Sewing Club

The Vutakaka Sewing Club was one of the first projects the EAC initiated in Takaungu—it began even before the Center was built—and has become one of our most exciting and successful projects. Classes of 30 men and women (mostly women, but men are welcome and some have joined) come to the Center once a week to learn how to sew, both by hand and using a pedal sewing machine. Over the course of the free five-month class, the students learn how to make items such as bags, quilts, aprons, baby dresses and sun dresses. The EAC has developed a network of outlets in Kenya and the U.S. where the products are sold, with a portion of the money going directly to the people making them. After completion of the class, the students may continue to make products and sell them through the EAC or use their skills to earn money elsewhere. The class then begins anew with another group of 30 students.

When the Club first started, all sewing was done by hand. Since then, generous donors have granted the EAC money to buy 8 Singer sewing machines. The pace of production and the excitement of the participants have increased with the profit margin. Sewing Club members are now at the Center virtually every day, looking to get a little time on a sewing machine. The EAC aims to construct another building, at Vutakaka Community Center, that will be exclusively for the use of the sewing club. The new building will offer much needed space for even more machines, allowing each student the use of a machine, every class day.

All products are made using local patterned fabrics. The fabrics are used by local woman as skirt wraps, shoulder wraps, head wraps, even to strap babies to their backs! They are beautiful and colorful, giving non-Kenyans a flavor of the place where they were made. The lesos each contain a proverb in Kiswahili, the local language.

For background and history of lesos and a translation of leso proverbs, click here.

If you would like to order, stock, or view specific Sewing Club products, click here.


Members of the Vutakaka Sewing Club learn to use local fabrics called lesos, kitenges, and kikoys, to make a variety of sturdy, unique, and fashionable products . The EAC helps members market and sell their products in Kenya and abroad, giving them the chance to increase their income while learning a marketable skill.


Club members model their bags (center) and aprons (right). At left, another member works on one the EAC's 8 donated sewing machines.	Rukia Suleiman models a quilt that she made using local fabrics (lesos). It has since been sold to a buyer in the U.S.