Pillowcases and Linen Sheets from Anonymous Donors

Ten more pillowcases and linen sheets this time were received by Dress A Girl Australia from anonymous donors. Single Bedsheets usually make about 5 dresses in different sizes or 6 if they are mix and match with other fabric remnants. With the 5 linen sheets received today, I estimate about 25-30 dresses in different sizes can be made. That is 30 little girls somewhere around the world owning at least one dress. Thank you from Dress A Girl Australia.

Please keep them coming...pillowcases, fabrics, linen sheets. Help Dress A Girl Australia reach its goal of at least 500 dresses for girls around the world this Christmas.

To send pillowcase dress materials, please post them to Dress A Girl Australia, P.O. Box 240, Casula NSW 2170.

To know more about this campaign, send email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Making dresses again

58 days away, list of locations to distribute dresses getting longer, more requests to help in distributing dresses around the Asia-Pacific region. With these reasons I think I need to step up in my pillowcase dress christmas drive and start making dresses again. Another target to set up on how many dresses to make between now and end of November and at the same time start packing. 

Coming home from work tonight, I made this dress and a pair of shorts for the boys. 


I also would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to an anonymous donor who sent me pillowcases and fabrics. It is very much appreciated. With these contributions, I was able to make 7 pillowcase dress kits. Thank you from Dress A Girl Australia.

Pillowcase Dress Christmas Drive

We are 59 days away from Christmas. What is the best thing and something different you would like to do this Christmas?

This is Sophie Aussie in her pillowcase dress. Help Sophie Aussie and Dress A Girl Australia put a big smile on a little girl's face by making her wear her own little dress...her own pillowcase dress. Make that little girl's Christmas something different, something new and something more memorable this year by letting her own at least one dress.

Imagine a world where every little girl owns at least one dress and what if that dress were made by you. Or you helped to make that dream come true. Come and join Sophie Aussie and Dress A Girl Australia in making that dream come true for little girls around the world. Come and help Sophie Aussie and Dress A Girl Australia dressed 500 little girls around the world this Christmas. Your help will make a big difference in this world...a big difference to the less fortunate little girls around the world.....one dress at a time...this Christmas.

For pillowcase dress donations, please send them to Dress A Girl Australia, P.O. Box 240, Casula NSW 2170.

Dress A Girl Australia also accepts fabrics, ribbons, elastics, bias tapes, buttons for embellishments if you have any which you no longer need or for those who wants to help raise 500 dresses this Christmas and does not know how to sew, please send them to Dress A Girl Australia and we will sew them for you. Or you can also help by spreading the word around. Let your family, friends, work colleagues know about Dress A Girl Australia.

For more information, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Update on Dress A Girl Australia's Sep 2011 Dress Distribution Second Batch

As everyone may have known by now, Dress A Girl Australia had its first dress distribution last Sept 2011 in the Philippines. The distribution was done in 2 locations.

One was in Mambuaya, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines about 1-1/2 hour away from Manila by plane and Mambuaya was about half-an-hour by car from the city proper itself and this was made possible by the ladies of  Zonta International, CDO chapter. Without these ladies, this location would not have been possible to go to including for safety reasons unless you are familiar with the area.

The second batch of distribution was done in Marikina, Manila by Mr Fred Florendo and his wife Vergie. The plan was to distribute the dresses to the children of families who suffered from Typhoon Ondoy which hit Manila last year and were relocated to a nearby location near Marikina. Some of these families have not yet recovered. All dresses have now been distributed to the children. As requested, pictures were taken of the dresses and the children recipients. The pictures will be made available very soon as Fred and Vergie are having problems uploading the pictures to the address I have provided them. They will be posted on this site as soon as I have them.

I know dress donors are as excited as I am to see the pictures. They will be made available soon so please be patient.

Shorts for the Boys

Dress a Girl Australia is officially launching 'Shorts for the Boys' to distribute along with dresses for little girls and boys around the world. Although any shorts that I can make or can collect from supporters of the Dress A Girl around the world campaign between now and the end of December 2011 will be included for Christmas distribution, the official target date for Dress a Girl Australia's first distribution for the boys will be in 2012 - Easter distribution. A great way to celebrate Dress A Girl Australia's first year anniversary since becoming a  member of the Dress A Girl Around the World campaign of Hope 4 Women International on the 18th of Feb 2011. Dress A Girl Australia was officially launched on the 15th of March 2011.

Campaigning for 'Shorts for the Boys' was prompted by the experience I had when distributing dresses for the first time for Dress A Girl Australia. Watching the little boys just watching their small friends receiving dresses to wear and not a word of complain from any one of them on not receiving anything for themselves. I thought they also deserve to receive something. But for now, focus and priority will be on dresses to meet the goal I have set of 500 dresses for Christmas distribution. We are only 63 days away from Christmas Day.  

Am not really an expert on making dresses as I only started to learn how to make a dress when I started Dress A Girl Australia. Crafting is just a hobby I do whenever I find the time to spare but my desire to sew a dress so every little girl could own at least one dress from this part of the globe and inspire anyone who wanted to do the same made the Dress A Girl Around the world Dress A Girl Sydney and Australia campaign a success so I hope to do the same for 'shorts for the boys'. To everyone who believed and supported me in the dresses for the girls I do hope you will be able to provide the same belief and support for the 'shorts for the boys' campaign.

For more information on Dress A Girl Around the world and Shorts for the Boys, please email me at dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Kiki supports Dress A Girl Australia

Even Kiki* supports Dress A Girl Australia. Wearing a bandanna I have been selling for almost 2 weeks now until the end of this month to support Australian kids with cancer. Cancer affects the lives of thousands of young Australians everyday and what better way to show you care by buying and wearing one. Wear it on the 28th of October designated as Bandanna Day . Show these young peope that they are not alone.

Dress A Girl Australia bought 2 pairs of bandannas. These 2 sets will be  sewn as the skirt section of 2 t-shirt dresses. This way, not only am I helping young people with cancer but am also able to help dress a girl around the world. Two t-shirt dresses for 2 little girls.

Each bandanna cost $4.00. Still available for purchase to anyone who is interested. Please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com for payment details.

*Kiki is my niece Samantha's little dog.

Be inspired by this group of Schoolkids from WA - Sew for Charity Drive Update #3

My third update on the Sew for Charity Drive by the 'The Sewing Library Group'. I believe the drive has ended on the 1st of October and the dresses might be on their way to Dress A Girl Australia.

I'd like to make a very special mention of a group of school kids from the Bridgetown High School of Western Australia who made possible a contribution of 18 dresses to the Charity Drive under the teaching, instruction and guidance of a very patient lady, I must say, in Victoria Meyer who is a member of the 'The Sewing Library Group'. Of the experience of making the dresses with all the students in this picture, she said that 'the great thing is that some of them don't even do Textiles - they just wanted to come and help. It was awesome!!'

From Dress A Girl Australia to all the school kids and to Victoria, my heartfelt thank you for your contribution to the Charity drive and to the Dress A Girl Around the world campaign. What you did is such an inspiration to everyone and I hope it will inspire anyone who gets the chance to read this article. I hope what you and the school kids have accomplished will become a precedence to all other school kids around the world, inspire each and everyone of us to make a difference in this world....one dress at a time....to make this world a better place....as each and everyone of us including the less fortunate little girls in all corners of the globe deserves to own at least one dress. You ought to be proud of what you and the school kids have accomplished. The dresses you made will make a perfect Christmas presents to 18 little girls around the world, put  a big smile on each of their little faces this Christmas!

Thank you to 'The Sewing Library Group' for initiating the drive and to everyone who made a contribution, thank you from Dress A Girl Australia.


** The Sewing Library is a facebook group created with the hope of a community coming together to share their sewing know-how including great tutorials, tips, hints and advices. For those ladies out there who wants to know more and perhaps would like to join the group, click here or copy and paste the URL below in your browser -.
                                 http://www.facebook.com/groups/210023235698596/

What's Up with Dress A Girl Australia

When I came back from my holiday, I experimented on T-shirt dresses and then....bang....I stopped doing anything including Dress A Girl activities with the exception of going to work everyday. I would start to do something and then let it go unfinished. After a 10-day hiatus from doing just about anything, am back doing what I love doing in whatever spare time I could find and that is 'crafting'. I've started making dresses again and I think I will be busy in the next few weeks making handmades to sell for Christmas. Have a pile of ideas for Advent calendars and a bunch of fabric panels to make into calendars and Christmas Tree quilts. These are some of my favourite things to make especially for Christmas.

Click on the link below if you want to see some of my fabric advent calendars and my favourite Christmas Tree
https://picasaweb.google.com/dressagirlaustralia/ChristmasTreeQuiltsAndAdventCalendars?authuser=0&feat=directlink.

During those inactive 10 days though, I still was able to receive some donations from wonderful people, still found the energy to drop a few Dress A Girl labels inside an envelope to mail, also managed to convince someone to start using her sewing machine which was still inside its original box and somehow managed to reply to emails that I received enquiring about the campaign although replying to those emails were not as quick as I would have replied before . Which reminds me, by the way, to let anyone know that the best way to get in touch with me regarding Dress A Girl Australia activities is via email (dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com).

Here are some major activities that happened in Dress A Girl Australia during those lazy days:

1) Received a dozen T-shirts for girls of assorted sizes from a friend (i-craft i-sew). Thank you!
Instead of giving them to girls to wear as is, I was able to convince my friend to make them into t-shirt dresses as then I was experimenting on making t-shirt dresses. No need to buy the fabrics as I have lots of them from my personal collection including extra cuttings I have saved from previous dresses I made (am not only a fabric hoarder but am also a saver of the smallest size one could imagine) and we really didnt need that big fabric sizes. I showed her how I would have done it and...woohoo...check out the dresses that have been made from our combined efforts ((her time+donated shirts) + my fabric materials)

Here is the link to all the t-shirt dresses made so far out of the 12 t-shirts.
         https://picasaweb.google.com/dressagirlaustralia/ICraftISew?authuser=0&feat=directlink

A link is also available on the left navigation bar under 'Dresses Received by Dress A Girl Australia - 'i-craft i-sew'.

2. Received an additional 6 pillowcases from Samantha Richards of Wollongong, NSW. Thank you!

I am thinking of starting to make pillowcase dress kits out of these 6 pillowcases. A high school classmate wants to help make pillowcase dresses and I plan to send her kits in the next couple of weeks. She is going to make them into dresses and then distribute to deserving little girls hopefully to wear on Christmas Day. I hope to complete the dress kits in the next few days. The kit is still missing the instructions which needs to be printed but my old and best mate 'printer' has run out of black ink.


3. Last but not the least, two dresses I was able to make in the last few days which brings Dress A Girl Australia's total dresses collected and on hand for distribution in December to 26. Still a very, very long shot from my goal of 500 dresses but based on the calendar, Christmas Day is still 63 days away so am still very positive that this goal will be met.

The bundle of laces given to me by a highschool classmate is now making a difference in the dresses I make.

Come and join me and everyone else who in their own little way have contributed to this very worthwhile cause of dressing little girls around the world for each of these little girls deserve to own at least one dress. With Christmas fast approaching, now would be the best time to share and spare to these little deserving girls to make their Christmas day something different, something new, something memorable this year.

For more information, please write to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. Dress A Girl Australia would love to receive those spare fabrics you may have and/or pillowcases to make into dresses.

New T-shirt dresses by Dress A Girl Australia

Fully settled after arriving back in Sydney after almost two weeks away, am starting to make dresses again in whatever spare time I could find and becoming more resourceful and adventurous in the kind of dress I make. Have decided to learn how to make t-shirt dresses.

For an hour last Saturday, I did a clean-up of my cabinet for some tshirts that I have not worn in a long time. Most of them had only been worn once or twice and because I take good care of my clothes so well, they still look new. I no longer wear them and I dont think I will be able to wear them again so I decided to make them as the upper section of the dress. Here are 2 dresses I have made out of recycled t-shirts. The fabrics I used in the lower section are remnants I bought in a sale from a fabric shop years ago.

I hope you like them because I know that they would look good when worn by any little girl somewhere out there because she deserves to own at least one dress. These dresses would make a great Christmas present for any girl. These dresses would be included in Dress A Girl Australia's planned second distribution in December.

Dress A Girl Videos

Here are two short Dress A Girl videos I got hold of from Dress A Girl Around the World. Both videos detailed below were created and directed by Rachel Eggum Cinader, the founder of Dress A Girl Around the World and the Director of Hope 4 Women International for everyone to watch.

First video is a visual demonstration on how to make a pillowcase dress. Great for beginners and even for those who already make dresses. Link to this video is available on the right navigation bar under 'Visual Demonstration - How to Make a Pillowcase Dress'. This is a good video to watch in lieu of the Sew-Along I always wanted to hold but cant seem to schedule due to circumstances beyond my control.

Second video is on how each one of us can make a difference with Dress A Girl Around the World. Link to this video is available on the left navigation bar under 'Make a Difference with Dress A Girl Around the World'.

I hope you all enjoy watching these two videos. Watch them in your own time and watch them as many times as you want. Let us all make a difference, make a change to our world one dress at a time.

For more information about Dress A Girl Around the World on this part of the world, please contact Dress A Girl Australia at dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Real handmades, real treasures for their little girls

A few days ago I blogged about a fabric parcel I gave to Dress A Girl Around the World - Philippines. Well, they finally had a blast one Saturday morning making their first pillowcase dresses. Made by hand and made with love for their little girls. 

"The women of Sumulong Baptist Church say, "Thank YOU!"  as they start the first ever

 pillow case dress class. See more pics of their little ones modeling their dresses--they were so excited!" as conveyed to me by Dress A Girl Around the World - Philippines.

Just look at the smile on their faces knowing that they would be making their first pillowcase dress but just imagine how big the smiles would be of their little girls who will be wearing these dresses.

Come and join us on this very worthwhile cause. Make dresses or donate any unused pillowcases or fabrics you may have so we could make them into dresses for little girls around the world who deserves to own at least one dress.

Let us make this world a better place to live in, change the world one dress at a time.

For more information, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

A Bag of Laces

Dress A Girl Australia did not only give away dresses to the children of the city but also received a bag full of laces from a high school classmate as a small gesture of support to the project.

Thank you so much to Mila Escano. This bag of laces will be used to embellish the dresses to make it more pretty to wear by little girls around the world. Thank you from Dress A Girl Australia.

Back to Sydney...Busy with work and Dress A Girl Australia

It is not easy after coming back from a holiday. It is back to reality with work to attend to during the day, catching up with household chores, shopping, checking mailbox for mails and bills to pay, updating several business websites and Dress A Girl Australia activities and emails to attend to including updating  my blog all squeeze in at night after work and on weekends. This is my first weekend after I came back from my holiday and as you can see, I have been doing a lot of updates in my blog, posting pictures from the dress distributions and updating numbers for Dress A Girl Australia. 

I can forget about the tasks at hand but I cannot get away from making a new dress for Dress A Girl Australia's entry to the 'Pieces of Love' competition. A fundraiser celebrating Dress A Girl Around the World's second birthday. This contest is about piecing together 4 different fabrics into a dress.


Inside this envelope which I posted today is the dress I made out of 4 fat quarters on the weekend. Yes, out of 4 fat quarters. Not sure how I was able to do it considering I am not really a dressmaker but this envelope is evidence that I was able to make one. The actual dress made cannot be posted on the internet so you will have to wait until the competition is over if you want to see the dress.

Yes, making a dress is fun and addicting and most especially if it is for a worthy cause. Come and join me in my campaign to dress girls around the world. Send any mesage for more information to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Dresses Received by Dress A Girl Virginia

About 3 weeks ago I blogged about sending a couple of dresses in memory  of Jane from Virginia U.S.A. Today I saw an update that it has been received. Here is a cut and paste of the posting made on Dress A Girl Around the World - Virginia's page:

Her pillowcase dresses clothe girls worldwide#storylink=misearch

Her pillowcase dresses clothe girls worldwide#storylink=misearch