If you want to know more about the day-to-day life of a seamstress, Gaironessa gives us a sneak peek into her world.
She’s a seamstress working for a private designer in Salt River, Cape Town. She shared a little of her day-to-day work life with us, so we could learn more about her career in the textile industry.
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Gaironessa is a self-taught seamstress. She tells us: “I started working with machines and stitching garments when I was 15 years old.” To improve her sewing skills, Gaironessa would spend hours practicing on her sewing machine. “The very first garment I stitched was a jacket which took me two days to make.”
"I enjoy fixing people’s clothes
and making our customers feel good."
Forty-three years later, Gaironessa has become an expert seamstress. “Now I can complete a single garment in a day,” she said. Gaironessa can sew garments for any occasion including matric dances, bridal showers and retail clothing collections. She also stitches soft furnishings including cushions, bed covers, pillow cases and even umbrellas.
Seamstresses are responsible for stitching pieces of material together to make clothes and soft furnishings. In many cases, the work they do is carried out using standard sewing machines, but may also require the use of specialist computerised machinery. To be good at what they do, seamstresses need to have a thorough knowledge of sewing machine parts, and need to be able to identify the types of fabrics that require stitching by hand and those that can be stitched using a machine.
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Seamstresses can either work in a large factory where they may be responsible for one particular aspect of the sewing process, or if they are multi-skilled, they may choose to work in a smaller business, in which they may be responsible for making an entire garment.
We asked Gaironessa what she loves most about her job, and she shared this with us: “I enjoy fixing people’s clothes and making our customers feel good.” For instance, when a bridal party comes in for their fitting, Gaironessa with the help of her designer, will give the bridal party ideas on how they can improve their look, whether it is the bride who may perhaps need advice on adjusting her bust area, or the flower girl whose material may not be suitable for the type of design the bride wants.
Gaironessa shared some advice for those who want to get into a similar line of work. “One needs to be really good at sewing,” she said. Seamstresses also need to know all the tricks and techniques of altering garments. They must have good communication skills in order to be able to handle all types of customers, and pay close attention to detail.
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