Centre for Enterprise’s Deborah Simms stars on Great British Sewing Bee

Our very own Support Officer is showing her sewing skills on the BBC Two series.

 

Deborah is one of the 10 contestants on the popular BBC 2 programme, tackling a series of demanding challenges to test a variety of her sewing skills. She has to remain tight-lipped about how she fares in the popular show, which attracts three million viewers each week, but battled into the next round as seen on last night’s second episode. Deborah is based in the Business School as a Support Officer for Projects and Bids in the Centre for Enterprise having previously spent two years in the Gateway Team, also in the Business School.

She said: “I loved every moment of it, it was so much fun and my colleagues and friends at the University have been so supportive all the way through. “It was actually filmed last year in London and I had to travel down to it, so it’s been a bit of a lull until the programme started last week - now all the excitement has started up again. “I started sewing my with mum and grandmother when I was younger, but only on small craft projects. It wasn’t until I was older that I became interested in making my own clothes. I watched the programme last year and thought I’d give it a go, after being encouraged to send the application form off by my family.”

 
Deborah can’t reveal where she came or who wins until the series has finished, but she can keep herself busy with the clothes she loves to make at home – she made her own wedding dress – or the growing sewing requests from colleagues. Each week, the sewers take on the three different challenges set by Savile Row’s Patrick Grant and the Women’s Institute’s May Martin. Challenges in the first episode involved repurposing denim, making cotton trousers and sewing a summer dress. One contestant leaves each week until a winner is announced in the final episode.

 
The show airs at 8pm on BBC2 on Thursdays or you can catch up on iPlayer.