Stowmarket mum, who has shop at Stonham Barns Park, starts new career after birth of her miracle baby
Debbie Bongiovanni had never touched a sewing machine until after her ‘miracle baby’ was born.
She had endured a long and difficult path to motherhood including two miscarriages.
But when her daughter arrived and proved to be a happy, contented baby, she found she didn’t need to devote all her time to caring for her newborn.
That was when she began thinking of ways to occupy her spare time … and her eyes lit upon the sewing machine in her mother-in-law’s house.
“I asked her if she would teach me to use it,” says Debbie, who at the time had not the faintest inkling where that request would lead.
Within months, sewing had turned from a hobby into a blossoming business.
Eight years later her colourful bespoke clothing for children and adults has legions of fans.
FuturePresentsNow, the venture that began tentatively on Facebook and still operates on the site with more than 4,000 followers, now also has a shop at Stonham Barns Park where she works four days a week.
Her range includes dresses, T-shirts, jumpers, leggings, shorts, onesies, babygrows and sports clothes.
The shop is a kaleidoscope of colour with a selection of more than 350 fabrics for customers to choose from.
Jersey-born Debbie met her husband Paolo, who works for a haulage company, on holiday in Cyprus when she was 16. They now live in Stowmarket.
“He is from Kent and it was a holiday romance, love at first sight, we clicked automatically and it’s now 25 years later,” she says.
“We came to Suffolk just over seven years ago because we wanted somewhere a little less busy than where we were living in Bromley.”
“We had been trying for 15 years for a baby, and I had two miscarriages before we ended up having our daughter. She really was a miracle baby.
“My love of sewing started just after our daughter was born. I was really lucky that she was as good as gold with things like sleeping.
“So once I had done what I needed to do to look after her, I was getting to feel I wanted something else to do,” says Debbie, who had previously worked as a lab manager for an opticians.
“I didn’t want to start just sitting watching daytime tele, so I asked my mother-in- law one day if she could show me how to use her sewing machine.
“She showed me how to go forward and backwards, and how fast to go. The first things we did were cushion covers and carrier bag holders.
“I had no needlework lessons at school and I had never used a machine before.”
In no time at all, Debbie was hooked. “I bought my own machine and went from there.
“The first proper thing I made was a dribble bib for my daughter around 2015. She was teething at the time. Then I made her a pair of leggings – I kept them and I’ve still got them.
“About six months to a year later I started the business. I started on Facebook, putting a couple of bits in there. People began asking if they could buy stuff and did I have a price list.
“Then I registered as a business. People told their friends, and they told their friends, and it just grew.”
Since then she has put her heart and soul into building up her skills and her business, finding an outlet for her creativity as well as earning a living.
She has expanded her range of clothing to cater for grown-ups as well as children. Those suitable just for youngsters go up to ages 10 to 11. But others, like dresses, go up to a size 24.
Clients, even the very young ones, can help to design their own garments.
“I’d say what I make now is split about 60-40 between children and adults,” says Debbie.
“Every piece is individual, and personalised. I get a lot of parents coming in with their children and they let the children choose how they want it.
“By that I don’t mean having their name on it. They can pick the fabric and have it how they want, for instance with different colour sleeves, so they have created their own outfit.
“Children are so unique. They have so many different passions and it’s not easy to find clothes that suit what it is they love.
“Customers can choose the theme of the fabric and the style. It’s all about having some items of clothes that make your children happy.
“There’s a piece of my love in every outfit I make. And I wouldn’t have it any other way!’
She has worked out some of the patterns she uses from her own designs. “With some of them I have made drafts myself, which took me a few years to get spot on, and I also buy some patterns,” she says.
Debbie is a perfectionist and would never cut corners on quality, choosing materials that are the very opposite of throwaway fashion.
“Ninety to 95 per cent of my fabrics are £20 to £25 a metre. All my fabrics are top of the range, and 95 per cent cotton.
“I have customers coming back to me for six or seven years because of the quality of the clothes that they are really happy with.
“They get compliments. It’s nice for them when people notice. The clothes are bright, or a bit different. It makes them feel really nice.
“I have worked hard for my reputation. Now I spend four days a week, Thursday to Sunday, at Stonham, and try to keep my work on the business to those days.
“I also work Monday to Wednesday at Specsavers in Stowmarket, so it’s a seven day week. I probably make 10 to 15 garments a week depending on what they are,” says Debbie, who had hoped to showcase her talents on TV’s Great British Sewing Bee but was turned down because she already ran a business.
And one person who is always keen to road test her designs is her own daughter. “She likes wearing my clothes … having something no-one else has got.”
Two years ago she diversified into extra items like personalised mugs and slates with sublimation-printed designs, and also does vinyl printing onto off-the-peg tee shirts and hoodies.
“I am not business-minded by nature but as the business has grown so have I. I do need to take it to the next stage now,” she says.
Debbie can be contacted through facebook.com/FuturePresentsNow, or the website stonhambarns.co.uk/ retail/retail-village/future-presents-now. You can also call her on 07385 794652.
