Series 5 Episode 5 of the Great British Sewing Bee is tonight(12th March 2019) at 9PM BBC2.

Read the press release below.

The fashion industry is the biggest polluter of our planet next to oil, so for the first time on The Great British Sewing Bee, it is Reduce, Reuse and Recycle Week, with all the fabric in the haberdashery replaced with charity shop clothes and soft-furnishings.

To breathe new life into this old fabric, host Joe Lycett kicks the six remaining home sewers off with a pattern for a pussy-bow blouse, which must be pieced together from four second-hand garments. This time, judges Patrick Grant and Esme Young are not only looking for precision sewing, but also the ability to design and create garments using attractive colour combinations.

In a twist to the usual transformation challenge, the sewers are faced with all the scraps and off-cuts collected throughout their journey on the Sewing Bee so far. Together, they collectively pool their leftover fabric to create stunning and inventive new patchwork garments.

Finally the sewers come armed with discarded curtains and soft furnishings from home, challenged to create a made to a measure day dress, perfectly fitted to their model. Julie Andrews hasn’t got a patch on this bunch as they set to work on their brocade, net curtains and blinds, before one person is awarded Garment of the Week and the fifth sewer is asked to leave the Sewing Bee.