Rose May
Rose May was born 1952 in Hexham Northumberland she grew up in that area and moved to Bristol in her late twenties. Rose has run several businesses designing and making clothes. She has been teaching at Silai since 1994.
"I learned originally from my mother. I learned very early on how to use a sewing machine. I must have been maybe ten, eleven or twelve and I knew how to use a sewing machine, I knew how to hand sew as well. I learnt how to knit in my early teens. By the time I was fifteen I was cutting up my mum's old gorgeous clothes from the wardrobe and making miniskirts, and knitting little tops. By the time I was at college I would have a new outfit every week. I think by the time I was fifteen, my ambition was to be a fashion designer and in a way I've fulfilled my ambition. What I like doing know is passing these skills on to other people so they can fulfil their ambitions.
When a job became available I was really keen because I already knew about the history of the Silai project. The course I was asked to teach was a City and Guilds in Fashion and most areas or communities that did that course, did it with little domestic machines in community halls. The emphasis was quite different and I really liked that. The women who came to join the course were so varied from young mums, older ladies, people with some experience, absolute beginners, but they all wanted to just make themselves an outfit. There were so many people on that first day that we had to run two days. That was the start of a whole range of courses that Silai provided for the women of Bristol who wanted to get out and do something for themselves."
