Thank you so much for your ongoing support of Awamaki Lab. This project teaches women the skills they need to create and produce fashionable, unique products for sale in international markets.
The past three months have been big for Awamaki Lab. Since the start of the project, Awamaki has provided the three women with training in sewing and beginning patternmaking, and a teacher. In October, with more than a year of training under their belts our three seamstresses started preparing to fly solo.
Justa, Florentina, and Estella have made huge strides in their sewing education this year beginning in May when they started learning to sew complicated clothing. In the past few months, the women have begun to take on more responsibilities on the administrative side of things. Awamaki's sewing cooperative works with two other cooperatives of women weavers in the Andean Highlands who produce the beautiful hand spun, dyed, and woven textiles that are used by the seamstresses to create clothing and accessories. In the past few months, Awamaki has been working with the seamstresses and teaching them how prepare for upcoming orders by calculating materials needs and placing orders for textiles with our weaving communities. In October, the seamstresses visited the weaving community of Patacancha to talk to them about the importance of weaving to precise measurements and using quality finishing techniques. It was great to see the two communities interacting and explaining their sides of the process.
As always, Awamaki cooperative members are invited to participate in free computer and English classes at Awamaki. The seamstresses have become some of our most dedicated English students and even bought their own English Class CD's to listen to while they sew. Everytime an international staff member or volunteer enters their studio they now say, "Hello, how are you?" in English.
This January, Founder and Director Annie Millican returns to NYC to assist in Artisan Resource, an international trade show that will promote the work of the women's cooperatives. She has handed over on-site project management to seamstresses and local staff, as part of the continued effort to enable artisan partners to have greater ownership over their work.
