The Great British Sewing Bee 2026 winner revealed in season 12 finale

After 10 tough weeks, the winner of The Great British Sewing Bee has been revealed and crowned Britain’s best amateur sewer of 2026.

Throughout the series, 12 talented home sewers were tasked with creating beautiful garments under the watchful eyes of judges Esme Young and Patrick Grant – but only one could emerge triumphant.

In the grand finale, Emma, Beth and Anna went head-to-head in an incredibly close, nail biting episode, But it was 27-year-old Anna from North Yorkshire was crowned the winner who, across the competition, also won garment of the week three times!

Anna said: "Oh my god I can’t think of words to say that aren’t just screaming. If I could think of myself applying for the show, and then show myself now - oh my gosh I am going to cry. I never saw this coming and I have learned so much and met so many amazing people. It’s just so incredible!"

Anna grew up in Surrey, moving to Manchester for university where she met her boyfriend Sebastian at a gig. After graduating, they travelled around Europe before moving to North Yorkshire, where they now live on a narrowboat.

The barista originally got into sewing through repairing and altering second hand clothes in her efforts to be ethically and environmentally conscious. During lockdown, she started researching fashion history and recreating historical garments, including a Queen of Hearts costume which she is most proud of.

Esme commented: "From the very beginning I saw the creative spark and that is really important to me. What I always say is by making mistakes that is how you learn, so things you wouldn’t normally be comfortable doing, you just have to push."

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Meanwhile, Patrick added: "I am absolutely delighted for Anna. It has made me feel quite emotional weirdly. When extraordinary craftspeople make things with skill and imagination and extraordinary storytelling it affects you deeply. She’s got a really rare gift."

As for what's next for Anna, she'd love to move into costume design and it is her dream to work on a period drama film, so to show her design idea for a literary classic on TV "was a really special moment".

"Even though I didn’t have quite enough time to finish it to the standard I would have liked, I was still really proud of what I made," she said.

The Great British Sewing Bee is available to watch on catch-up on BBC iPlayer.

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Authors

Katelyn Mensah is the Senior Entertainment Writer for Radio Times, covering all major entertainment programmes, reality TV shows and the latest hard-hitting documentaries. She previously worked at The Tab, with a focus on reality TV and showbiz news and has obtained a BA (Hons) in Journalism.