Rosa Dodier was 10 years old when one of her older sisters finally let her touch a sewing machine. Growing up in El Salvador, her sister made custom dresses based on pictures that clients picked out of magazines.
“I was just a kid there listening, paying attention,” she said. “My sister used to say to me, ‘Watch out! Just look. Pay attention to what I'm doing.’”
Ever since, Dodier hasn’t stopped sewing. After working at different companies across the country, Dodier decided it was time to open her own store in the thick of prom season.
“I went and gave all my card business to every bridal shop you can think about around New Hampshire, in Nashua, and everywhere, everywhere,” she said.
But being a seamstress, Dodier says, is a seasonal trade. When things slow down in the winter, she teaches classes and works on her own projects. She’s also learning how to balance work with her other responsibilities, but she says the love of sewing keeps on bringing her back.
“I sometimes feel like I'll be working until I'm 100 years old. But it's okay. I love to do it, I never stop,“ she said. “It's something that you don't put on the side and forget.”
