Sewing machines run feverishly in a workshop located on Sydney Road in Coburg, Melbourne. Women are hemming trousers, ironing pillows and fine embroidery is meticulously applied to various fabrics.
Sevinc, Teresa, Halima and Jasmine leave aside their work and gather around the table to have their lunch. Contrary to what seems to be a textile factory, they are not simply textile workers. This is Second Stitch, a refugee- and asylum seeker-run textile enterprise.
Its fully equipped studio provides employment opportunities for some of the most disadvantaged members of the community. Often these are people who came to Australia with textile and clothes production skills yet face a variety of barriers in finding employment.
Sevinç has been living in Melbourne for more than 30 years. After year spent raising her five children, the Turkish-Australian woman says she finally has a chance to do something for herself here.
“I've always loved sewing, but I never had time to attend a school,” Sevinç tells SBS Turkish. “When my youngest child started secondary school, I was able to make a new start.”
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Women like Sevinç from countries as diverse as Somalia and Eritrea, Syria and Turkey, all work in the same studio which operates as part of VICSEG New Futures. The not-for-profit community organisation provides support and training to newly-arrived and recently-settled migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees.
Caspar Zika, Assistant General Manager of New Futures, says the program currently has about 45 people all studying to achieve a Certificate III in Clothing and Textile Production with another 45 commencing the program this month. He points out that the program is not exclusively for refugee women.
“Our wider organisation [VICSEG New Futures] has been engaging with newly-arrived and recently-settled families for over 35 years. Refugee women make up a majority of our cohort.”
Sevinç, who started the program in May 2018, says that she has learned many new sewing techniques during this period.
“For example, I’ve learned to sew a collar, and I can sew many trendy clothes for my daughters. Because we wear veils, my daughters and I have trouble finding suitable clothes for ourselves. Now, I can sew trendy clothes myself.”
Sevinç says two of her friends at the course fled civil war in Sri Lanka and arrived in Australia seeking asylum by boat.
Source: New Futures/Urban Photography
“They left their homeland because of the war,” she says. “Now they are learning to sew to be able to enter the workforce. Some women already knew sewing before they came here. Second Stitch provides them an opportunity to work and earn some money.”
Sevinç plans to work as an instructor after her graduation instead of working in the textile sector.
Alongside the formal training component of the program, participants receive specialised mentoring from industry professionals, learn specific business development skills and customer service training.
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Caspar Zika says they have plans to provide some micro-business training for those who wish to establish their own businesses. The group is also in the process of setting up an online shop where students can sell their products.
Second Stitch is not only a skills workshop; it’s open to everyone who likes to sew. There are 50 women using the studio for informal learning.
A sewing program called ‘Open Seam Project’ runs weekly and provides studio access to community members. The studio also provides a clothing alteration service to community.
