Donation Acknowledgement FY2012 #124 - From another MUM Wendy

MBCCD #3 Another mum and daughter team for the third contribution to the Make-it or Break-it Christmas charity drive. #124 on the list is from Wendy Mann with daughter Prudence sewing the dresses on her behalf. Isnt that great to have a mum-daughter working together and we get to see more smiling faces around the world, from places where a smile is considered very precious as it does not happen that often.
Here are the dresses from fabrics donated by Wendy and sewn by Prudence in various sizes -

To Prudence, thank you so much for sewing the dresses and please extend my heartfelt thanks to your mum Wendy. What a great team you make and thank you for supporting Dress a girl (around the world) Australia in its campaign to make every little girl own at least one dress. Thank you ladies!

Donation Acknowledgement FY2012 #123 - From MUM Betty

MBCCD #2 Unless the parcel is actually opened, I never know what the contents are, where it actually came from  and who was responsible for sewing and sending. It is the note inside the parcel that tells me all about it. And for this particular donation which is #123 in the acknowledgment list and the second contribution to the Christmas charity drive, the dresses actually came from Betty, the 85-year old mum of Sharyn Paull. The fabrics were bought by Betty and given to daughter Sharyn to sew. The cost to send the dresses to Dress A Girl Australia was paid for by mum Betty too and posted by Sharyn. A mum and daughter teamwork in making a difference to the lives of 10 disadvantaged girls anywhere in the world. 
Here are the dresses sewn by Sharyn on behalf of her mother Betty -

To Sharyn, thank you for making the dresses and please extend my heartfelt thank you to your mum Betty for finding her own way of contributing to the cause of dressing the less fortunate girls around the world. Thank you ladies. Much appreciated.

Donation Acknowledgement FY2012 #122 - From Monika Osvald

MBCCD #1 Yes, this is the start of acknowledging donations made under the 'Make-it or 'Break-it' Christmas Charity Drive started on the 1st of Oct and ending on the 31st of Dec 2012. Number 1 on the list is Monika Osvald. She sent a collection of 3 pillowcase dresses, 11 pairs of shorts (long and short) and for the first time since I started campaigning and collecting - Scarves. They are so cute and can you imagine the girls wearing their new dresses with scarves on their heads? I would love to see a picture of them.

Monika, thank you for your thoughtfulness. The scarves are a great idea especially for fabric scraps. And thank you for the pairs of shorts and the dresses. It is much appreciated. Thank you.

Dress A Girl Australia Christmas Cards now available for sale

WooHoo!! After almost a week of late nights I finally made it. Fully designed, created and printed in my old and reliable inkjet printer. I was quite hesitant to make one as I know printed greeting cards are no longer in these days but I believe there are still people out there who still wants to send greeting cards the conventional way so decided to take my chances. If I can make them digital I would but there isnt much time to do it and am very busy even at work and I want to take advantage of the Christmas season. Having them made somewhere else was not part of the equation and besides I had to order thousands to sell it at a price I wanted. It will take a lot of cards to sell if I want to send all the parcels I have and a lot of time and effort to make them available but any sale from any of the cards will be a big help. I know the end result will be very rewarding. And...such a great relief when I finished it (wouldnt feel drowsy at work anymore! hehehe!) 

Dress A Girl Australia Christmas cards are now available for sale. The cards come in 4 colors - green, red, blue and multi-color. They are of the standard greeting card size which is 110mm x 155mm. Has a blank inside panel for personal message and comes with a matching white envelope just like any normal greeting card. The only difference is that these cards are purely handmade. The only thing bought is the blank card itself.
Here is a sample of the card -

Card sells for $1.50 each plus postage of 60cents and for a pack of 10 it will cost you $12.50 plus postage of $1.80. Great value for money if you have many friends to greet. Proceeds from the sale will help defray the cost of sending more parcels overseas this Christmas. So come and check out these items in my shop under Christmas Cards. 

Please help spread the word about these special Christmas cards. It will bring a lot of joy and gladness to a lot of disadvantaged children around the world. Thanks in advance!

*** Sometimes it is difficult for the system to calculate the right postage as my postage table is set for other items as well in the e-shop, if you were charged more in postage for buying Christmas cards compared to the actual cost of sending the cards to you and if the excess is more than $1.00, I can either refund the excess amount to you or put in another card equivalent to the excess amount. You will be notified when this happens. ***

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #121 - Dresses from Linda Smyth

This is the last in the list of donations for the year 2012 and parcels after this batch will now be counted as part of the FY2012 'Make-it' or 'Break-it' Christmas Charity Drive. The final donation in the list is number 121 from Linda Smyth. A collection of 17 beautiful dresses for 17 disadvantaged girls anywhere in the world. Linda also collects fabric donations from friends and I think from members of their church and drops them off together with the dresses she made.

Thank you, Linda, for consistently supporting Dress A Girl (Around the World) Australia. Thank you for all the lovely dresses and please extend my heartfelt thanks to all the fabric donors for their generosity and kindness. Together we make a difference especially to the lives of the less fortunate children around the world. A single dress or a bundle of fabric may not mean anything to other people but it means the whole world for these less fortunate children.  Thank you.

Dress Sizes and a bit of this and that

I hope everyone is having a good week. I thought I should let everyone know that after doing a lot of sorting and packing the past couple of weeks, dress sizes between 7 and 10 would be most desirable if anyone is making dresses to donate to Dress A Girl Australia. 

Also, I will be selling Christmas cards made by me to sell to help defray the cost of sending parcels this Christmas. I want to be able to send more parcels. Proceeds from the sale of the cards will help a lot. Once I have completed them, the cards will be posted on this site. 

Dont forget the Charity Auction for Dress A Girl Australia starting on the 2nd of November to the 7th of November. Auction starts 7pm. Please check out the site by clicking on the link below. You may see something you like.
                                     Charity Auction for Dress A Girl Australia

'Make-it' or 'Break-it' Christmas charity drive is now fully underway. If you want to share the spirit of Christmas with the less fortunate children around the world, join us on this charity drive of making dresses and pairs of shorts. Create a mess of handmade dresses and pairs of shorts in Dress A Girl Australia's living room this Christmas. Gifts that will make real differences to kids who needs it the most. Please feel free to send your items as early as possible to Dress A Girl Australia, P.O Box 240 Casula Mall Casula NSW 2170

Thanks everyone!

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #120 - Bundles of Fabrics from Sylvia Lowe

Number 120 on the list are bundles of fabrics from Sylvia Lowe. These bundles were dropped off at my place by Linda Smyth.

Imagine how many girls can own a dress with these bundles. To Sylvia, thank you for helping us make a difference in this world, for making children happy with your fabric donations. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #119 - From Annette Norley

Number 119 on the list is from Annette Norley. A generous collection of 28 dresses and 8 pairs of shorts. Annette is actually the sister of Frances Cornish, another strong supporter of Dress A Girl Australia from Canberra. I did'nt know this until I opened her parcel tonight and read the note she had inside the parcel that her sister Frances got her interested in the project and had been busily sewing for Dress A Girl Australia. Thank you Frances.
Here are the peasant dresses and the shorts Annette made for 28 less fortunate girls and 8 less fortunate boys around the world -

To Annette, thank you so much for your generosity and kindness. It is much appreciated. And to Frances, thank you for spreading the word.

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #118 - From Sharyn and Betty Barrett

I think am starting to have a difficult time catching up with the ladies in sewing especially with Betty Barrett. Full of energy and enthusiasm to make a difference in this world especially to the disadvantaged boys and girls around the world at the age of 85 is so very admirable. Since she learned about this campaign she has never looked back and just kept on sewing and sewing. I think even Sharyn Paull who introduced her to the program cant seem to catch up with her.

Number 118 on the donation acknowledgement list is a collection of 11 dresses and 15 pairs of shorts from Betty and another 4 dresses from Sharyn. Am combining their contributions because it came in one parcel and the cost to send the parcel to Sydney was donated by Sharyn's mum Betty who unfortunately cannot do sewing anymore these days(used to do a lot of sewing before) but still wants to help by paying for the postage. And if I can remember it right, she bought lots of fabrics to keep these 2 sewing ladies busy. Here are the dresses and pairs of shorts from Betty -

and the dresses from Sharyn -

Thank you so much Sharyn and please extend my heartfelt thank you to Betty and your mum Betty. Thank you for helping make a difference to the lives of the less fortunate girls and boys around the world. One small dress or one pair of shorts...for some it could be just an ordinary dress or shorts but for these children it could be their world. Thank you.

Teamwork for a team dress from team donations.

I wanted to come up with a complete dress so all the children have to do (5 of them) is happily wear them. I say 'happily' because each of the skirts when I look at it looks happy. :-)  And so I came up with a team dress of 5 which is a teamwork donation from 5 generous donors. Here is what I came up -

The skirts were sewn by Loretta Vodic and the t-shirts were donated by Valda Ridley(1x), Lynn Crossley(2x), my sister Joan(1x) and i-craft i-sew(1x). How is that for a teamwork for a team dress from team donations. Thank you ladies! Ladies really rule when we want to. Thanks!

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #117 - From the Ladies of Kapunda S.A. Sewing Bee #5

Yes, another big batch of dresses from the Ladies of Kapunda, South Australia on their fifth sewing bee. A collection of  26 dresses and 5 skirts. Dresses on this batch are actually very cute. The 5 skirts were made by Loretta Vodic (and who by the way, did all the labelling on the dresses. Thanks!) and the dresses were sewn by Deborah Parish(4x), Shirley Bell(2x), Chris Redden(7x), Loris Pullen(11x) and Margaret Adair(2x).
Here are the dresses and the skirts from the collection -

As always, Ladies, thank you so much for your dedication in this campaign. Thank you for your unwavering support of making sure that every girl gets to own at least one dress for each of them deserves to own one. Thank you all for your kindness and generosity. Much appreciated.

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #116 - from Margaret Adair

I was about to call it a night when I saw a glimpse of my floor. I had dresses on the floor ready to be pictured but got distracted for almost three hours trying to find a template I had of a monthly calendar in my computer drive. My camera was right next to my PC. The file searching led me from one thing to another the dresses were forgotten. If only the dresses could speak! :-)

Anyway, #116 on the donation list is a collection of 10 dresses from another Kapunda lady. This time from Margaret Adair. Here are the dresses -

How can one forget these 10 pretty dresses for 10 pretty little girls anywhere in the world. To Margaret, thank you so much for your generosity and kindness. Thank you for helping make a difference in the lives of another 10 less fortunate girls around the world. It is much appreciated. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #115 - from Loris Pullen

Still going on strongly to reach my goal, am now on donation #115 which is a collection of 4 pairs of shorts from a Kapunda lady by the name of Loris Pullen. Loris has been regularly providing Dress A Girl Australia pairs of shorts she made. Here are the shorts she donated this time -

Thank you Loris for your kindheartedness and unwavering support of providing pairs of shorts for the disadvantaged boys around the world. Thank you so much.

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #114 from Lyn Crossley

Last night I saw a picture of a Ugandan girl holding a little boy toddler who practically didnt have any clothing at all. A friend suggested that I post the picture here in my blog. The moment I saw it I decided not to post the picture. I know that the picture represented reality in some less fortunate locations around the world but I didnt see the need to show it to the world. I felt depressed just looking at it. This donation is the answer to that picture and I am very grateful.

Donation #114 on the list is from Lynn Crossley and is a collection of 7 boys' tops, 10 girls' tops, 5 boys undies, 5 packs of 7 each girls undies and 1 pair of shorts. Now I know where this pack is going.

My heartfelt thanks to Lynn for this wonderful package. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. It is much appreciated. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #113 - from Deidre

One of the four or is it five parcels to acknowledge and then the Christmas Charity Drive collections will start. Number 113 on the list is a collection of 13 dresses from Deidre Parker. 

Deidre is another pioneer of Dress A Girl Australia with one of her dresses worn by a little girl on this picture (very first on the left) in the very first dress distribution I made last year, the picture that made a name for Dress A Girl Australia and I hope would become a household name in the many years to come.

Deidre, thank you so much for your continued patronage of this campaign to provide dresses to the less fortunate children around the world. It is very much appreciated. Thank you.

What's Next....Where Next...

Feeling the need to make a difference in this world by helping dressed the less fortunate children around the world? How about imagining a world where every little girl owned at least one dress(one pair of shorts for a boy) and what if that dress(shorts) was made by you. Help make this dream a reality for every little girl(boy) who deserves to own at least one in their lifetime.

If you want to join and know more about this campaign, please feel free to send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. To see more of the dress distributions already completed, click here.

For handmade dresses, fabric donations, accessories, please post them to -

Dress A Girl Australia
P.O. Box 240
Casula Mall Casula
NSW 2170

Dress A Girl Australia would love to hear from you. Thank you.

FY12 Dress Distribution #15 - For the children of Masaka Uganda Parcel II

#15 is for Uganda this time. This is actually the first or 1 of 3 boxes that I am sending to Uganda in 3 different areas. This box is going to Home Sweet Orphanage c/o Robert Luwalira. This is his second parcel. He has received the first parcel but I think he is holding on to it because he is waiting for a camera. I told him I don't mind not getting pictures as long as he has received the parcel but he wants to take pictures so we might see pictures hopefully soon.
Here is the parcel which contains 58 dresses and 24 pairs of shorts -

here are the 58 dresses and 24 pairs of shorts -

and here are the donors who contributed to the 58 dresses and 24 pairs of shorts -

1. Pam of Threading My Way
2. The Sewing Library Facebook group
3. Katherine Nott (Fabrics by Amanda Regan, Amanda Sampson, Chicken Ink Creative, 
                    The Fabric Bug
4. Katherine Nott
5. Sandra Price and her mum
6. Sarah Petrie
7. Yvonne Edmonds
8. Sharyn Paull
9. Deborah Steed
10. Ladies of Kapunda South Australia (Sewing Bee #4)
11. Doris Beaty
12. Valda Ridley(Sewing Bee #4)
13. Gaylene Hermann
14. Sandra Hart
15. Karen Interlandi
16. Deborah Parish
17. Loris Pullen
18. Jane Kelly, Marieka Ashmore and Liz Skinner of Coffs Harbour
19. Chris Redden and Liz D'Giacomo (Sewing Bee #4)
20. Monika Osvald
21. Sharyn Paull's mum Betty
22. Betty Barrett
23. Christie of Joyfoolery

To see larger images of the full donation, please click here. Links to this article and feedbacks will also be made available in the 'Dress Distribution' page which you can find at the top of this page and every other page.

Again, to all the ladies who made this collection and distribution possible, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. Another 82 disadvantaged girls and boys will be made very happy very soon through your kindness and generosity. Thank you all for your full support of this campaign. It is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Watch out for the details of the next two Uganda parcels(Mbale and Kampala). Check out if your dresses made it in the collection.

Charity Auction for Dress A Girl Australia

A few weeks back I mentioned about an auction event for Dress A Girl (around the world) Australia. Katherine has now started posting all items that will be going under the hammer in a few weeks time. I want to share with everyone the link to the auction page in facebook. Please check out the great and real handmade items available and will appreciate it very much if you could share it with your family, friends, work colleagues and anyone you would think would be interested to do some early Christmas shopping for a good and worthwhile cause. Here is the link to the page -

                                         Charity Auction for Dress A Girl Australia

Auction will start at 7pm on the 2nd of November until the 7th of November. Check the page out. We bring you only the best handmade items for auction which will benefit all the disadvantaged children around the world. When you bid for an item and win it, a dress or a pair of shorts or in the case of some items a dress and a pair of shorts will be donated to Dress A Girl Australia on your behalf. See you there!

FY12 Dress Distribution #14 - For the children of the Shrine of St Joseph Church, Philippines

It has been about three months since my last dress distribution. In addition to the Make-it or Break-it Christmas Charity Drive activity, Dress A Girl Australia will also be focusing on distributing dresses as planned.

Number 14 on the distribution list is a collection of 150 dresses which will be distributed to some 150 children of the Shrine of St Joseph Catholic Church located in Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines. The distribution will be carried out by Leila Sevilla and her husband who is the Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus of this church. Both of them are active in conducting charity works such as medical and dental missions, feeding program, scholarship grant, legal works and she wishes to add dress distribution to her list. Well, Leila, your 150 dresses are on their way.

Here are the 17 plastic bags which I have finally finished packing and are ready to be placed inside the box that I have prepared for it. Luckily, the box will be picked up from my place otherwise I have no idea how I can manage to lift 20 kilos of dresses. :-).
(they looked so neatly piled up but right after I took the picture they started dropping one after another :-)) - 

and here are the dresses in the parcels -

and here are the donors of the 150 dresses -

1. Linda Smyth

2. Sharyn Paull

3. Rees Family

4. T Peck

5. Helen McMahon

6. Georgia Wood

7. Deborah Steed

8. Sharyn Paull's Family friend Betty

9. Liz Lynzaat

10. Yvonne Edmonds

11. Christie Sturre

12. Katherine Nott (Fabrics donated by Becs Bags, Em & Femme, The Fabric Bug, 

                Renae Hambrock, Chicken Ink Creative, Amanda Sampson)

13. Katherine Nott (Katz Kreations)

14. Deborah Parish (Ladies of Kapundah Sewing Bee #3)

15. Delilah Balmer (Ladies of Kapundah Sewing Bee #3)

16. Veronica Martin (Ladies of Kapundah Sewing Bee #3)

17. Margaret Adair (Ladies of Kapundah Sewing Bee #3)

18. Johanna Sawyer (Ladies of Kapundah Sewing Bee #3)

19. Loris Pullen (Ladies of Kapundah Sewing Bee #3)

20. Margaret Doecke(Ladies of Kapundah Sewing Bee #3)

21. Valda Ridley(Ladies of Kapundah Sewing Bee #4)

22. Pam of Threading My Way

23. The Sewing Library Facebook group

24. Monica Osvald

25. G Haggett

26. Cassie Ashley

To see larger images of the full donation, please click here. Links to this article and feedback will also be made available in the 'Dress Distribution' page which you can find at the top of this page and every other page.

To all the ladies who made this collection and distribution possible, thank you so much. 150 disadvantaged girls will be made very happy very soon through your kindness and generosity. Thank you for your full support of this campaign. It is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Dress Distribution Page

From time to time, I post updates on status of dress distributions in locations that have not provided feedback and/or pictures of distribution in the 'Dress Distribution' page. Information on this page is always updated as I use this page as a log file to help me monitor progress or as my reminder (but I may not necessarily be able to immediately write an article about the update) so I encourage everyone to visit this page when you have the chance especially to those who wants to get informed about the progress of any dress distribution. 

Dress Distribution page can be found at the top of each page under the tab name 'Dress Distribution' 

or you can access it from the link below -
                                       Dress Distribution

If you have any questions regarding this page, please feel free to send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. Thank you.

1500 Goal Update

Perhaps a few more acknowledgments for the year FY12 and the next chapter of donation acknowledgements will be opened for the 'Make-it or Break-it" Christmas Charity Drive. I would probably say that any donations and/or contributions received after the 15th of October (which is about a week from now) will be categorized as donations received for the Christmas Charity Drive.  

I was planning to do two 30-day sewing marathons this year and still havent done it and based on my current schedule I do not think I would be able to do it. In late August, I ambitiously committed to try to do more sewing up to the end of the year with a goal of sewing at least 200 dresses and 50 pairs of shorts (numbers I committed early this year). This probably is not a very realistic commitment if I think of the number of weeks left for the year, handmade items I need to make and sell to take advantage of the Christmas season and including my work schedule but I always like to set tough goals for myself. As of today, here is where I stand in the 1500 dresses for the year 2012 and my personal sewing goal.

      Collect 1500 dresses and 500 pairs of shorts by the end of the year (31-Dec-2012)
                           Dresses Collected   1242   Dresses to Go   258
                           Shorts Collected      242   Shorts to Go     258

      Personal sewing goal of 200 dresses and 50 pairs of Shorts (31-Dec-2012)
                           Dresses Sewn        25       Dresses to Go   175
                           Shorts Sewn          12       Shorts to Go      38

*** We are about 86 days away from the end of the year.

It looks like it is still a long way to go...but am not one who easily gives up. When the going gets tough...the tough gets going they say....so I will see what I can do. 

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #112 - From Suzie of Tasmania

The second parcel I picked up from the post today is donation #112 from Suzie Pickett of Tasmania. It is a collection of six dresses, two dresses each of sizes 3,5 and 10. 

Thank you, Suzie for making the dresses that will make six girls anywhere in the world happy, warm and make them feel nice and pretty when they get to wear them. Thank you.

If you would like to join all of us in this journey of making dresses(and shorts) for the less fortunate children around the world and would like more information, please feel free to send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. 

Donation Acknowledgements FY2012 #111 - Dresses from Gaylene

Next on the list which is #111 is a collection of dresses in various sizes from Gaylene Hermann, one of the pioneer supporters of Dress A Girl (around the world) Australia. Gaylene has been away for a while and is back with 5 dresses.

Gaylene, thank you so much for your unwavering support of dressing the less fortunate girls around the world. It is much appreciated and by the way, welcome back!

The Countdown begins today!

Make a world where every little girl (and boy) owned at least one dress (and shorts). Make it a reality and not just imaginary. Good Morning everyone!! The countdown for the 'Make-it or Break-it' Christmas Charity Drive for more handmade dresses and pairs of shorts for the less fortunate children around the world begins today, Oct 1st and ends on the last day of the year, 31st of Dec 2012.

Anyone from anywhere in the world and everyone is invited to join in on this Christmas Charity Drive. If you are not from Australia and want to help make a difference this Christmas you can send your contributions to your nearest Dress A Girl Around the World location/country where you come from. 

For those who are not into sewing, pillowcases, fabrics and fabric accessories such as threads, elastics, buttons, ribbons are all very welcome. It is that time of the year when everyone likes to give, everyone wants to share love and hope and for this year let us all include those less fortunate children around the world. Make their eyes brighten and smile and what better time for it to happen – when everyone feels bright and merry – at Christmas time.

Please send all contributions to -
Dress A Girl Australia
P.O. Box 240
Casula Mall Casula
NSW 2170

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

Please help spread the word. Thank you!!

Christmas, my child, is love in action. 

Everytime we love, 

everytime we give, 

its Christmas. – 

         ~ Dale Evans Rogers