Tesfay - The Sewing Machine Treasure

This machine is called ‘Brother’. This machine is for my life, for my favourite work. I started sewing eight years ago, when I was 20. Now I am 28. My father is a tailor in Eritrea and I followed his work. He taught me to sew and I started doing it voluntary, to help him. Later I made my own business as a tailor. When I came to UK, I was looking for tailor course but it was difficult for me because I have no paper. My friend helped me to find work in a tailor shop. I liked the work very much but the shop was too noisy. My other friend is a barber, he said I can work in the small room behind his shop. My friends helped me by giving this machine to me. Now I do all my work in this room, on my machine. I specialise in ladies’ clothes. My favourite dresses to make are traditional Eritrean dresses. Now I make clothes for ladies in UK. I make African dresses but in a different style. I work quickly, it takes me maybe 2-3 hours to make one dress. But I need to learn new styles. When I get my paper, I want to take a course in tailoring, so I can learn more and more designs.

*name has been changed to protect identity