A thousand things can be brought to my life just by stitching two pieces of fabric together.

I always admire my mum’s priceless skill which is sewing. This skill is passed on through the generations, however, during my generation, I’m kind of despise it and never wanted to learn from my mum as I think it is useless for me to have this sewing skill. If I want a cloth, then I will pay money to buy. This is what I think but I’m sure my thinking is definitely wrong.

During her teenager times, my mum forced to drop out the school and learn some skills to survive. Learning from my grandmother is not enough to open a small sewing business, so she found some tailor and let him to teach her on how to sew and slowly gain the skill. By that time, she was 16 years old.

When she was 22 years old, she met my dad and they married at her ages of 25. By that time, she successfully opened a small sewing business at their new home. Her job scope can go for normal kindergarten uniform until nurse uniform, all tailored by her. She even developed some priceless skill by herself which is trimmed the pearls and sequins on the cheong sam. My mum used to make a lot of frocks for me and my sisters. I wore homemade dresses right until I was in Standard Six.

Her business became better and she even open a fashion clothes shop just to sell her handmade clothes. However, due to her health problem, she decided to take a hiatus and rest for a while. Sometimes, she still makes clothes for us. I proudly say that all my presentation uniform start from shirt to dress is tailored by my mum, and you can never buy the same quality and style from other places.

Nowadays, she starts to make some children’s clothes for her granddaughter as children ‘clothes are getting pricier these days, she adds. “But the real reason why I make clothes for baby Eleanor (my niece) is because it’s fun, and not to save cost.”

For my mum, she spends her whole life on sewing clothes. I once asked her, do you regret to drop out from school? She smiled and told me: Never. A thousand things can be brought to my life just by stitching two pieces of fabric together. Watching their smiles, satisfied with the product and I’m really appreciate that I chose this career.
Indeed. She is really the best mum in the world.