Amy's Boutique Collection

This boutique is in Mehdipatnam, tucked into a busy lane. It’s a small space, but we’ve managed to fit a lot into it. We have racks of clothes and a couple of sewing machines in the back. Most of our day is spent talking to women about what they want to wear for weddings or parties. There’s always a bit of a mess with bits of lace and thread on the floor. We do a lot of alterations too. The iron is almost always on, steaming out wrinkles. It gets quite loud outside with all the traffic and people shouting, but inside we just focus on the stitching. We have a big mirror where people check their fittings. Sometimes we run out of a certain color of thread and have to send someone out to find it. We don't have a fancy catalog. Most people bring a photo on their phone or just describe what they want. It’s personal work. We know the names of most of the people who come in. We’ve been at this address for a while and the sign outside is a bit faded now. We just try to get the measurements right so the clothes fit well. It's a lot of long hours, especially when there’s a holiday coming up. We just keep sewing and chatting with whoever walks through the door, trying to get the orders finished by the weekend.