Kelzine Thompson is a seamstress who is hell bent on ensuring the authentic tradition of fashioning Gombey costumes lives on in Bermuda.
As such she has been conducting her second year of Gombey costume making classes.
“I started the classes,” said Thompson. “Is on my second set of classes, with the first class showing how to make a Gombey cape. “I understand this to be one of Bermuda’s main cultures.
“People get to see the suits, but they don’t know all of the work and the things behind it that go on.
“My daughter-in-law, during a family dinner suggested that, being I do this for a living why not you put on classes.
“In the beginning each student had select a picture, then pick out colours and then they had to do the embroidery and each time things were done the price went up and up two more than $2,000 for a two-year-olds suit.
“Everything is handmade and crafted.
It’s amazing that when they first came to the class they didn’t know anything about the culture or the craft and now they are to a point where they’ve completed a full suit.
“So the first class was to make a cape, while the second class is to make a skirt and the pants.” Mrs. Thompson noted how the knowledge learned by the students helps to ensure the craft’s continuance for more generations to come.
“As a result we now have 16 more people as Gombey ambassadors for Bermuda, who can make suits for Bermuda,” Thompson added. “Because we have this as a family and community tradition, that needs to be passed on.
“This was what happened to me and in order to pass on the legacy, in case something happens to me, I have to pass it on. “Suit making had virtually died if Dennis, Pickles, Stickers and all of these groups, but no history being taught about the culture, so I wanted to bring that layer back out.”
Mrs. Thompson has been making Gombey suits for 40 plus years.
Her mother followed the Wilson’s group in her day, while Mrs. Thompson’s son has been a member of the Place’s Gombey Troup.
“Back then all the mothers knew how to make suits,” she said. “When me and my mother were making suits together we used to put old jewelry on the suits, like earrings and buttons. “Stickers and H&N came out with a new style of suits that had red, gold and green with hearts, so we had to make a new style of suit.
“Today the details change and have different features for the different groups, so I’m able to make a lot of different patterns of suits for the different groups.”
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