Dressmaker Cora Edwards stitches together a life after COVID

Sitting around her sewing machine in a small workroom tucked on to her home in Lucky Valley, Clarendon, Cora Edwards flips through her record book, checking where she is with her back-to-school uniform orders.

It’s her most busy time of the year, and Edwards, the only dressmaker in the rural community, has devised a system to keep up.

“I begin my day at three [a.m.], and just work, work, work back until 10 [p.m.],” she said. “Like last week, it was very rough, mi not even can get up fi go eat.”

She works by herself. Last year, she had an apprentice assisting her with the job load, but she said the young girl has moved on to pursue higher studies.

Each day, she completes at least four sets of uniforms, ironing them as well for her eager clients who now have just a few days until school reopens.

“If you give me three suits, I give you two until September, you get the next one, and if you give me four I give you three so I always have balance until September,” Edwards said, sharing how she manages the process.

However, carefully sewing a pair of khaki pants, she noted that dressmaking is not always busy or profitable, as the industry continues to decline.

These days, she is not just competing with ready-made uniforms, but competition from e-commerce giants like Shein, which shifted customer demands.

“What I do get now, in between (the back-to-school season), is when they buy from Shein, they come to adjust,” she said.

COMPETITIVE PRICING

However, she said she stays competitive by offering her uniforms at a lower price than those in stores. She said that, on average, a ready-made school uniform can cost up to $6,000, while hers go for no more than $4,000.

“Mi nah pressure nobody. As long as mi can pay mi light bill and mi have sumn fi miself,” she stated.

Additionally, she said parents often come to adjust uniforms bought in stores, which also adds to her earnings. Over the more than 25 years that she has been in the industry, Edwards said she has also expanded her skills to include making of drapery, sheets and soft furnishings.

Her income is also bolstered by making uniforms for church, though those orders come less frequently.

It was her mother who gave Edwards her first sewing machine after she left high school, but Edwards was initially not interested.

“But I guess she had noticed that I used to make things with my hands, so she got somebody to teach me how to use the machine, then I went to dressmaking school,” she said.

She worked as a dressmaker part time for years, supplementing the income she earned from her employment as a security guard. However, after the COVID-19 pandemic five years ago, she was forced to make it her full-time job. It’s a decision she does not regret.

“I like to make something and watch you wear it, watch it fit yuh comfortably,” she said, an experience that mas-produced clothes do not give.

Expressing her sorrow at the decline in the industry, Edwards said it is due in part to the actions of some dressmakers who are often sluggish in delivering orders on time.

Nonetheless, she is still hopeful that more people will see it as a great way to supplement their income.

“You can make a life from it, you can survive from it, you would just have to find things to do in the slow period,” she said.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com