The Great British Sewing Bee: Peterborough contestant inspired by nan to dive into fashion

Tailoress nan inspired move to apply for primetime BBC One show
Carly Roberts
By Carly Roberts
Published 1st Jun 2023, 14:55 BST
Updated 1st Jun 2023, 15:04 BST
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A Peterborough contestant was inspired to apply to The Great British Sewing Bee because of his nan.

Dancer, Matthew, lives at home in Peterborough with his family – and was taught to sew by his nan as a youngster.

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He still feels connected to her when he sews and keeps her tailoring certificate above his sewing space.

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The Great British Sewing Bee contestant, Matthew, from Peterborough (Credit: BBC/Love Productions/James Stack).The Great British Sewing Bee contestant, Matthew, from Peterborough (Credit: BBC/Love Productions/James Stack).
The Great British Sewing Bee contestant, Matthew, from Peterborough (Credit: BBC/Love Productions/James Stack).

Matthew trained to be a dancer and spent five years at sea as a deputy cruise director before he performed at the opening ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympics, UEFA Champions League Final and the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Pageant.

But he always saw a another vision for himself: fashion.

He applied for The Great British Sewing Bee – a show where amateur sewers compete to impress judges Patrick Grant and Esme Young – and hope to be crowned Britain’s most sensational seamster.

He said: “I wanted to be on Sewing Bee to prove to myself that I can do things. I want to get into fashion and costume design and getting on the show was all about giving myself the permission to make this move.”

Matthew said his style is 'statement (image: BBC/Love Productions).Matthew said his style is 'statement (image: BBC/Love Productions).
Matthew said his style is 'statement (image: BBC/Love Productions).

Matthew first started sewing as a youngster.

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He added: "Nan taught me the basics. I love sewing because I feel a connection to my nan. It also lets me explore my creativity.

"There are no rules in fashion and sewing and I love pushing the boundaries of what and who should wear garments.

"I enjoy making anything with flow or structure, a lot of the things I design and make for myself include some sort of harness inspired element, so I suppose that could be my specialty.

"When my nan died a lot of her sewing things were passed onto me. I have her tailoress diploma on the wall and sew in front of that most of the time.”

Matthew says his style is “usually a statement.”

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"I want my clothes to say something about me or how I’m feeling, it should be an event. I make a lot of my clothes for going to events or going out and have started making my ‘everyday’ wear too, which is still flamboyant.”

The Great British Sewing Bee is on BBC 1, at 9pm, on Wednesdays or stream the show on iPlayer.

Related topics:PeterboroughBBC OneQueenBritain