The Repair Shop fan-favourite Amanda Middleditch has opened up about her career beginnings and how one family member, in particular, helped shaped the path she embarked on to land in the barn.
Speaking ahead of the latest series launch on the BBC, the soft toy restorer revealed her passion for the items spans decades back to when she was a child.
“I have had a lifelong love of teddy bears. It began as a childhood interest and I was absolutely spoiled,” Middleditch began to the BBC when asked about her background.
The Repair Shop star delved further: “I had so many teddies and I adored every single one of them. I think it carried on into my adult life as I started to collect more specific things.
“I became more choosy about what I bought and then decided I would like to make them and it developed from there.”
Reflecting on the family member who helped turn her love of teddies into a fully-fledged career, Middleditch went on: “I had sewing skills from my grandma, she taught me to embroider and to darn.
Amanda Middleditch and Julie Tatchell form the Teddy Bear Ladies on the Repair Shop
BBC
“At the time I thought it was a bit of a chore but now I look back on that so fondly.
“She gave me those basic skills that I’ve been able to transfer now into what is my job which is totally wonderful.”
After meeting Tatchell, Middleditch says her career “all kicked off from there” with the pair “hitting it off” straight away.
The Teddy Bear Ladies have faced their fair share of tricky restorations since stepping foot in the barn alongside the likes of Jay Blades and co.
Amanda Middleditch and Julie Tatchell have starred alongside Jay Blades since the beginning of The Repair Shop
BBC
And they continue to lend a helping hand to this day, although it was fellow crafts experts Dominic Chinea and Pete Woods who stole the show with an emotional gesture in the programme’s latest episode.
Woods and Chinea welcomed a guest into the barn who wanted her late father’s bagpipes restored to their former glory.
In usual fashion, the instrument couldn’t be played an no sound would come out, with the guest even admitting she never got to hear her dad play the pipes.
He’d given up playing in a piper band when his children were born and as a result, his daughter never got the chance to hear their tune.
Woods got to work restoring the instrument but teased midway through that he and Chinea had a treat for the unsuspecting guest.
When the tearful owner of the pipes returned to pick up the bagpipes, she was blown away when the Repair Shop stars revealed they’d brought someone in to play them for her.
Julie Tatchell (left) and Amanda Middleditch (right)
Thinking of her father, the guest asked if her father’s favourite tune and song he wanted played at his funeral could be played.
The piper did just that and both the guest, several experts and BBC viewers at home were left “sobbing” by the scenes.
