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<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://buzz-caribbean.com/app/uploads/2019/08/Bags-new-B-1024x686.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-4733" /><figcaption> Clifford Anthony Peters is focused as he makes one of his bags. (Photos: Contributed)</figcaption></figure>
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<p>When his grade six schoolteacher taught him how to sew
bags more than two decades ago, little did Clifford Anthony Peters know that
this skill would end up being a major income generator for him.</p>
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<p>The 33-year-old learnt how to cut and sew bags by hand,
as classwork, while he was a student at the Davis Primary School in St
Catherine. And although the technique was embedded in his brain, he didn’t sew
another bag until two years ago when he realised there was a huge market for custom
made bags in Negril.</p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://buzz-caribbean.com/app/uploads/2019/08/Bags-new-C.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-4734" /><figcaption> Clifford Anthony Peters makes bags in various styles and patterns. </figcaption></figure>
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<p>“I learnt to sew my first string bag in grade six, and
I never forgot how to do it.&nbsp; When I came
to Negril, I saw that bags sell, so I started making bags,” the Old Harbour High
School past student said.</p>
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<p>He explained: “I started stitching them by hand and
selling them, and the rest is history. I was using my hand all along until I
bought a machine. I sold the first one to a white man at the Canoe Bar. I was
at the Canoe Bar with a portion of them, and the man said: ‘How much for one of
these?’ I really wanted to sell a bag, so I said US$20 and he gave me US$25, so
that was good.”</p>
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<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://buzz-caribbean.com/app/uploads/2019/08/Bags-new-E.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-4735" /><figcaption>A close-up view of some of Clifford Anthony Peters' custom made bags. </figcaption></figure>
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<p>These days, Peters uses a lot of denim in his
creations. Another fabric, burlap, is very popular among the tourists.</p>
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<p>“I never make the same thing twice. If I use the same
fabric, it’s a different style. If I even make the same-looking bag, it’s a
different lining,” he said.</p>
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<p>His bags are available at the several spots in Negril,
including the Wake and Bake Café on Negril’s West End where he now sews,
displays his bags for sale and helps his friend, Karen McLeod, in the operations
at the café.</p>
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