FY12 Dress Distribution #3 - 30 Dresses & 20 shorts for the children of Mumbai India

As mentioned earlier, 30 T-shirt dresses and 20 pairs of shorts left for Mumbai India yesterday morning for the Anugrah home for Children at Ambarnath Maharashtra.  This collection was quite a challenge to collect as it is a culture in India not to wear open dresses so it was either I send pillowcase dresses to wear with T-shirts underneath or just to send dresses with sleeves. Luckily, I was able to raise 30 dresses with sleeves.

Most of these dresses and pairs of shorts, if not all are between the sizes of 5 to 12. They all are one size bigger than the children to allow them to wear the dresses for a longer period of time. My heartfelt thanks to the following donors for making this distribution happen :
1. Deidre Parker
2. i-craft i-sew
3. The Sewing Library
4. Sherry
5. Sandra Hart
6. Katherine Nott
7. Erin from Canberra
8. Becs Bags
9. Dress A Girl Australia

If you want to be involved in Dress A Girl Australia's campaign to dress disadvantaged girls and boys around the world and need more information, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com

"Imagine a world where every girl owned at least one dress and what if that dress were made by you".

Travel Plans

My first travel plan for this year which coincides with my personal holiday will be to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea at the end of June/early July. My sister and I will be handcarrying dresses to distribute to an orphanage/community I have in mind and now making contact with. 

The number of dresses will depend on how many I have dresses remaining after I have filled my allocations for Uganda and Kenya (will know by mid-May) but if there is anyone out there who is willing to help and contribute pillowcase dresses between the sizes of 5 to 13 (children are between the sizes of 4 to 12 but I always provide one size bigger so they could wear it longer) to please do and let me know or send the dresses to my postal address(and please don’t forget to write your name and email address). I will be more than glad to carry and dress the children on your behalf. 

Thank you so much in advance and thank you to everyone who have been very supportive and so far have donated to this cause. Thanks HEAPS! You can also help by continuing to help spread the word around. 

For more details about Dress A Girl Australia, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. Thank you.

Shorts from donated fabrics FY12 #10 - From Erin and other Donors

'sp'egg'tacular easter charity drive #2'. Nine more pairs of shorts were made by Katherine Nott from donated fabric materials bringing her total to 19 for the sp'egg'tacular easter charity drive.

Fabrics used for these batch were donated by Erin from Canberra and several other donors that I have not identified so far since I could not match the fabrics with the photos of donated materials. I will advise once I can find a match.

Again, thank you to Katherine for sewing these pairs of shorts and to the donors of the materials used. Thank you.

30 Dresses & 20 Shorts on its way to Mumbai India

This bag containing 30 T-shirt dresses and 20 pairs of shorts left for Mumbai India this morning for the Anugrah home for Children at Ambarnath Maharashtra. 

Thank you so much to Kate Muir of the Qantas Cabin Crew Team for handcarrying the bag and I hope she has enough time to get to the home and back to Mumbai (takes about two hours to get to the home by cab) to dress the children before flying back to Sydney. 

Kate, wish you all the best in your trip and thank you so much. Your help in making sure that disadvantaged girls around the world especially in India own at least one dress and the boys at least a pair of shorts is very much appreciated. Thank you. 

FY12/Week 16&17 - Dresses completed for 2 weeks by Dress A Girl Australia

I wasnt "sewing productive" this time. Here are the dresses and pairs of shorts I have completed the past two weeks. Three dresses and six pairs of shorts only for 14 days. The public holiday in the middle of the week last week wasnt of much help.

The five pairs of shorts are the last of the pre-cut fabrics for this particular material. I contributed an additional three T-shirt dresses to the Dress A Girl with Hopeful Threads which brings my total to six, two more than I had originally planned to make. I wish I could have made more but the pairs of shorts were more of a priority for my time in case I got short with my allocation for India. Fortunately I received all the pledged donations and received more than I expected. The fabrics used for the skirt section of the Tshirt dresses came from fabrics donated by Claudine Long. The fabric for the pillowcase dress came from my personal collection. T-shirts were donated by i-craft i-sew.

In case some of you are wondering why I am sewing dresses and pairs of shorts regularly, I am collecting dresses and shorts for the disadvantaged children around the world, to let each of them own at least one dress for they deserve to own at least one.

If you want to join me in this journey of making a difference in this world through dresses and pairs of shorts and want more information about this campaign, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Thank you in advance and thank you to the donors who made these items possible.

Dresses from donated fabrics FY12 #9 - from em & femme, Renae Hambrock and others

Time for donation acknowledgement again. These dresses have been long overdue but it is better late than never. I got caught up with other tasks and paperwork my apologies to the donors.

These dresses were sewn by ever-reliable Katherine from fabric materials donated by Em and Femme Designs, Renae Hambrock, Katherine's Katz Kreations and donors who donated fabrics to Katherine but at this stage I cannot seem to match the dresses from the fabric photos I have. Rest be assured that I will keep on looking for a match so proper thanks can be extended.

Thank you Katherine for making these dresses and for your personal donations for disadvantaged children around the world and thank you Em and Femme Designs, Renae Hambrock and to the unidentified donors. Thank you for making a difference to the lives of the girls who one day soon will be wearing these dresses.

Special discount for Dress A Girl Australia Donors

As we all know there are always benefits to enjoy after sponsorship and 'Wrapped in Fabric' has generously offered a 30% discount for every fabric material purchased to donate or to use in making dresses to donate to Dress A Girl Australia. I know how we all love to hoard fabrics but in order to avail of the 30% discount, one must hoard for Dress A Girl Australia to dress the less fortunate children around the world.

Click on the image below to check out what is available -

 or copy and paste the URL below in your internet browser if the link to the image does not work for you -

http://www.wrappedinfabricaustralia.com/

If there is anything you would like to purchase to donate or to sew to donate to Dress A Girl Australia, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com to request for the coupon code to use. Make sure you have the  coupon code to enter before making any purchases or before processing checkouts. The coupon code is required to calculate your discount entitlement. 

Wrapped in fabric..the place where you will want to wrap yourself and disadvantaged children around the world in fabric!

Thank you everyone and to Wrapped in Fabric.... and hope to see you there!

Dress A Girl Australia welcomes 'Wrapped in Fabric'

I’d like to welcome ‘Wrapped in Fabric’ as a new sponsor of Dress A Girl Around the World – Dress A Girl Australia. Its offer of sponsorship came just in time when a lot of us ladies around Australia are having sew much fun making dresses and enjoying helping the less fortunate.

Wrapped in Fabric is a small business operating from Mount Compass, South Australia, a gorgeous small town with altitudes reaching over 400metres above sea level and hosting the Compass Cup, Australia’s only cow race! It became an exclusive online fabric store in 2010 supplying many fabric lovers all over the world and especially servicing customers in rural outback Australia. To visit Wrapped in Fabric's on-line store, please click on the image 

 or copy and paste the URL below into your internet browser.

http://www.wrappedinfabricaustralia.com/

Heaps of thanks to Sandy for believing in Dress A Girl Australia’s cause and offering the sponsorship. Am very positive that the partnership formed between 'Dress A Girl Australia' and 'Wrapped in Fabric' will go a long way in its commitment to help disadvantaged children around the world.

Wrapped in Fabric..the place where you will want to wrap yourself and disadvantaged children around the world in fabric!

Dress A Girl Australia Update

Now that April is finishing up and Dress A Girl Australia’s Easter charity drive is about to close off, I thought I would give everyone an update as to where Dress A Girl Australia is at for the first half of 2012. The response since January 2012 is so overwhelming (sometimes am at a loss for words) and unbelievable. Thank you so much to all the donors, supporters, facebook likers, blog readers, spreaders of the word of the Dress A Girl Around the world campaign. What started as an imagination of a world where every little girl owned at least one dress is slowly becoming a reality by making a difference in the lives of disadvantaged children…one dress at a time... 

The following are scheduled for the first half of 2012. Two more locations have been added due to the number of dresses received. Dresses are allocated on a first-in first-out basis. Any dresses that will not make into any of these locations will be allocated for distribution in the second half of 2012 (sometime in Sept and Oct timeframe in time for Christmas). In between these months if I am able to find volunteers willing to handcarry some of our dresses, then a special distribution will be made.

1) Philippines (Ladies of Zonta International) – 50 dresses and 25 shorts between the sizes of 0 to 4. I am very confident that this group of business professional 'Mums' will be able to find and dress children between the ages of 6months to 4. 

            Target date of departure : FIrst week of May. Fully allocated and now closed

2) ECPAT Philippines – 22 dresses which could not be sent earlier together with the dress kits as sizes were not available.

            Target date of departure : End of April. Fully allocated and now closed.

3) India – 30 dresses and 20 pairs of shorts

        There has been a request to cut down the number of dresses for the children of India by the group who hopefully will be travelling and distributing the dresses

            Target date of departure : Mid-May. Fully allocated and now closed.

4) Uganda – between  100-150 dresses

            Target date of departure is early to mid-May to arrive in Uganda sometime end of  July-early August. Open.

5) Kenya – about 100 dresses

            Target date of departure is early to mid-May to arrive in Kenya sometime end of July-early August. Open.

6) Papua New Guinea – waiting for confirmation.

            Target date of departure is end of June. Open.

List of donors per location will be made available soon so for those who are sending dresses on behalf of a group, please include in your parcel a list of donors and if possible the number of dresses. 

Also, just to let everyone know that I am now looking into the possibility of distributing dresses in Australia as planned in the second half of 2012.

Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for your continued support. If you require more information or want to know more about Dress A Girl Australia’s campaign, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Shorts from donated fabrics FY12 #8 - from Becs Bags, Erin & Katherine

'sp'egg'tacular easter charity drive #1'. Here comes the first batch of shorts for the boys sent in by Katherine Nott. The first 10 pairs of shorts which will be included in the count for the charity drive for 55 pairs of shorts.

Fabrics used for these shorts were donated by Becs Bags, Erin from Canberra and from Katherine's collection. What a great way to start counting and see if Dress A Girl Australia has met its goal of 55 pairs. A number of the shorts that would be collected from the drive will be included in the 'India' collection and the remaining ones will be allocated for a collection I have started for Uganda and soon Kenya.

Katherine, thank you so much for sewing the shorts in such a short notice and once again, thank you to Becs Bags and Erin for the fabric materials donated.

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #36 - Dresses from Sharyn Paull

Fourth name on the list of acknowledgements is Sharyn Paull of Adelaide, South Australia. She has been looking for a charity outlet for a new found obsession with sewing, have started gathering pillowcases and been waiting for an opportunity for a project like Dress A Girl Australia  and was very excited when she found my website. She has been enjoying sewing since then especially now that she knows whatever she is making will be going to someone and that someone somewhere are the disadvantaged children around the world.

Thank you Sharyn for believing and supporting the cause of dressing girls around the world. Every time and effort you spend making these dresses are very well appreciated. Thank you.

If you are like Sharyn who is enjoying sewing dresses for disadvantaged children around the world and wants more information about this cause, please feel free to send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #35 - Dresses from Sew Delicious

'Dress A Girl with Hopeful Threads #2' The third name on the list of donation acknowledgements and the second set of dresses made and contributed to Hopeful Threads' Dress A Girl with Hopeful Threads global project is from Roslyn of Sew Delicious from Preston Victoria.

When I saw the dresses the first thing that came to mind was I wish the recipients of these two dresses would be girl twins. Wouldnt these look great on them? 

To Roslyn of Sew Delicious, thank you so much for the twin dresses. I really hope that it would be a pair of twins who will get to receive these dresses. Thank you. Your effort is much appreciated.

The Hopeful Threads' Dress A GIrl with Hopeful Threads is still going on and stronger each day until the end of April. If you wish to join, please visit Hopeful Threads site for more details. Would love to receive more dresses from this global project. If globalization does not seem to be working in the business environment, it definitely is working in the crafting world of handmades. Globalizing for the good of the world - sewing for disadvantaged children around the world. 

So come one...come all... and join in the fun of making dresses for the less fortunate children around the world. Thank you in advance!

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #34 - Dress from Sherry

'Dress A Girl with Hopeful Threads #1' Second on the list is Sherry from Leda, Western Australia with her dress donation to Dress A Girl Australia. This dress is one of the first dresses contributed to Hopeful Threads' Dress A Girl with Hopeful Threads global project for Dress A Girl Around the World.

Something different. here is the tea towel dress donated by Sherry.  

The dress actually comes with a small shoulder bag that matches the dress but I miss to include when taking a picture. Thank you so much for the dress and the small bag that came with it, Sherry. It is very much appreciated. I think you just gave me an idea on how to make a dress out of several fat quarters I have and would like to donate to Dress A Girl Australia's cause.Thank you!

Project Updates - How is Everyone Doing?

Earlier this month I wrote about two big projects happening this month of April. Here is a friendly reminder to all those who would like to join and have some fun making dresses and/or pairs of shorts for disadvantaged children around the world.

For those who have joined, your participation is very much appreciated. For those who are still about to join, please feel free to start those sewing machines rolling. There are still ten days left in the month to participate and catch-up. Come on...dont be shy. Just imagine the number of disadvantaged children around the world who would be smiling knowing that they soon would own a dress of their own.

The charity about to end at the end of this month is the sp'egg'tacular Easter charity drive for 55 pairs of shorts for boys. The drive has now exceeded 55 pairs but donations are still welcome until the 30th of April. There will be 55 disadvantaged boys who will have new pairs of shorts raised from this drive but there are more than 55 boys from around the world who need new pairs too.

The second charity project that is still going on and has raised more than a 100 dresses and is now aiming for doubling the target to 200 is Hopeful Threads' Dress A Girl with Hopeful Threads. A global project for the month of April for Dress A Girl Around the world. As of today, Dress A Girl Australia has contributed 4 dresses to the project and I hope to make it half-a-dozen by the end of this month.

This project is still going strong and still welcoming more dresses with open arms on behalf of all the less fortunate children around the world. If you want to join and want to know more details about it, please feel free to click on the image below. 

Dress A Girl Australia hopes to see you, your name or anyone, anyones name join in any of these two big projects, two big causes to support the less fortunate children around the world. Thank you in advance!

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #33 - More t-shirts from 'i-craft i-sew'

After a 7-day hiatus on donation acknowledgements, it is time to say thank you once again to supporters of Dress A Girl Australia's cause. First on a quite a list is 'i-craft i-sew' who once again is donating T-shirts to be made into T-shirt dresses. This time although they are broken sizes (probably the reason why they were cheap according to the donor) they are aimed for six children between the ages of 10 to 12. With the number of fabric remnants from donated fabrics pre-cut for pillowcase dresses, these T-shirts will be very well provided.

To i-craft i-sew, thank you so much for your unwavering support to the cause of Dress A Girl Around the World - Dress A Girl Sydney and Australia. It is very much appreciated. You have by now made a lot of girls smile for the opportunity to own a T-shirt dress which some of them probably never dreamed they will own one. Thank you.

Dress A Girl Australia also welcomes donation of T-shirts especially for disadvantaged children in locations where open dresses such as the pillowcase dress is not culturally acceptable. For more information about this, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Sewing Bee Invite for all ladies in Kapunda

To all the ladies in Kapunda, South Australia and nearby suburbs. If you have nothing planned to do on the 12th of May  and 30th of June, please mark your calendars for another sewing bee day in Kapunda being organized by Deborah Parish. Please see below the invite to the sewing bee and the contact details.

Hope you all join Deborah on these days and have fun making dresses for disadvantaged children around the world! Don't miss the fun!

Another fundraiser item - Dress Kits for Sale

A few months back I packaged pillowcase dress kits for the main purpose of selling to those who do not know how to sew or do not have any sewing machine or does not have the time to sew but wants to donate to Dress A Girl Australia. I donated $30.00 to purchase metres of fabrics that were on sale and accessories such as threads, elastics, ribbons, buttons and bias tapes. The kits were $10.00 each and I was to sew the kits into a pillowcase dress and provide a picture of the dress sewn to the buyer. I sold 8 kits at that time.

One day last week I wasn’t feeling too well to go to work and I found an excuse to go to a fabric shop to purchase fabrics and accessories to make into kits again. I have packaged 15 kits and are now available for purchase still at $10.00 each. The kit similar to the first release includes the following :

 (1) Pre-cut fabric to make a dress, 

 (2) Sewing thread, 

 (3) 2x of 36" bias tape

 (4) 2x of 8" elastics

 (5) Buttons, ribbon or accessories

 (6) piece of fabric for pockets 

 

The sale of these kits will go directly to Dress A Girl Australia's postage fund. Everything on this kit have been purchased by me for the purpose of selling to raise funds for postage. Unfortunately I cannot afford to give away kits for free as I want to be able to distribute more dresses to more locations with disadvantaged children so I need these kits to be sold to help fund the packing and sending out of parcels.

Anyone interested to purchase to donate to Dress A Girl Australia, please click here.  If the link does not work, please copy and paste the URL below to your web browser.

http://www.dressagirlaustralia.com.au/gallery/Pillowcase%2BDress%2BKits

There are 7 left of the kits so hurry before they are all gone! Thank you to those who have purchased the kits. Thank you for your donation.

Anyone who wants more information about these kits or what Dress A Girl Around the World - Dress A Girl Australia is all about, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Update on parcels sent to Dress A Girl Australia

Hi Everyone, I know a lot of you are keen to know about your parcels. I now have about 10 card notifications from Australia Post. I didnt do any parcel claims last Saturday as I had to attend a funeral. Weekdays are not good days for me to pickup as the postoffice is already close by the time I get there from work.
I will claim all the parcels outstanding this Saturday so dont worry and I will let each one who has sent me a parcel know by email.

Thank you for your understanding and thank you for your continued support of Dress A Girl Australia! it is much appreciated! Thank you!

Gifts for Mum this Mother's Day

Mother's Day is fast approaching. If you have a mum who seems to have everything and you dont know what to give, if you think your mum deserves something more special like a handmade treasure, here is another treasure to keep to think about. A selection of 7 small quilts in various sizes and are all on special price of $39.95 each.

All small quilts come with bonus dowel with stopends for easy hanging. Each quilt is frameable all you have to do is remove the dowel. 

I made these small quilts and are one of a kind.  They are available for purchase in Dress A Girl Australia's gallery. All proceeds from the sale of these quilts will go to the postage fund of Dress A Girl Australia. Hurry before they are all gone! 

And dont forget our special buttons and keychain mirror-backed buttons for Mum also available for purchase here. A few more button image choices will be made available very soon.

Any questions you may have, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

FY12/Week 15 - Dresses completed for the week by Dress A Girl Australia

Here are the dresses and pairs of shorts I have completed during the week. The Monday of the long Easter weekend helped me make 4 T-shirt dresses, 2 pillowcase dresses and 2 pairs of shorts.

The pillowcase dresses and 2 pairs of shorts are from fabrics I bought from a sale. When I saw this fabric two weeks ago, two words came to mind. Uganda and Africa. With the colour combination of the material, I thought it would look great on little girls in Africa and/or Uganda I had to buy it. I bought the last five metres available for $12.00 and looking at what I have sewn I have no regrets. Not everyone may like the bright colours but hey, making dresses are supposed to be fun and colours help too and I love it!

The T-shirt dresses are a combination of donations from 'i-craft i-sew' who donated a couple of dozens of T-shirts and the materials for the skirts are from fabrics I received from anonymous donors also from last year. They are remnants from fabrics that were pre-cut into pillowcase dress kits by my sister earlier in the month. With Dress A Girl Australia, nothing goes to waste.

I had included the pillowcase dresses in Hopeful Threads' "April 2012 Dress A Girl with Hopeful Threads" global project of 100 dresses since the fabric is a new donation to Dress A Girl Australia and would add value to the project since the 2 dresses have not been included in any count at all nor included in any forecasted or projected number of dresses to be included in a collection. 

As usual no how-to's but just information as to what I have accomplished during the last week. Thank you to 'i-craft i-sew' for the T-shirts and the 2011 anonymous donors for the fabric materials.

If you want to know more about Dress A Girl Around the World - Dress A Girl Sydney and Australia, please send me an email at dressagirlaroundtheworld@gmail.com.

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #32 - Fabric from work colleague

This very dainty and pretty Minnie Mouse fabric was donated by Joan Lui, a work colleague of mine. She's had this fabric for years and never knew even until now what to do with it. Then she heard and knew about what I was/am doing during my spare time and of Dress A Girl Australia. Last week she handed me a plastic bag and asked if I could make something out of the fabric and will it be ok to donate to my cause. I said to her why not. In fact I made sure whether she really wanted to donate it because this seems to be a vintage Minnie Mouse material and she said it was ok.

I promised her I will make a dress for her and give her a picture. Today I realized I can actually make 2 dresses from the material.

Joan, thank you so much for the vintage material. Whoever is going to be the recipient of the two dresses may not know who Minnie Mouse is and may never know who she is but will be very happy, stand proud and tall when they wear the dresses for they both will be wearing new dresses which they can finally call their own. 

Thank you, Joan.

Postage Fundraising

After a night of brainstorming, I finally came up with an idea on how to raise funds for postage for my parcel for  Uganda, if circumstances permits, will be sent in May. The parcel I hope will include 100 dresses and 100 pairs of shorts for the boys.

One of the items I will be selling to help raise funds is this keychain-silver-mirror-backed button of the world's greatest mum. I used to make and sell this for $6+ but for fundraising purposes - and what a good time to sell - the biggest event of all time to celebrate and honor the #1 person in everyone's life - am selling it at $5.00+.60 postage each.

So if you have a mum who seems to have everything and you dont know what to give her anymore, this mirror keychain could be what she lacks. Something small enough to put inside the purse but big in purpose as a keychain and as a mirror. Think about the number of children who will be benefitting from the purchase of this item. It is definitely for a very good and worthwhile cause. 

If you are interested, please send me an email at dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

The keychain-silver-mirror backed button  is also available for purchase at Dress A Girl Australia's gallery.

My Easter chick has moved again!

After 2 weeks of the Sp'egg'tacular Easter Drive for 55 pairs of shorts for the boys, for the second time my Easter chick has moved again. I have now received 23 pairs against my goal of 55 -

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated. Dress A Girl Australia appreciates every minute you spend making these pairs of shorts.  And dont worry if the 'easter chick' has reached its target of 55. There are more children in this world needing to own at least one pair of shorts each not just 55. Thank you.

What's keeping Dress A Girl Australia busy?

Last night I did 3 parcel allocations totalling about 102 dresses and 40 pairs of shorts. Hopefully they all will leave Sydney for their respective destinations before the end of April. 

My next wish is to be able to send 100 dresses and 100 pairs of shorts to a village in Masaka Uganda by May.  Dress A Girl Australia is on a brainstorming mode thinking of ways on how or what the best way is to send the parcel, how to raise funds for postage if needed. One thing is clear and sure and that is to send these 100 dresses and 100 pairs of shorts for the children in need in another part of Uganda.

If you are interested or would like to donate dresses and/or pairs of shorts for the next Dress A Girl Australia's collection leaving in May if circumstances permit, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

More Fabric Cuts from Donated Materials

Today is the last day of the long weekend and still have a lot of catching up to do including packing two parcels for distribution but my sister has accomplished a lot . Here is the second batch of fabrics she cut up for pillowcase dresses from donated materials. In between pottery making(her latest 'baby') she cuts Dress A Girl Australia's fabrics so it is easy for me to sew or create kits. These are from her latest cuttings  which I picked up from her house last Saturday - and look at the way she packed them up - tied with strings by size

8 fabric cuts  for Size 6

13 fabric cuts for Size 7

25 fabric cuts for Size 8

Several panels useable for T-shirt dresses and possibly 2 cuts for a size 4 dresses. 

That is 48 fabric cuts all in all for 48 girls around the world in addition to the first batch of 28. Hopefully by the end of this week my sister would have finished cutting all the fabrics I have received so far including those that are meant for pairs of shorts. I also gave her about 5 metres of special  breast cancer fabrics which I bought about 4 years ago as a donation when I was on a US holiday. My holiday trips to the US always means a luggage half-full of fabrics on my way back. 

When these are all done my spare room would look more organized and clean and I can easily select any fabric I want to sew or to make into kits whether for a pillowcase dress or a pair of shorts anytime during the day, week, weekend and/or month.

Thank you Joan!

Gift of Hope for the less fortunate children of the world

It is a special holiday that is always celebrated on a Sunday but can happen either in the month of March or April. But it is more than just a special holiday. I always think of Easter as a symbol of new life and hope. And because of this, when i woke up this morning I created this special dress in pink as my Easter gift to the less fortunate children around the world to give them hope in this world and to let them know that they are being looked after by a lot of kind-hearted people all over the world.

Happy Easter to all the children most especially to the less fortunate children around the world.

I decided to make a T-shirt dress as my gift of hope to disadvantaged girls around the world and as my contribution to Dress A Girl with Hopeful Threads' 'Let's Sew 100 Dreses together' for Dress A Girl Around the World. My sister is almost done cutting up the bundles of fabrics I have received for pillowcase dresses and she also collected a pile of fabric cuts good enough to use for the skirt section of a T-shirt dress. 

The T-shirt is one of the 15 t-shirts donated by i-craft i-sew last year (there are several more to be done I think) and the fabric cut was donated by an anonymous donor in the 'share-the-love' this valentines day charity drive. Thank you.

Didnt I say I was going to make a pair of shorts for every dress I make for Dress A Girl with Hopeful Threads? I think I did and that would be my first task when I come home tonight from a family Easter lunch celebration. Now all I have to do is find the flickr group to post this dress and am off to a big celebration.

If you want to join in this global sewing project of Hopeful Threads, please check out the details on the link below:

                 Hopeful Threads April 2012 Monthly Project Announcement

Happy Easter Everyone!

Hallelujah

New Life....New Hope

May everyone's Easter be a time of remembrance 

and renewal 

and a time of sunlight and beauty.

Happy Easter everyone

from Dress A Girl Australia!

Interesting conversation with my mother

My mum rang me this morning to let me know that a family friend died yesterday.  Then we started chatting about a lot of small things that have happened or happening, what to bring for our family Easter lunch tomorrow and then the subject of Dress A Girl Australia came up. 

My mum : Where can I buy pillowcases and fabrics because I think I am going to start sewing dresses. 
(She was very amused with the images in the calendar I gave her of children from all over the world wearing the same type of dresses now she wants to join and make dresses herself. I gave her the only wall copy (and literally the only copy ever) of the Dress A Girl calendar I made) 

Me: I could give you some to sew.
(The first ten dollars I spent on fabrics actually came from her.)

My mum: No I want to buy my own. And when the dresses are done, I want you to send it to a special location. 
(This location is very close to her heart because this is where she was born. It is another two hours away from the city of Cagayan de Oro, Phils where I was born.)

Me: That place relies on the postal services from the city so that would mean the cost to send the parcel over there will really be very expensive. To comply with your request (I said jokingly) you will have to pay for the postage. 

And she agreed! So now I have a new campaigner in my mother. Welcome to Dress A Girl Australia, Jolly Nelly! 

I guess it is my mother's small way of saying thank you to the world for giving her a very good life and wants to share something back by providing dresses to the less fortunate children in her native birthplace. My Dad would have been very proud of her and would have even offered to do the packing and sending or even volunteered to travel and handcarry the dresses if he was still with us. My Dad was the most kind and compassionate person I have ever known in my entire life and we still miss him even though he has left this world almost five years ago. He was always a happy person and I believe had a very fulfilled life.

Thank you to my mummy for supporting a very worthwhile cause. And watch this space to see the dresses she will be making.

Since I started Dress A Girl Australia, I met and made connections with a lot of people and the first thing they always say to me is that they always wanted to help, share something to the world but they did not know what to do or how to do it and where to talk to about it. Well, Dress A Girl Australia is here to help you help other people and if you agree with my mother, then come and join us in this campaign of dressing the less fortunate girls around the world. For more information about this campaign, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Status of my Shorts Marathon

When I launched the drive for 55 pairs of shorts last Wed, the 28th of March, the following day I decided to sew 2 pairs of shorts every night for the next ten nights. I had pre-cut the three bundles of fabrics I was going to use. Eight nights have passed and I have two more nights to go (tonight and tomorrow night) and this is what I have got.

Five pairs of shorts 

and 18 pre-cut fabrics.

And there is no way I will be able to catch up sewing all 20 by tomorrow night. What to do!

Well, at least I still have pre-cut fabrics to sew into shorts which makes me feel better compared to nothing to sew at all. And now am off to take care of a personal cause(walking to shed off some kilos).

Dress A Girl Australia Billboard One Day Soon

Would'nt you love to see this billboard of Dress A Girl Australia at your local train stations?
'Imagine a world where every little girl owned at least one dress..What if that dress were made by you!'

Dress A Girl Australia, a dreamer, a daydream believer says 'One day soon by Dress A Girl Australia'

As Walt Disney once said 'if you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember this whole thing was started by a mouse.'

My Easter chick is moving!

WooHoo!! My 'easter chick' is moving. As of today, I have received 18 pairs of shorts for the boys and received notifications from donors of another 24 on the mail. Thank you so very much!

Where my Easter Chick is As of the 6th of April 2012

Your generosity is so moving and so inspiring (and it is only the 6th of April...got 24 days to go till end of April) it makes me work harder and smarter to find more girls and boys around the world who deserves to own at least one dress or a pair of shorts you all have kindly donated. I know there are a lot of these children out there I just have to find the smartest and easiest way to get to them! 

And I found one! I made contact with a volunteer group who can distribute dresses between the sizes of 1 to 4. More on this in the coming weeks!

Donation acknowledgements will be coming up soon. Thank you!

Two Big Events in April - Come and Join Us!

Two big events are going on this month of April -

The Sp'egg'tacular Easter Charity Drive for '55 pairs of shorts' for the boys by Dress A Girl Australia. Will be running until the 30th of April.

and the 'Let's Sew 100 Dresses Together' April 2012 Monthly Project of Hopeful Threads. Please click on the image below to know more about this project.

Today is only the 4th of April so you have 26 days more to go to join in any of these 2 great projects. 

Dont think....just come and join us! It will be a lot of fun...you will not regret it!

 Sewing lovers coming together for a good cause. 
A global sewing project for sewing lovers if you are joining the 'Let's Sew 100 Dresses together'.
A good time to start with the long weekend coming up for Australians.

Meet the ladies of Kapunda, South Australia

I would like to share a photo of the ladies of Kapunda, South Australia on their first ever sewing bee for Dress A Girl Around the world especially for those readers out there who does not have a facebook account or do not want to add 'facebooking' in their daily activities.

This event happened last Saturday, 31st of March and was organized by Deborah Parish. I had this photo posted in my facebook page with the caption of -

'I have to post this as I feel so proud and happy. Meet the ladies of Kapunda South Australia on their first sewing bee. So full of energy, happy and proud with what they have accomplished. Well done, Deborah'

Here is more good news! More sewing bees have been organized. Deborah has them scheduled on the 12th of May and 30th of June 2012. Location will be provided once I have confirmed the details.

So ladies in Kapunda or anywhere near the area, if you have nothing planned on these dates, tick your calendars now for another fun day of sewing to make dresses for the less fortunate girls around the world.

For those who want to organize their own sewing bees and need more information, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Welcome to Dress A Girl Australia!

I wonder why I never do this everytime I get a notification of a new Dress A Girl Around the world campaigner.

To all the new campaigners and supporters from Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and even Manly NSW, you know who you are, I welcome all of you with wide open arms to Dress A Girl Australia. 

The word has spread and still spreading of a world where every little girl owned at least one dress and what if that dress were made by you.

Welcome!

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #31 - 29 Dresses from Linda Smyth

Well, its high time I acknowledge this donation of 28 smocking dresses from Linda Smyth in various sizes from 7 to 12 and one size 5 dress with sleeves. Very special dresses and fully handmade by Linda. Six of these dresses have already been packed and sent for distribution to Uganda. These dresses remind me of my prom dress especially when I see the fabric flower attached to it. Am pretty sure whoever is going to receive these dresses would look beautiful on them. 

Linda has been sending dresses to orphanages in Zimbabwe (if I can remember the country right) through the Catholic Mission. She got excited when she knew about Dress A Girl Australia. She is trying to organize for the local schools in her suburb to be involved in making dresses.

To Linda, thank you so much for your support and for these wonderful dresses. It was nice meeting you.

FY12 Dress Distribution #2 - 10 Dresses for 10 special children of CDO

This is the second distribution for the year 2012 by Dress  A Girl Australia but the first Dress Distribution by Lilia Tapia. She made all the dresses out of the pillowcase dress kits I sent to her in late December 2011.

Actual distribution to 10 special girls she personally handpicked at the Kids Ministry, Victory Christian Fellowship on the 25th of March 2012. Because she only had 10 dresses to distribute, it took her a while to make a decision as to who the lucky recipients would be but she made it in the end and below are pictures of the distribution session.

To Lilia, thank you for sewing and sharing the dresses in your part of the world. It is very much appreciated, And I look forward to you sewing more dresses for the children of CDO, Philippines.

CDO or Cagayan de Oro City is located in the northern coastline of the island of Mindanao which is the second giant of the archipelago of all the landmass of the Philippines in the country's southern portion. 

If you want to see more children owning dresses for they deserve to own at least one, please help or support Dress A Girl Australia's campaign to dress disadvantaged girls around the world.  For more information, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.
Dress A Girl Australia needs you!

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #30 - Bundles of Fabrics from Meredith

A couple of days spent cutting from a box filled with fabrics from Meredith Kain is donation #30 to Dress A Girl Australia. 

These cuttings created the following dress kits -
                           Size 8 = 7 kits
                           Size 7 = 1 kits
                           Size 6 = 12 kits
                           Size 5 = 2 kits
About 7 lengths of fabrics in various sizes which can be used as skirts for about 7 t-shirt dresses and 20 pieces of 8" x 8" square blocks. 

There were still several bitsy pieces left that will be cut into round pieces of various  sizes which I can use to make into fabric flowers or fabric yo-yos to embellish some of the dresses. Other scraps will be added to my fabric scrap bin. Contents of my fabric scrap bin will be sent to Alice Jalland later in the month. Alice who is doing volunteer work with ECPAT Phils.(recipients of pillowcase dress kits) plans to implement creative activities for the children who are with this organization and these scraps will be put to good use learning new crafting skills. 

My heartfelt thanks to Meredith for the box of fabrics which is going to provide dresses to about 30 less fortunate girls around the world and also help in developing special crafting skills for special children who one day I hope with the skills they will learn making use of these scraps will help them have a better future. Thank you.