Hot Needle and Burning Thread

The dream of a lifetime was birthed in the humble corners of the sewing room of our home in Cork Hill. There was many a day where my every waking moment was a Kaleidoscope of dramatically creating elaborate gowns in my minds eye. Casting my mind back now many of these gowns were often mimicking the beautiful ones I saw hanging around our house waiting for their owners to collect. Growing up I watched my mother (Armonel Cabey aka amo) strike patterns on fabric, resulting in beautiful garments worn boastfully by Montserratians far and wide. I was not allowed to touch the sewing machines or the equipment. This sparked the creative bug within to mimic what I saw, transcending into creating outfits for my dolls and later on myself. Under the guise of illness, I would stay home from church with the sole intent of using her sewing machine in secret. My grandmother would gift me with fabric further building on the creative she obviously saw in me. Thinking back now I wonder if my mother saw more than a spark or guessed I was up to something when she went into her sewing room on Monday mornings.

Fast forward to my adult years where I’ve been known to come in from full day at work and sew a complete outfit to go out the same night. This my mother referred to as Hot Needle and Burning Thread. I wish she was here to see my dreams becoming a reality as she was my inspiration.

My academic years started in my beautiful home country of Montserrat. After completing my Secondary School education at MSS, I migrated to London where I enrolled in the Fashion and Clothing Course at Waltham Forest College, completing Levels 1&2 before enrolling on the BTEC Fashion Design Course, I soon realised that designing wasn’t what I wanted to do and left the course to work in the clothing retail industry, whilst continuing to sew and keeping abreast of changes in the fashion industry.

In 2010, I enrolled full time in the Bespoke Tailoring Course at Newham College of Further Education completing Levels 1-3. Whilst completing Level 3 I was afforded the opportunity to work as a finisher with a few tailors on London’s Saville Row, which led to me becoming a trouser maker and provided me with the opportunity to work for Ralph Lauren during the 2012 London Olympics.

I went on to teach Levels 1&2 Bespoke Tailoring at Newham College of Further Education. As much as I enjoyed teaching, I felt that the time had come to realise my goals and I started SKB Tailoring whilst teaching part-time. On May 5th 2018 I opened the doors to SKB Tailoring and Training Centre in Forest Gate, London, where we teach pattern making, sewing and Bespoke Tailoring.

Classes are as followed:

Wednesdays: Sewing Class

Thursdays: Pattern Cutting

Saturdays: Bespoke Jacket Making

Sundays: Bespoke Trouser Making

Other courses available are:

Bespoke Tailoring for Beginners

Waistcoat Making

Garment Making Workshops

For further information contact us on:

Email: skbtailoring@gmail.com

Facebook/Instagram: skb tailoring and training centre