For The Love Of Needles..

I grew up in a home where everyone acquired a skill. My siblings all have a skill, and my mom kept emphasizing the need for each one of us to have a skill in case there's job scarcity or we are in a remote area. "None of my children will suffer," that's her regular phrase, and thankfully I had the freedom to choose which skill I would love to acquire for myself as well.

From childhood, I had a passion for needles, not as a medical practitioner nor as a hairdresser but as a fashion designer.

I remember how I woke up one morning when I was still in high school and used one of my mom's wrappers to hand-make myself a complete dress. That was when it dawned on me and my entire family that I would love to acquire fashion design skills.

My parents didn't hesitate to get me a sewing machine. The machine I am using today was bought over two decades ago, which is a plus for me because it was original, and it's hard to find such a kind of sewing machine with strong parts out there on the market today.

After high school, I went for my higher education, and then my journey to acquire my fashion design skills began shortly after.

I had the best boss anyone could ever ask for, as she was so patient with me, creative, and resourceful that before a year I could sew different and difficult styles, even though I had signed up for three years.

On the other hand, I remained loyal until my apprenticeship was completed, and then my journey to explore the fashion world began.

I've made various kinds of outfits like ballet skirts, wedding dresses, bridesmaids outfits, ready-to-wear outfits, bespoke wears and so many other kinds of outfits.

This fashion design has helped me in tremendous ways, especially thanks to my skill during the COVID-19 era when many were financially unstable. I was financially stable, as I made a lot of money from the sales of the face masks I made myself.

I sold it to offices, school students, market women, and anyone who needed it. People kept ordering from me until the pandemic subsided.

After the pandemic, I also made a lot of money making different styles for different clients at home and abroad, far and wide, I also made money through my hand-made brooches. My Instagram page and WhatsApp became mediums to advertise my handiwork, and to my greatest surprise, I gained a lot of clients online and even offline.

Through my fashion designing skills, I began to acquire other instruments that could enable my work to be more efficient, like mannequins, steaming irons, stoning machines, and gum machines, and I used the mannequin to showcase my work offline.

Am I Ready to Train Others to Acquire This Skill?

A big yes! It's no surprise that I have trained a few people online through video and other tutorial methods, and I have also trained some offline through physical explanation and step-by-step processes. I have learned that knowledge is power only when it is shared.

I love to teach and impart knowledge, so it's part of my lifestyle to share what I know or have acquired with anyone who chooses to learn, which is why I do share my step-by-step process of making an outfit with the needlework community and even beyond.

I hope to own a fashion school in the future so that I can help as many people as possible learn this skill. Fashion designing is a very lucrative skill; it helps you express your thoughts through your designs and brings out the creativity in you. The job that comes from cutting fabrics into different pieces and sewing them back together to make a very outstanding design is something I am thankful for. It brings some kind of joy to know people are wearing your design or brand. Aside from that, I can never be caught looking unfresh because looking good is my business.