Qantas flight attendant Sara Ambrecht was at a company event a few years ago where she spotted a doll in the airline uniform designed by Australian fashion designer Martin Grant.
“At the event, I saw this person holding a doll in the uniform designed by Martin Grant. I wanted to buy the doll but I couldn’t. So I thought maybe I can make it by myself," Ms Ambrecht said.
But the Japanese migrant didn't have any experience in stitching clothes and neither did she know where to start and what to buy to make a miniature Martin Grant uniform.
“I had to take multiple trips to the craft shop to get items as I needed. Pretty much trial and error," she said.
"While you’re working on something and then realise you need to get something else. One time, I need to buy some pink thread and go to the shop and the other time, I need to get some red thread, things like that."
It took about a week for Sara to complete a miniature Martin Grant uniform, her first one.
Sara Armbrecht, a Japanese long haul flight attendant for Qantas, holds two dolls from her collection Source: Qantas Founders Museum
“I hand-sewed the uniform as it is too tiny for a sewing machine," she said.
Making it as real as possible
After receiving thumbs-up from her son and friends, She decided to keep making Qantas uniforms to create her own collection, Qantas History Series, which is now displayed in the airline's museum.
“I sometimes use glue for the areas I can’t sew. I even used staplers in the early days. So please do not look at my collection up close,” she chuckled.
As she has become more experienced, she's taking far less time to make a set of miniature uniforms.
“Given there is no disruption and I can focus, I can make a miniature uniform in four to five hours now.”
She makes sure that the miniature uniforms are according to the company’s standards, such as proper hairstyle and shoes.
Ms Ambrecht also makes miniature in-flight meals that look exactly like the meals served on a flight, except for the size.
The accidental historian
While working on this project, Ms Ambrecht unknowingly began to rediscover the history of Qantas.
Even though she originally meant to gather information to make past uniforms as real as possible, she said she began enjoying the conversation with colleagues, past and present.
“I ask them many questions. Once I found some inconsistencies in uniforms as some people were wearing white belts and others navy ones. Some wore red jackets and others wore green jackets. The colors of stockings varied too. So I asked them about it. But they did’t remember, or they remembered it differently," she said.
Documenting current times as part of its history
Ms Ambrecht came to Australia as a working holidaymaker. When she decided to stay and was looking for a job, her husband sent a job application to Qantas for her without her knowing about it.
“Maybe he (her husband) didn’t want me to stay home”, she laughed. She was hired in the position of a long-haul flight attendant and has been with Qantas for 26 years now.
Her collection Qantas History Series is now on display at the Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach, Queensland. The museum is closed at the moment due to the coronavirus outbreak but the exhibition is planned to be held till the end of the year.
As the history collection is drawing close to the end, she started to document the current times with her dolls and hand-made props.
For those interested in making their own miniature collection, she has some advice.
"Don't use a home printer to print patterns on fabric. It will cause a messy jam."
After some trial and error, she ended up buying pens with a fine point and drew the patterns on the fabric.
“I’m really enjoying this. What I’d like to see is that those dolls bringing a smile to people’s faces. Especially if I can impress my colleagues and people in the industry and make them smile, that would be fantastic.”
