Needleworkers with southeastern American accents (12)

I believe the answer is:

seamstresses

'needleworkers' is the definition.
(I know this)

'with southeastern american accents' is the wordplay.
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'southeastern' becomes 'SE'.
'american' becomes 'Am' (abbreviation in some contexts).
'accents' becomes 'stresses' ('stress' can be a synonym of 'accent').
'se' next to 'am' is 'seam'.
'seam'+'stresses'='SEAMSTRESSES'

(Another definition for seamstresses that I've seen is " they create?".)

I've seen this clue in The Everyman puzzle in The Observer.

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