BEHIND THE SEAMS
The QUEEN BEE
We hear from Asmaa, this year’s winner of The Great British Sewing Bee
Read Patrick and Esme’s interviews over on CraftWorld! www.craftworld.com
Why did you want to be a Great British Sewing Bee and who did you want to most impress of the judges? When the sewing got tough, was Sara a welcome ally?
I have always been a huge fan of the Sewing Bee and have watched it religiously over the last eight years. Being an actual Bee was a dream come true. What really pushed me in the end to apply were the comments I had from friends at work who kept saying "you should go on the Sewing Bee"!
I really wanted to impress both Patrick and Esme with my makes equally. There were times when the going got tough and Sara was the perfect person to make us laugh, relax and encourage us to keep going.
Describe your experience on first walking into the sewing room, and which challenge were you fearing the most the first week – pattern challenge, transformation challenge, or made-to-measure challenge?
I have faced many challenges in my life, but I can honestly say that the first morning of filming was probably the most nervous I had ever been. I was ready to get back in my car and drive home – I’m so glad I didn’t! Clutching my sewing box nervously and walking into that sewing room for the first time was the most surreal experience. I wanted to keep pinching myself to make sure it was real and, when Sara and the judges walked in for the first time, I kept thinking "I can’t believe this is real". For me, the transformation challenge was the main one I feared, mainly because I wasn’t sure I would be able to channel my creativity in such a short period of time.