Stitched With Love: How Mothers Shape the Sewing Bee

 

Sewing is rarely just about fabric and thread. For many of us, it is about memories stitched into garments, lessons passed down at kitchen tables, and encouragement that comes from watching someone we love make something with their own hands. 

Across Seasons 6 to 10 of The Great British Sewing Bee, contestants revealed again and again that behind every sewer stands a mother, grandmother, or maternal figure whose influence shaped their journey. The stories they told while snipping seams and racing the clock remind us that the show is not only a competition, but also a celebration of love and legacy.

For many, mothers were their first teachers. In Season 7, Adeena described how her sewing was guided by her mum’s advice, even long after she had left home: “I looked at my mum’s photo, and I said, ‘Mummy G, what would you do?’ And she told me” (Season 7). That instinctive turn to her mother’s wisdom in the middle of a stressful challenge showed how those early lessons remained alive. Sewing wasn’t just a technical skill to Adeena, it was an ongoing conversation with her mum. 

Annie in Season 8 offered a similar story, but one rooted in cultural heritage. She explained that her grandmother had taught her to sew with bold Ghanaian prints and that her choice of fabric in the competition was a tribute: “She taught me to sew, so for my first challenge, I wanted to do something that represented her” (Season 8). For Annie, every stitch was a way of keeping her grandmother’s influence visible.

Sometimes, it is motherhood itself that brings sewers back to the machine. 

Hazel in Season 6 described how she rediscovered sewing after her son was born: “I did feel like I’d lost my identity. I didn’t really know who Hazel was. And sewing, it gives me a sense of something that is for me” (Season 6). Her words resonated deeply, not just with viewers who sew, but with anyone who has wrestled with balancing motherhood and selfhood. For Hazel, sewing became a way to carve out space for herself while still being a devoted mum. That dual identity — creative individual and caring parent — was stitched into every garment she made.

Mothers also featured as muses and cheerleaders for the contestants. 

Rebecca, the youngest sewer in Season 7, proudly admitted that her mum was her best friend: “I would make this dress normally for my mum. My mum is like my best friend in the world. She’s just the most caring, lovely person ever” (Season 7). Her work in the sewing room wasn’t just about impressing the judges, it was an act of devotion, a chance to create something beautiful for the person she admired most. In contrast, Therese in Season 6 offered a playful story about her daughters’ critique of her bold taste: “My daughters once said to me, ‘Mum, you dress like a sofa and you talk like the Queen’” (Season 6). While humorous, it showed how style, passed from mother to children, becomes a talking point within families, shaping how creativity is expressed and received across generations.

Practical lessons learned from mothers were also vital. 

Farie in Season 7 explained that in her African household, sewing was less about fashion and more about necessity: making do, repairing, and stretching resources. Though she initially wanted to study fashion, her path was redirected, yet she carried her mother’s lessons of resilience and frugality into the sewing room. Those skills came to the fore in challenges such as “reduce, reuse, recycle,” where transforming scraps into striking outfits echoed the maternal lessons of creativity born out of necessity. Similarly, Comfort in Season 10, herself a mother, spoke about balancing beauty and function: “My style, it’s beautiful, but it really has to work. And I think this is where the architect in me comes in” (Season 10). Sewing for her children meant garments had to withstand daily life as well as look stylish — a philosophy rooted firmly in the demands of motherhood.

The influence of mothers was not only technical but also emotional. 

In Season 6, Angillia found calm in the middle of the chaos by focusing on her family: “When I am in need of a little perk, I look across at that picture” (Season 6). That small reminder of loved ones kept her grounded while the clock ticked down. Similarly, for many contestants, memories of mothers offered reassurance in the high-stakes environment. The hum of the machine often became a way to reconnect with family and to feel supported even when physically apart.

What becomes clear across Seasons 6 to 10 is that maternal influence isn’t just about teaching how to sew a hem or thread a needle. It is about instilling resilience, creativity, and care. The contestants’ stories reveal that every garment carries invisible stitches: the dresses patched by mothers to last another year, the costumes sewn late at night for school plays, the aprons and quilts handed down with love. These unseen garments form the foundation on which Sewing Bee contestants build their own creations.

In the end, The Great British Sewing Bee is about more than who wins garment of the week or who makes it to the final. It is about the stories we tell with fabric, and those stories often begin with mothers. Whether it is Hazel reclaiming her identity after becoming a mum, Adeena consulting “Mummy G,” Annie honouring her grandmother, Rebecca sewing for her best-friend mum, or Comfort balancing beauty and practicality for her children, the influence of mothers is woven deeply into the Bee. 

Every pleat and dart whispers of a lesson learned at home, every hem carries a memory, and every stitch is stitched with love.