Woman restoring sewing machines for African colleges

Nikki Field's hobby of repairing sewing machines began during the pandemic

A woman who decided to teach herself to restore sewing machines is now repairing them for female entrepreneurs in Africa.

Nikki Field from Wiltshire's hobby started in lockdown, when she restored an old Singer treadle.

She now repairs at least one machine a week, and is involved 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 tailoring businesses.

Ms Field said she uses a lot of elbow grease during the repairs

Speaking about turning her hobby into charity work, Ms Field told the BBC: "They just need completely taking apart, and that can be a challenge with a machine like this one that maybe hasn't been taken apart for 50, 60 years.

"I get through a lot of WD40, I have blisters sometimes, and then you've also got to make sure it all goes back together without any missing bits.

"And if you're scared of spiders, don't think about it because there's nearly always something lurking somewhere."

Ms Field also mends sewing machines for paying customers, donating the proceeds to Tools For Self Reliance to help with increasing shipping costs.

'Really helped'

Nyimba Lumuno from Uganda said getting her own sewing machine has "really helped" her financial situation.

"I was just at home with my child and with no money," she said.

"After taking this training, it really helped me change the way I was looking at my life and it really helped me in terms of making my own money."

Women in African nations use the machines to kickstart their tailoring businesses

Sarah Ingleby, the CEO of Tools for Self Reliance, said the sewing machines the charity sends out to African nations stay with women throughout their journey to starting their own business.

"Obviously you can't learn to be a tailor without a sewing machine, so the provision includes sending machines so they've got machines to train on," Ms Ingleby said.

"When they've finished their training and they go out back to their communities and they start their own small businesses, they will take a sewing machine with them.

"They're not waiting to save money to buy a machine, the machine is there for them when they get set up and they can use them straight away to earn a living."