The next few days for Sumaya Mitchell, a Hanover Park seamstress, will be hectic as she rushes to finish mostly Eid clothing ahead of the special holy day marking the conclusion of the month of Ramadaan.
When you move aside the curtain at the kitchen and lounge of her home on Orchid Street, Hanover Park, a small workstation is exposed, holding three medium-sized tables and a string of sewing machines, where most of her time is spent completing orders.
At the age of just 15, Mitchell made the decision to leave school and start working, in spite of her parents’ very obvious dismay. She has been a seamstress ever since, she says proudly.
“I worked for three months as a runner, and then after that they put me on the machine, and since that time, I’m a machinist, a seamstress.”
Over 10 years ago, she decided to purchase her own machines and now has six. She makes the clothing from home.
“I decided that as my children were growing up, I’d stay at home and work from home.
“I started with underwear. After that, I decided I’m going to make clothing.
“First, my own style, then after that, people came to me, asking can’t I make this, can I make that, so I just continued.”
Mitchell returned to the factory floor, but would also return to working from home, and this would continue for some time.
She often picked up new skills while at a new workplace.
When operating from her home, she’d inform her neighbours, and soon word spread.
Her hands were kept busy complying with people’s requests.
“On Eid, sometimes I’ll make out of my own styles and that. But sometimes people come with their own styles.”
She also makes bulk clothing for others to sell, particularly now with Eid approaching.
When asked what she enjoys most about her work, she say: “Making the clothes and seeing people look nice in them makes me feel ‘kwaai’ (great).”
The mother of four, who is also a grandmother, says she had not yet chosen a name for her business, but she is “mulling over some ideas” and hopes to see the business become more formalised.
“I’d like to go big, but with time,” she adds.
When orders are many and the space is too confined, she moves the machines to the lounge.
She is currently working on expanding a space on the property to function as a much larger workstation to “complete work on larger orders with ease”.
Despite there being around “three dressmakers or more” that she’s aware of in the community, they don’t affect one another’s business, she said.
“Nobody is affecting anyone. Everyone is doing their own thing. We all do our own thing just to keep us busy and financially good.”
Due to some health issues, including diabetes, high blood pressure, fibromyalgia, and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), Mitchell gets tired quickly, but she takes it in her stride, she says.
“For me to sit the whole day at the machine isn’t a problem. I will sit the whole day here. But for me to do the cutting and then the sewing, it’s tiring.
“But, like I said, I enjoy myself doing this. I’m going to do it until I can’t anymore.”
shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za