Canadian Sylvia Rempel of Sewing Seeds International (SSI) has set up a sewing school in the Volcanes neighborhood of Puerto Vallarta, with classes due to begin this month.
Rempel started sewing at an early age, making clothes for her dolls. After she married, she sewed her husband’s suits, ties and shirts.
She eventually started her own company, Sun Ice Ltd., with her eldest daughter, Angela (Rempel) Grams. Two other daughters and a son joined the business, which quickly grew into a national label and became the official supplier to the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. 
Rempel sold Sun Ice in 2001, and in 2002 started Sewing Seeds International with a mandate to set up self-sustaining sewing schools in impoverished areas around the world.
Her aim was to empower women, giving them skills to improve their lives and those of their families and communities.
Since then, SSI has provided sewing machines, materials and instruction in the poorest areas of Sierra Leone, Ukraine and Peru. Next year, a project will begin in Democratic Republic of Congo.
More than 100 women in Vallarta’s Volcanes neighborhood submitted applications after the announcement of the new project was made through the Volcanes Community Education Project (VCEP). About 30 have been accepted to the initial class.
Graduates from the beginner’s class will be eligible for the intermediate class in April, and the advanced classes in September or October.
Graduates of the advanced classes will be able to teach future classes and continue the initiative. This provides the potential for an ongoing training project which can offer opportunities to women for years to come.
Puerto Vallarta Mayor Ramon Guerrero has backed the program and guaranteed the lease of a building for the school.
Plans are also moving forward to open a Volcanes sewing factory. SSI is working with Arthur Fumerton and the VCEP on this project.
Rempel will be leading the team in Volcanes, along with her daughters Angela and Carol. Graduates will be equipped to make clothes for their families, earn income by sewing for others, or start a sewing business.
Rempel notes that one graduate of the Sierra Leone program now runs a company employing 14 people. A Peru graduate has a contract to provide all of the uniforms for a local school, she says.
“There is an opportunity to help some of the graduates here establish a factory that could create a ‘brand’ to be marketed to locals and tourists,” says Grams, Rempel’s daughter who heads up SSI’s Latin America ventures and has many years of experience working with clothing factories around the world.
Sewing Seeds will provide sewing machines for the school, plus materials, along with training. When the three classes are complete, the sewing machines are left to teach new students.
SSI has charitable status in Canada. For more information, or to donate to this program, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Also see www.sewingseedscanada.com, http://vimeo.com/19882742 (a half-hour documentary) and www.facebook.com/SewingSeedsInternational.