A WARRINGTON-based tailoring service is using BBC's The Great British Sewing Bee to encourage people to learn how to sew.

The Zip Yard in Sankey Street hopes that the sewing programme will help raise awareness of sewing and tailoring as a career, addressing the skills shortage that exists in the UK.

According to a recent survey conducted by the British Heart Foundation, about six in ten, or 57 per cent, of people said that sewing is a skill that is being lost in today’s generation, with half of people having to ask their mothers to help fix their clothes.

Jackie Newton, director of the Zip Yard Warrington, said: "We often have to recruit seamstresses from Europe because we are unable to find anyone who has been professionally trained.

"There are a lot of what I would call home sewers out there but few with the professional training and experience we require, to produce the quality of work our customers expect.

"I hope shows like the Sewing Bee continue to change the public’s opinion of what sewing is and who does it.

"It inspires people to give sewing a try, and that gives me hope that young people may consider training for a career in tailoring or at least see the potential in what can achieved with a needle and thread."

Dress making is no longer taught in schools and few people have the skill or time to do their own repairs or alterations.

Business is booming at the Zip Yard across the UK which employs over 60 seamstresses and has more than 200,000 customers.

Jackie added: "Thrifty is fashionable once more!

"Not only does making good and mending fulfil us creatively, it's also economically, socially and environmentally beneficial.

"Here at the Zip Yard, we’ve given hundreds of old garments new leases of life and it’s even common practice for us to make outfits completely from scratch like ball gowns and fancy dress costumes.

"We’re extremely proud and lucky to have our talented staff who do such an amazing job – they really can do anything."