It is a sewing circle like no other in the world, made up of a group of women in Richmond, B.C., who make their living painstakingly sewing hundreds of stitches onto a tiny fabric processed from the skin of cows or pigs.

They are creating are artificial heart-valves.

Their meticulous creations are so well-made they can handle 200 million heartbeats for every person they’re implanted into.

The CBC’s Bob Nixon has the story of these highly skilled craftswomen.