- Author, Maisie Lillywhite
- Role, BBC News, West of England
A woman who decided to teach herself to restore sewing machines is now repairing them for women entrepreneurs in Africa.
Nikki Field from Wiltshire Hobby started in lockdown when she restored an old Singer treadle.
He now repairs at least one machine a week and works with Hampshire charity Tools For Self Reliance.
The charity sends sewing machines to women, often single mothers, in Malawi, Uganda and Zambia, where they are trained so they can start their own sewing businesses.
Speaking about turning her hobby into a charity project, Ms Field told the BBC: “They just have to take them apart completely and that can be a challenge with a machine like this that hasn’t been dismantled for maybe 50, 60 years.
“I go through a lot of WD40, I get blisters sometimes and then you also have to make sure everything goes back together without missing pieces.
“And if you’re afraid of spiders, don’t think about it because there’s almost always something hiding somewhere.”
Ms Field also repairs sewing machines for paying customers, donating the proceeds to Tools For Self Reliance to help cover shipping costs.
‘It really helped’
Nyimba Lumuno from Uganda said getting her own sewing machine “really helped” her financial situation.
“I was just at home with my kid and no money,” she said.
“After this training, it really helped me change the way I looked at my life and really helped me make my own money.”
Sarah Ingleby, CEO of Tools for Self Reliance, said the sewing machines the charity sends to African nations stay with women throughout their journey to start their own business.
“Obviously you can’t learn to be a tailor without a sewing machine, so the provision includes sending machines so they have machines for training,” Ms Ingleby said.
“When they finish their education and go back to their communities and start their own small businesses, they will take a sewing machine with them.
“They don’t wait to save up to buy a machine, the machine is there for them when it’s built and they can use it right away to earn a living.”