Miss Celie

More on #GBSB

Hello Kids,

The second episode of the Great British Sewing Bee has posted. And, the UK’s Thrifty Stitcher was the technical adviser for the show. Each week she posts background information on the challenges and addresses some of the things I was wondering like why they didn’t have sergers on the first episode.

 

I thought I would now start my whisper campaign to be the host of the yet-to-even-be-considered US version of the Great American Sewing Bee. See how I’m taking myself out of the cooker of *sewing*? LOL!   I know how to sew and have a TV background (in that I was a news anchor and reporter for a few years out of college). And, *just* like the current host, I’m also naturally tan….  And, wouldn’t Susan Khalje or Ann of Gorgeous Things be terrific as the on screen sewing judge?

45 comments

  2. Holy Shit! That’s the best idea I’ve ever heard!

    Unfortunately, logistics would be more difficult in the US than the UK. The way I understand it, they film each episode for 2 days, then everyone goes home and comes back for another 2 days of filming at a later date. This setup probably keeps everyone much saner than filming all the episodes at once. But since the US is so much bigger than the UK, it would be more difficult to work that out.

    Maybe there could be an East Coast version and a West Coast version?

    • I was wondering / thinking it would have to be LA, Chicago or NY based to work. And, unless they are majorly bankrolled, no one is putting contestants up in a hotel. It also struck me that the US version would be sponsored by McCall, Butterick and Vogue meaning only their patterns, one fabric store and sewing machine partners. The UK version is refreshingly non commercial.

    • Perhaps they could do it regionally, I’m sure in my city, Minneapolis, there are 8 qualified contestants, and the same is true for most cities.

      I would love to see the show here! I wonder if it would be too expensive to produce here, there was a lot of preparation for the series, and reality shows are popular here because they are cheap to produce.

      • I love the regional idea! That would also solve the problem of having to put everyone up in a hotel.

        I was also struck with the non-commercial vibe of the UK show. I like how they shop in the “sewing room haberdashery”.

  3. I LOVE this idea. You would be wonderful. And I love this show. Thanks for posting the links each week. Each of the contestants are so likable and dear. All the time limits give me the hives though.

  4. I will join you in your whisper campaign. Can you talk to PBS? I agree with your choice of hostess and judges. Maybe someone over here is taking notes on the huge success in GB.

  5. How about something regionally based, starting with the mid-East Coast? Since Charm City Cakes isn’t on the tube anymore there is a great shortage of Baltimore based TV, and you could certainly attract contestants from DC, Richmond, Philadelphia……

    • That, I don’t know. I would take a nice British man from Saville Row. Or, maybe one of the traveling Hong Kong Tailor types.

      • Kenneth King? Not specifically a traditional, Saville Row-type tailor, but a high profile male in the field.

  7. Umm yes! You totally get my vote… as long as I get to compete 🙂 I’m still butthurt that I didn’t get to meet you while I was in NY! 🙂

  8. I think this is a fantastic idea. I was thinking the same thing the other night and began developing a list of possible “contestants”. You, Mimi, Trena, Lori, Cenneta, Carolyn, Ann, Toy, Oona… there were so many that I thought this show would be more than four episodes. Please keep us posted. And let us know what can be done to help.

  9. It would certainly be fun to have one here. It is not only refreshingly non commercial, but it’s delightfully non snarky. Thanks for posting the first one, I just watched the second one yesterday really love it.

    • The non-snarky is what I love so much too. Sadly, I’m not sure an American version would be capable of leaving out snarky, thinking it’s necessary to create drama.

  10. I think you’d have to go regional. US geography is just so much … more … than in the UK. That would be a boon for show pitchers, as it would automatically generate more than one season’s worth of ideas. Fashion sensibilities are so very different in different regions, also availability of supplies, and strength of a home-sewing local culture. I’d watch it, and patronize the advertisers.

  11. Forget “whisper” campaign! It should be a SHOUT campaign!
    Love it! And that says a lot, coming from a household without a TV (but high speed internet!)

  12. Great idea!!!! Love it. Let’s get this to be a reality. Loved your naturally tan comment. Will you be wearing bangs that cover your eyes too?

  14. The distance from London to Inverness (which is the farthest northern city in Scotland that I know of (besides going out to the islands) is 557 miles. That’s like driving from New York City to North Carolina.

  15. I think it would be fun to have one in the US, even though I know that I don’t live anywhere close to where I could actually attempt to enter (should I be able to muster the courage). 😦 They’d probably just ruin it if the did bring it to the US though–they’d turn it into some sort of catty, ad bloated mess. Wow, I’m so negative today! 😳

    I do think you’d make a fantastic hostess, and your choices for judges would probably be great too! 🙂 Though perhaps for the male counterpart we could just get Mr. Grant to come over here? You know, for some sort of…uh…continuity, yeah, that’s it. 😉

  17. I like the regional idea. And then the winners from each region could compete for the national grand championship!

  20. What I like about the UK show is that judges are really well qualified. They are not self-taught but have proper professional training. Patrick is a real life tailor and May Martin has been teaching for forty years or so. There are actual recognized qualifications in dressmaking and tailoring and it’s good that the judges have them. It means a skill set is not being lost. As soon as the judging gets delegated to amateurs, no matter how skilled, it becomes about style not skill. What I liked about the second episode was that Patrick really insisted that the winner should be the person who sews the best, all other consderations (style, ideas, speed of improvement, etc) out the window. That’s best, otherwise we may as well just rank the contestants according to how TV-friendly they are and know that the most telegenic will win – nothing to contribute to sewing, though.

  21. You have my vote. I also vote for Anne and Gigi(of Gigi Sews – I miss her posts)

  22. You’re leaning in, girl. I hope this idea becomes a reality. You would be perfect as the host.

  23. You know if you could contact them about doing a US version that might help keep the “refreshingly non-commercial” aspect of the series, and if nothing else could give you ideas on how they funded it or sold it to get the funding. I would adore seeing this as it brings a whole new feeling and look to sewing.

  24. Thank you for bringing this show to our attention. It’s quite enjoyable- especially without all the backbiting, etc. that goes on in some of our reality shows. I’m sure someone else is scouting out the possibility of a US version, so, Lean In Hard!

  26. Yes, I second that emotion. You’d make a great host or contestant. I did a humongous post on my thoughts about this show, my longest post ever, I think! I really would like to see more sewing programs, even if we have to watch them on YouTube. But I would prefer that the projects and participants last through the entire length of the broadcast, like the Signe Chanel documentary, not rely on eliminations for pseudo-excitement.
    XX

  27. Assspsppspppssss…that’s me joining the whisper campaign. I have turned the fashion teacher at my school onto the show and her students are loving it (thanks, as you showed it to me). Once you do it stateside for a number of years you know us Canadians will finally decide to do it too. What a fun hour of ‘telly’.

  28. I would love to see an American version, even as I wonder how it would actually succeed in practice. After watching Project Runway for years, it was rather shocking to me to see people walking calmly around the sewing room, talking quietly, and above all, being *nice* to each other. I’m honestly not sure that we could pull it off on this side of the pond, since there wasn’t really all that much drama compared to what I’m used to seeing in my admittedly very limited reality tv viewing.

  29. Hey Cidell, thanks for posting these videos. Might I once again mention “The House of Eliott” also a BBC series.

  30. Thanks so much for posting this. I enjoyed the fact the contestants were not rude and talking behind each others’ backs. Even if we had a show sponsored by one pattern company, it the theme was in the spirit of loving to sew, it would still be good. I live in Alaska and we have very little choice in fabric and patterns. No one even carries Vogue anymore. II wish I could afford to go Outside for a shopping trip to Seattle and stock up.

    Gloria

  31. Thank you so much for sharing these GB Sewing Bee episodes! I love them & I love that my husband watches them with me 🙂 Looking forward to episode 3

  33. I have fallen in love with GB Sewing Bee. It is so entertaining, and Miss Ann too Cute. Keep them coming.

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