PUTRAJAYA, Feb 16 — The Magic Ruler, an express pattern sewing ruler invented by Sarawakian Nur ‘Athirah Razali, provides much-needed help to tailors who need to stitch complex clothing designs.

Nur ‘Athirah, 39, said that she got the inspiration to invent the ‘D’Athirah Magic Ruler’ in 2016, after observing students in her sewing class having difficulty sketching patterns.

She has since produced 15 types of rulers, which can be used to sew women’s clothes, men’s trousers, traditional Malay outfits, and children’s clothes. She has sold 1,000 pattern rulers at a cost of between RM95 and RM160 per piece.

“For sewing clothes, patterns should be designed to follow the mould of a person’s body, and this requires calculations based on several formulae to produce a garment that fits the body shape well.

“With this ruler, tailors are able to produce patterns easily and accurately because there are instructions and formulae,” she told Bernama recently.

Nur ‘Athirah, who took a fashion and tailoring course at a technical school in Kuching, runs her own sewing academy in Shah Alam.

“Many of my students have their own businesses. What is unique at my academy is that we use the Magic Ruler to teach; it saves time and increases productivity,” she said.

Her innovation has won several awards, including the Yayasan Inovasi Malaysia award in 2016 and the gold award at the National Intellectual Property Awards in 2018.

She recently won the Innovation and Invention Competition (IRC) 2021, organised by the Social Security Organisation (Socso) and the Malaysian Innovation Foundation.

Nur ‘Athirah, who is also involved in community empowerment programmes, said her innovation was also used to help persons with disabilities (PwDs), especially students at special education schools.

“More than 10 schools in the city use the Magic Ruler in their syllabus, and there are students with mild autism who use it too in school,” said Nur Athirah, who has been interested in sewing since the age of seven.

She also plans to market the ruler to Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei after gaining a foothold with consumers here.

“I plan to use Braille on the ruler too, to enable the blind to benefit as well,” she added.

More information on the express pattern sewing ruler can be found on Facebook via D’Athirah Magic Ruler HQ.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency