Sewing success with a thread

A childhood love of sewing and dressmaking has inspired this young Durban mother to follow her design dreams. She spoke to Liz Clarke about what she has achieved so far

NAIMA Moerat has so many practical sewing ideas up her sleeve, for mothers and their families, that it’s difficult to keep up with her imagination and ingenuity.

From compact baby bags to pencil holders, from freshening up items that fit neat-as-a-pin behind the car visor to drawstring baby beds and clothes storage bags, the range is expanding almost daily.

Most mornings when her two little girls are at school and husband Rafiek at work, the 38-year-old mom is at her sewing machine surrounded by a rainbow of cotton thread and colourful fabrics.

“You can say that sewing and dressmaking are definitely in my blood,” she says.

“The whirr of the sewing machine is one of my earliest memories. I love the sound – and I love what it can do.”

Moerat was born in Surrey Estate, a suburb of Cape Town, and like many families where a single mother has to go to work, her great aunt and extended family helped with her day care.

“My great aunt was a dressmaker with lots of customers. The best part of my day was lying on the floor under her sewing table and rummaging through all the leftover bits of fabric.

“Later she taught me to sew. She would give me chequered blocks and I had to follow the lines exactly. She taught me to sew straight and that’s not easy to do.”

As a pupil at Oaklands High, she got so good at it that by the time she was 13 she was able to sew all her own clothes.

“It seemed such a natural thing to do. I think my friends were quite envious.”

Looking back, she believes that after leaving school, she should have studied fashion and clothing design.

“But my family wanted me to have an academic career which they thought would get me further in the world.”

A human resources diploma from the College of Cape Town followed by a business and management course were enough to secure her numerous top jobs, including business and finance manager for a big car dealership – with plenty of finance, managerial and insurance opportunities in the wings.

“But it didn’t matter which job I did. There was always the thought that one day I would follow my real love of sewing and designing.”

Being a practical “no fuss” mother, her first design breakthrough was a lightweight canvas bag that contained all the things that mothers of young babies need in the first few months.

“I saw these huge bags filled with nappies, changing mats and bottles that mothers were carrying around and which took up so much room and decided that I would make a prototype half the size but able to take the same items inside.

“It was a matter of using space sensibly, making it easier to gain access to cleaning wipes from a special pouch on the outside of the bag, and with easy-to-use straps.”

It wasn’t long she says, before other mothers were asking where she got her bag.

“That’s really how my business, NM Creations took root. I sourced durable, bright fabrics, asked my friends to test-run my designs and give me honest feedback.”

Today her range embraces a number of different carry bag designs and she enjoys a steady flow of orders.

“Of course the next step is to see whether I can enter the market on a commercial basis. It’s always a difficult one, but unless you test the water you will never know.

“My husband is an expert in packaging, which helps. He is also very practical and when he read my first list of instructions on how to use my bags he said it was too complex. That was good advice.”

As I leave her family’s ground floor apartment on Durban’s Berea, the whirr of the sewing machine can be heard – possibly the sound of real success.

Contact her at naiemamoerat@ gmail.com; Facebook page @nmcreations