Behind the Seams: The perfect gift for fans of The Great British Sewing Bee

Product Information

After Swanky Modes closed in the early Nineties, Young transitioned into costume design. As well as Bridget Jones, she has made clothes for The Beach, 28 Days Later and Never Let Me Go. She now teaches at Central Saint Martins and works with one of her former students, the designer Ashish, on his collections. She was nearly 70 when she was approached to be a judge on the Sewing Bee.

She was “great fun but far from easy”, Esme writes in her memoir. Her mother ­suffered from postnatal depression and her five children lived with their aunties while she recovered. Young developed sewing and pattern cutting techniques for underwear and swimwear which commenced her to work on special projects for ‘ Triumph underwear’ and ‘L’Oreal’. Esme Young (born 19 February 1949) is an English fashion designer and television presenter. [2] [3] Since 2016, she has been a judge on the BBC reality series The Great British Sewing Bee. [4] Early life and education [ edit ] So why didn't I love the book more? I think it's primarily because it doesn't seem to have a purpose. It documents key times, and it documents the highlights of those, all the positive things for example, about four women working together, managing families and other commitments, doing it for the love of clothes and not for the money. It's not that I wanted scandal, I cannot imagine Esme is the type of person to dish the dirt, but it was all a bit nice. There wasn't any analysis - why did this work, why did this fail. There was little emotion - the struggles were glossed over, so we didn't get to see the pain, which made the triumphs less triumphant. And there wasn't a lot of context either, other than the lists of people she encountered. It must have been a tough and difficult time - she does admit to being scared - but this was a feel good book. She recently released her memoir, Behind the Seams: My Life in Creativity, Friendship and Adventure .

Covering her childhood, family life, career starts and many highs, friendships, teaching and ending up with her much loved time as a judge on The great British sewing bee (which is one of my favourite cosy shows). This was interesting, filled with heart and humour, and just also so inspiring reading of Esmes love for what she does and how she was fired up with that passion and self belief from the start.

She wouldn’t walk down the street with me when I was a teenager because of how I looked,” Esme says.

Hubby bought me Esme Young’s autobiography for my birthday as she always has such interesting snippets of stories dropped in the TV show (like sitting in a window with David Bowie) and I was keen to learn more about her career. As a teenager, I’d make outfits for nights out. To begin with, they were quite dreadfully made. The clothes were awfully finished, with no facings, but I felt very proud of them. My mother made things, too. In fact, I’ve still got her sewing machine. It’s one of those old ones – not with a treadle, but with a handle you turned.” Since 2016, Young has been a judge on The Great British Sewing Bee. [4] One of Young's most famous designs was the 'Amorphous Dress' worn by Linda Kozlowski in the 1986 movie Crocodile Dundee; a dress that is now in the V&A Collection. [15]