Sonarpur: A school dropout who had enrolled for a tailoring course out of desperation to find employment has emerged within two years as a talent worthy of representing India at prestigious international competitions in South Korea and Italy.

Aparna Mal, 23, can cut a bespoke suit with as much finesse as an outlandish bandhgala, according to trainer Chinmoy Samanta of the Raymond Tailoring Centre on Mayurbhanj Road.

The Sonarpur girl gave a glimpse of her imagination and technique at the Kaun Banega Master Stylist competition in Mumbai on February 28, where the judges were stunned by an asymmetric chocolate-and-black sherwani that she had made.

Aparna finished second to Shamsad Ansari, a veteran from Jamshedpur, in a field of 40 finalists from four zones. She and Shamsad will be competing with the world's best at two upcoming events - the 27th Congress of the Federation of Asia Master Tailors in Seoul this July and the 38th World Federation of Master Tailors at Verona next year.

"I had to search more than 100 shops in Metiabruz and Burrabazar for the right buttons to stitch into my sherwani," she told Metro of the outfit that earned her the tickets to South Korea and Italy. "My surprise elements were a cowl-neck collar and the use of buttons as accessories in diagonal patches."

Aparna had been a telecaller for almost two years, a job that didn't pay enough for her to be able to ease her mother's financial burden during a period of estrangement with her husband. A newspaper advertisement for the Raymond Tailoring Centre, a 3,000sqft workshop where 60-odd trainees hone their craft, changed her life.

"I have always liked working with fabrics. As a teenager, I would make tops out of discarded long skirts," Aparna said.

She joined the free course at the Mayurbhanj Road centre in 2016, spending the next two years honing her basics and learning how to incorporate design elements and do customised tailoring. "I didn't know until then that wearing small checks can make a man look slimmer and stripes taller," she said.

Set up in 2014 by Raymond in association with the department of technical education and training, the institute is one of several such tailoring units across the country. The objective is to produce one lakh highly skilled tailors by 2020 to promote self-employment and attract consumers towards customised couture.

The institute has taught Aparna to use sewing machines that produce 3,000 to 5,000 drops of the needle per minute. To put it in perspective, manual machines seen at local tailoring shops do around 200 drops a minute.

The journey has been a tough one for Aparna - it takes two trains, a bus ride and a walk just to reach the institute from her home - but she has persevered and is now looking forward to building a career stitch by stitch.

"Aparna has a clear head. She understands things quickly and is never shy of experimenting," said Chinmoy, who teaches how to make shirts, safaris and kurtas.

Generations of Indians have been brought up on tailored clothing but the entry of international and domestic apparel brands in the early nineties and the growth of ready-to-wear clothes have led to customised tailoring losing its appeal.

Small tailoring shops across Calcutta and its outskirts are dying but Aparna is determined to make a success of her new vocation. She dreams of owning a boutique someday and maybe creating a line with her favourite fabric: linen.

Aparna has never been to a movie theatre but dressing up Shahid Kapoor is also on her bucket list. "I want to design Shahid's clothes for a film and attend its premiere," she smiled, stitching up her career vision.