Semi-finalist speaks about their time on BBC show The Great British Sewing Bee

Sewing enthusiast Kit Giroux, who reached the semi-final of The Great British Sewing Bee, made a vow only to buy second-hand or create all their own clothes for an entire year before appearing on the show.

The 25-year-old digital marketer lives in Manchester and has been sewing from a young age.

“Sewing’s always been a hobby of mine, just a side little hobby. I used to make these sock friends when I was younger,” they said.

Kit made their sewing promise after moving to Manchester, saying: “I made a kind of pact with myself: for a year not buy any clothing that wasn’t either second-hand vintage, or anything that I’d made myself.”

“It’s like anti fast fashion, right?”

Kit said of the show: “I don’t feel like I represented Manchester (on the show), because I don’t think any one person can represent Manchester. What I felt is I just represented me and how Manchester’s affected me and my style.”

They started by winning the show’s opening challenge which they described as “an amazing feeling – it healed a bit of my inner child who watched that show”.

Success continued with a couple of ‘Garment of the Week’ wins throughout their stint in the sewing room.

“It was weird winning garment of the week because I wasn’t actually expecting to win,” they added.

Their winning paper dress from art-week remains a highlight for Kit.

“I know this is going to be a hit, but I don’t know if it’s going to be THE hit. It just, it meant the world because I poured so much into that dress.

“I’ve got it right here actually, if you do want to see it,” Kit said. “I’ve got all the garments, I’ve got all of them. Even got my poxy little handbag that says fast fashion on it!”

When asked about the audience reaction to their work, Kit said: “It was a bit tough because I think that any queer person on telly, there will always be a negative reaction from different groups of people.

“My general thought is, if they were mean, I can block them and then they don’t get the pleasure of seeing stuff that I create after.”

After a whirlwind couple of weeks filming the show, Kit decided to slow things down.

“Now what I really enjoy when I’m sewing is if there’s an opportunity to do something by hand, rather than using a sewing machine, I will take that.

“The thing people love about crafting is using their hands and creating something with that. Sometimes I think we forget that, and I forgot that.”

Self-expression remains at the heart of Kit’s work.

They said: “I would 100% say that it’s important to express yourself through your work because it’s not just expressing yourself, but it’s also testing things as well.”

Creating unique pieces is something they continue to do, and urge others to do as well.

They said: “Why not? If you’re testing something out and you’re trying yourself, why not try something weird and a bit more unique than something you can just buy on the rack?”