Camilla and CSS Village Collaboration Impact Stories
Sabahat’s Story
Sabahat is a university graduate and former kindergarten teacher from Pakistan who moved to Australia in 2009. Faced with caring responsibilities, health challenges, language barriers and lack of confidence to integrate with Australian communities, Sabahat she experienced a significant struggle with depression and anxiety that kept her confined to her home, disconnected from the broader community.
“I was stuck by my emotions. I felt too scared to leave my house. I had lost confidence in talking to other people.”
Sewing Origin Story
Sabahat’s relationship with sewing began in her teenage years in Pakistan. Initially she had no interest in the craft, it was a discipline instilled in her by her mother, who insisted she learn sewing as a practical survival skill like making her own clothes.
“I learned the very basics because my mother was forcing me. Honestly, I didn’t have any interest at a young age.”
Connection to Culture and Heritage
In Australia, Sabahat says that sewing is an act of memory and a tribute to the artistic legacy of her family. Her mother’s practical household sewing and her sister’s expertise as a professional fashion designer in Pakistan.
“Whenever I try to make a cushion cover or things like that, it reminds me of my mother’s work—the way she would change our covers and make new quilts… My sister is excellent at everything to do with sewing and textile design; she is a master of traditional embroidery using very fancy materials. I wish she could be here with me and she could do this together.”
Barriers, Strength and Resilience
Sabahat faced significant psychological and social barriers during her first decade in Australia. Her previous employment in Family Day Care was an “indoor” role that offered very little connection with the community, which intensified her feelings of isolation and lowered her confidence.
Cultural and Social Isolation: Stepping out of her comfort zone was a major hurdle for Sabahat. She describes the difficulty of breaking the cycle of staying home and the anxiety associated with re-entering the professional world after years of being at home.
Healing through Community: Joining the sewing program (Camilla with Love) at the beginning of 2025 provided a supportive, welcoming environment for Sabahat where she could share and learn with other women who had struggled and overcome similar challenges. This connection, combined with sharing the love and skill of became a catalyst for her healing.
Building Confidence, Skills, Pride & Voice
Working as part of the Camilla and CSS collaboration (Camilla with Love), the skill of sewing created a sense of passion, purpose and achievement. Making high-quality products for Camilla, as well as learning industrial sewing skills and advanced tailoring and pattern making and how to work with recycled fabrics and professional patterns.
Being paid to create products for a major fashion brand like Camilla validated her skills and led to her being accepted into an advanced industrial sewing program with The Social Outfit. As her technical and communication skills grew, she accepted a position as a Sewing Trainer with CSS for Camilla with Love.
“I feel so blessed and grateful to have been given the opportunity to grow from the student to the teacher. What I love most is connecting with women particularly when they are struggling—like I was—and helping them to share their knowledge and learn the skills to make beautiful things.”
Looking Forward
Sabahat’s eyes are now set on a secure, long-term career in the textiles industry She views her role as a trainer not just as a job, but as a way to provide a gateway for other women to use their gifts to gain social and economic independence.
“The greatest gift as a Trainer is that you keep learning when you teach someone.”
Fatiwa’s Story
Before arriving in Australia in 2024, Fatiwa spent six years in Malaysia as the sole provider for her sick mother and brother. As the only able to work in her household, Fatiwa carried the weight of her family’s survival, working tirelessly in a sewing factory while supporting her mom and brother through their illness in a country where there was no support for people seeking asylum.
“I was the only person who could work to feed our family … I had to work to get money for us because there was nobody else to help me.”
Sewing Origin Story
Fatiwa’s connection to sewing began in her childhood and grew during the 18 years she lived in Pakistan. In Pakistan Fatiwa sought out formal study in textile design which grew her passion and technical skill.
“Since I was a child, I loved sewing. I did it on my own… but I studied sewing in Pakistan. I lived in Pakistan for 18 years. That’s why I love sewing so much. Pakistan has a rich cultural heritage and skill making fabric and textiles.”
Connection to Culture and Heritage
For Fatiwa, sewing is a common thread that her life across four countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Malaysia and now Australia. While she has spent years in industrial sewing environments, her sewing roots are in traditional embroidery from Afghanistan and Pakistan and a lifelong love for sewing across cultures and countries.
“I loved the sewing and designing. I know some embroidery and garment construction and design… I am really interested in learning and creating new things using the skills I have learnt from all the different countries I have lived in.”
Barriers, Strength and Resilience
Fatiwa’s has faced and overcome significant loss, struggles and pain. Forced to leave her home in Afghanistan and the death of her father resulted in her leaving school to work to support her sick mother and brother. In Malaysia, she faced the high-pressure environment of commercial sewing factories for five years to provide a lifeline for her family.
“I had to work in a factory because I am not highly educated; I only finished primary school. I had to work to support my family…. That time, I really, really struggled with my life in Malaysia. I struggled with the language and the way they treated us as refugees was terrible.”
Building Confidence, Skills, Pride & Voice
Fatiwa is a highly skilled industrial operator, proficient in both industrial and domestic machinery. Through the course she did at the The Social Outfit and now being a part of the sewing program with CSS and Camilla, she has moved from sewing as survival-based factory production line to creative, professional sewing, in a supportive flexible working community who shares and values her technical knowledge and experience and love of sewing.
Being part of the community has allowed her to transition from high-volume production to the highly skilled creative craftsmanship working with partners like Camilla. She has completed three courses and is currently studying at TAFE to bridge the gap between technical construction and professional textile design. The respect and encouragement shown by her mentors and peers has encouraged her to pursue her dreams.
“Here, I have found a community that cares and guides me respectfully. I am not alone anymore. I have gained my friends, my teachers, and the belief that I can be a designer, not just a worker. I am proud that I can create such beautiful things with fabric.”
Looking Forward
Fatiwa sees her industrial sewing background as a foundation for a future in fashion design. She is no longer just sewing to survive; she is sewing to create and inspire. Her goal is to master patterning and design to secure a career as a fashion designer.
“I know about every machine… but I would like to learn pattern- making and fashion design. I want to build on my skills so I can find a good job that I love. I’m really interested in creating new things that have different cultural patterns and designs from all the places I have lived.”
Roqayya’s Story
Roqayya’s journey is a profound testament to the strength of migrant mothers. After leaving Afghanistan 40 years ago and living in Iran, she settled in Australia to raise her five children. For decades, her life was defined by the rigorous work of supporting her family—a mission that resulted in her children becoming doctors, builders, and business professionals. Now, with her children grown, Roqayya is finally stepping into a space dedicated to her own learning, growth and independence.
“Raising my children was very hard. Not understanding English or how people live in Australia. I wanted my children to learn and do what I was not able to do. Now I feel proud because they all have good jobs and now it is my time.”
Sewing Origin Story
Roqayya carries a lifelong connection to tailoring that began in her childhood. She was taught by her mother in Afghanistan, learning various traditional techniques that she has carried with her through four decades of displacement moving from Pakistan and now to Australia.
“I love sewing very much. Being able to sew gives me a very good feeling of peace in my heart and my mind. I learned it from my mother —many different types of tailoring and making clothes for men and women. I’ve been sewing since I was a child in Afghanistan”
Connection to Culture and Heritage
For Roqayya, sewing is a source of joy that transcends language and countries. While she has spent 40 years away from her brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles in Afghanistan, sewing and creating garments is a bridge that connects her to her roots and provides a sense of healing and peace. She views her skills not just as a hobby, but as a link to her heritage and a way to contribute to the country that welcomed her and is now her home.
“After all these years of looking after my family I was surprised that in the end, it is sewing that still makes me so happy… It is also a way of contributing to the country that has welcomed me as it is my duty to give something back to Australia.”
Barriers, Strength and Resilience
Roqayya after spending 40 years moving across countries and cultures forced to find a new home, I was denied the opportunity to study and have literacy even in my native language Farsi. When I came to Australia facing the pressures of raising a family in an unknown country and culture, being illiterate and unable to speak English made it hard to leave the house and make friends and the opportunity to study or get a job was out of reach.
“Because I am illiterate myself, I really wanted to learn, to study. Literacy is the best thing a person can have, whether they are a man or a woman… Also I want to find a job and send money to support my family in Afghanistan and Iran—my sisters and brother. It is not safe there.”
Building Confidence, Skills, Pride & Voice
Being a part of the sewing program with Camilla and CSS, Roqayya says she has found a community that values her technical expertise over her language skills and literacy. Participating in the Camilla collaboration has helped her use her skills and passion into high-quality products that she is paid to create.
Providing more than just a paycheck; Roqayya says it has given her a sense of professional identity. She has gained the confidence to see herself not just as a mother, but as a valued contributor to her family’s future and a skilled textile creator.
“Right now, I’m just happy to be here…. When I finished this course and started working here, I told my family: ‘I found a job! I have money! My children and husband are very happy and proud of me.”
Looking Forward
Roqayya’s aspirations are to master her craft to a professional standard. Her hope is to secure a stable job in the textile industry that allows her to continue learning and creating and contributing to providing for those she loves.
“I want to be a professional seamstress in the future. I have the skill and the passion… I would also like to study and get a qualification doing what I love.”
Layla’s Story
Layla is a single mother who arrived in Australia from Afghanistan in 2022. While she is currently a student learning English and trying to look for any work she can find, she faces the immense pressure of raising three children alone in a high-cost housing market. Beyond her immediate family in Australia, she carries the stress of supporting relatives in Afghanistan whose “lives are in ruins living in constant fear.” For Layla, finding work is not just a personal goal; it is a necessity for the survival of her family both here and in Afghanistan.”
“As a mother, my heart is full of pain. We came here from Afghanistan with thousands of sorrows and grief… I want to have an income to help myself, my children, and family in Afghanistan who ask me for help.”
Sewing Origin Story
Layla’s skills are a direct inheritance from her mother, a “creative tailor” who taught her to sew beautiful clothes in Afghanistan. However, this shared love was destroyed when the Taliban rose to power and they were forced to leave.
“My mother and I used to sew together. She taught me everything she knew, how to sew all kinds of traditional garments for men and women. I loved it… I used to feel that my pain and sadness were being sewn away into the fabric but things got even worse when the Taliban came to our home, everything—my heart, my things— were wiped away. Everything I knew about sewing… vanished from my memory.”
Connection to Culture and Heritage
By returning to sewing, Layla is reclaiming her heritage and keeping her mother’s memory alive. She says she feels a responsibility as a guardian of traditional Afghan garments and techniques, keeping this cultural heritage alive – from embroidered necklines to complex quilting. Through her hands, she is taking her mother’s place as a skilled Afghani tailor.
“From my mother, I learned to make the clothes everyone wears in Afghanistan—Peran. She taught me the Peran (men’s suits) Chapa-gardan (embroidered necklines)… and the Liaf (quilts). I want to continue my mother’s craft so it lives on.”
Barriers, Strength and Resilience
Layla struggles with the daily reality that arriving in a safe country does not erase past trauma; instead, she found that the transition to living in an unknown country and culture where you can’t speak the language and struggle to find work and pay bills has caused deep depression and anxiety.
Layla suffers from knee problems that prevent her from performing the “heavy labor” often expected of new migrants, such as cleaning or hospitality work. In Afghanistan I was studying and on my way to a career and now I am having to re-learn everything while trying to recover from the trauma of the past that continues today.
“We used to say, ‘Once we get to Australia, we will forget everything.’ But it was the opposite. We are struggling with stress, anxiety, and depression… Sewing makes my mind feel calm and relaxed and the stress goes away for awhile”
Building Confidence, Skills, Pride & Voice
The collaboration with Camilla and CSS has provided Layla with a restorative environment where she can heal through her craft. In this supportive community, she has found that sitting at a sewing machine and creating and making allows her to process her thoughts and find relief from the pain she carries.
She credits the support and mentorship of her peers and, specifically her trainers Sabahat and Shona, for helping her regain the confidence to use her skills and creativity to make beautiful things with the high quality fabric from Camilla. Reclaiming these skills has transformed her outlook from one of helplessness to one of capability.
“I have learned very good things and I am very proud. Thank you to the community at CSS and Camilla for this opportunity to learn, heal and create.”
Looking Forward
Layla’s professional ambitions are clear and practical. She is targeting a career in industrial manufacturing where she can apply her skills to high-volume production. She dreams of a stable environment where her technical precision in assembly can provide the financial security her family needs.
“I have many goals. I want to work with the ‘big machines’ in a commercial factory. I would like to join a company and use industrial machines… I want to be given the pre-cut pieces so I can just sit at the machine and assemble them, sewing is what I love.”
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