Monty Ible isn’t your typical fashion designer.You won’t find his clothing at a fashion show runway or in a store.To buy his jackets, pants or other creations, you’re probably going to have to visit the full-time fisherman at the dock at Somerset Bridge.“I started making clothes over 30 years ago because I didn’t have any money,” said Mr Ible. “My mother didn’t know how to sew. I decided I would make my own clothes. Not having finances makes you do things. It is one of the best tools in life.”His first attempt was a pair of denim jeans for himself. He took instruction from members of his family.“I told my instructors don’t touch anything,” he said. “When you see me going wrong, just tell me. I said, let me get the hands-on experience.”Mr Ible worked on that first pair of jeans from the evening to the wee hours of the morning. The next week he made a shirt jacket. He found a sewing machine and began sewing clothes for himself. He soon discovered other people who were willing to pay for his work.He now produces all sorts of items cigarette cases, handbags, credit card holders, tennis racket holders, and even a punching bag.“I enjoy it, not as a living though,” he said. “People don’t want to pay. Everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to give up their sins. I am more or less self-taught. I have had constructive criticism over the years, which has helped. I have made a lot of things. Some of the things are a challenge to make.”One of the items he is most proud of making was the Christening gown for his daughter Sarah, now 27 years old.“When I was a child, my sisters had a crank-operated sewing machine,” said Mr Ible. “One day I was interfering with one and I ended up putting the needle in my thumb. My sister smacked me for interfering with it. I think when I grew up my interest was part revenge on sewing machines.”These days he finds it harder to find material and sewing supplies locally, as fewer stores stock this type of thing. He believes that sewing is a dying art form. However, he still has a lot of material left over from past projects and he uses this when he works at the sewing machine.“I used to buy a whole roll of material back in the day, and I still have some of it left,” he said. “I am not sewing steady. I stopped for awhile, then I started sewing again in 2000 when I bought this sewing machine that does embroidered writing and stuff like that. Now I use two sewing machines, one that does the embroidery, and one for the regular stitching.”Mr Ible’s colourful credit card holders are a popular item among his customers. He sells them for $30, and has been told by tourists that he is underpricing them. He will happily embroider your name or whatever you want on the holder.“All of the credit card holders are unique,” he said. “When I make something I cancel it from my head. Once it is made, I am looking for a new adventure. It might be the same basic bag but the overall outlook is different. All of them are different and have their own character. I also make shopping bags with almost the same structure as the reusable bags you buy in the store. I could even make a wedding gown, if I had to.”Over the years he has taken a few sewing classes to hone his skills. He took one recently, but said he ended up spending most of the time teaching the other students.“You would have thought I was the teacher,” he said. “I went to the class to learn how to fine tune things, so the clothes would fit, over the shoulders, for example. I was showing the girls [the other students] how to operate the sewing machine because they had it threaded wrong, and so forth. I hardly did any sewing myself.”He said over the years he has taken some teasing for his interest in sewing by many people in the community as it isn’t considered a particularly manly interest.“I was always brought up to believe that if it’s not true don’t worry about it, and if it is true you have to deal with it,” Mr Ible said. “A lot of the idle talk was just jealousy.”For more information, or to see some of Mr Ible’s work, check him out at the dock by Somerset Bridge.