CLEVELAND — A seamstress and business owner is looking forward to a returning workload after the pandemic canceled many events in 2020 she makes dresses for.

For Elizabeth Aubbin Manuel sewing is her life. She is the owner and seamstress of Afiba Cutz.

"I just love it. It's like anytime that I'm about to make something I get so excited," said Aubin Manuel.

Originally from Ghana, Aubbin Manuel started making her own clothes when she was 16-years-old. She ended up studying fashion and design in college. After she finished, she visited her brother in London, where she got her first professional sewing job.

"I met this older white lady who was looking for someone to help her sew,” she said. “And I'm like, I applied for the job at the post office, and I'm like I can help you. She looked at me funny and I'm like just try me. So, I started working with her and I learned a lot for her."

After spending a couple of years in London, she went back home to Ghana and opened her own shop. Then she came to the United States and began working as a seamstress at different businesses. Now, she owns her own business.

"I make kids. I make casuals. I make plus sizes. I make small sizes,” she said. “I even make unborn babies clothes before they are born."

Aubbin Manuel particularly enjoys making custom dresses, especially for prom.

"Last year was one of my busiest years,” Aubbin Manuel. “I think I had like 32, between 30 and 32 orders."

So when the pandemic put the brakes to prom last year, Aubbin Manuel felt the burn in her pockets.

While some of the girls still got their dresses, others weren't able to.

"But the rest of the gowns are hanging in the closet here,” she said. “So it's like, financially because I take a deposit to buy the fabric or whatever and have to put my time in and everything, and because of COVID, you don't know what their parents are going through. Some of them lost their jobs and stuff so I couldn't just force them to pay me everything."

The fear of the unknown with the virus and business was tough for her.

"I was scared, like, financially how am I going to manage," she said.

But she didn't stay down long.

"Seeing people wearing masks, I did one African print mask and wore it and put it on Facebook and, like, within a week I got so many orders that held me," she said.

Now that prom season will happen this year, Aubbin Manuel is busy taking orders for custom dresses.

"So far I have five girls,” she said. “Yes. So I'm still posting on my Facebook page that I'm making prom dresses for 2021."

She's moving into her own office space after working in her home, but she's excited to get back to making custom dresses.

On her favorite part of creating dresses is, "Everything. Everything it's like making people feel pretty and happy, and helping people with their self-confidence."

When she's finished making a dress and sees her clients’ reactions, she feels there aren’t much better feelings.

"I feel like I'm on top of the world," she said.

Aubbin Manuel is hoping to make about 30 custom prom dresses this year. She also makes wedding gowns and said brides are booking her, now that wedding season is here. 

For more information on Afiba Cutz go to its Facebook page.