Nova magazine at the time and she loved our see-through plastic macs. She told us Helmut Newton would be keen to photograph them and asked me to send some drawings to him. I drew the macs on naked bodies – mainly because it was too hard to draw them over clothes. Well, he took it literally and that’s how he shot them in the end. [The fashion designer] Katharine Hamnett ended up coming into the shop to buy one. Consequently, she realised later that she had forgotten to include some starry encounters – like the time she met the Dalai Lama on the Barbican stairwell.

She has one of those lives that just seems to natural and brilliant, she met the right people in fun places and is very humble and gorgeous.She was “great fun but far from easy”, Esme writes in her memoir. Her mother ­suffered from postnatal depression and her five children lived with their aunties while she recovered. Covering her childhood, family life, career starts and many highs, friendships, teaching and ending up with her much loved time as a judge on The great British sewing bee (which is one of my favourite cosy shows). This was interesting, filled with heart and humour, and just also so inspiring reading of Esmes love for what she does and how she was fired up with that passion and self belief from the start. I understand why people buy lots of things because it’s a buzz but it’s really shortsighted,” she says. “People buy things they’re never going to wear as they’re so cheap.”