A FASHION designer is breaking barriers with her modest clothing range and wants to get young people into sewing.

Rizwana Matadar runs Cover Me, a Bolton based modest fashion brand aimed at giving Muslim women the chance to look stylish and covered at the same time.

The mum of two designs all the clothes herself and shows them on her Instagram page, where she has over 16,000 followers.

Mrs Matadar said: “I found there was a massive gap in the market and if you wanted to buy an ankle length dress at the time you wouldn’t find one, and it gave me the idea.

“When you go on holiday as a Muslim woman, you don’t want to wear layers, you still want to wear trendy clothes without looking old and boring.”

At just 12-years-old, Mrs Matadar started sewing and found that she had a passion for it as she said: “It was trendy then, and I enjoyed it, spending long hours learning new patterns.

“But, I was not allowed to go to college, coming from a strict family, so went to work in a sewing factory.”

It was not until Mrs Matadar got married and moved to Bolton in 2000 that she opened her own fabric and tailoring store.

With a free hall, the fashion designer started to teach girls how to sew, with over 300 girls having been taught by her.

Mrs Matadar said: “That was an amazing experience, and I do not think I appreciated it at the time.

“I had no qualifications and I taught all these girls how to sew English and Pakistani dresses.”

But, the mum found that she could not move forward with the business so after three years went to university to study fashion design.

The designer said: "I wanted to expand the business but I couldn't find anyone else, and I didn't want to do it all alone.

"I also didn't want to be stuck there, I wanted to explore other things."

On leaving university, Mrs Matadar worked at three different menswear fashion places before opening her own studio in Bolton in 2015.

She said: “To be able to enjoy it you have to be good at it, but these days it’s not something girls or boys are interested in doing.

“I think the trend has gone for sewing and there aren’t any young people I know that do it, but I think it’s a life skill too and can be very therapeutic if they gave it a chance.”

On top of juggling a business, Mrs Matadar also looks after her two children, who are aged seven and 13.

She said: "It's all in good fun actually, it was only hard during the baby days but now my children are older so it's easier to work around them.

"I can still spend time with them and find time to work too.

"Sometimes I will take them too appointments, go see friends and then do some work in the evening, it feels good to have that level of flexibility in my work."

Cover Me also hold pop-up shops around Bolton from time to time.

To follow and keep up with the latest trends follow Mrs Matadar on her Instagram Covermec.