This week's a bit of this and a bit of that

Christmas is just around the corner. I can almost see Santa peeking behind the post watching who has been naughty and who has been nice. :-)

1) I always believed in education being the key to a great future so after weeks of research and careful consideration, I have finally found the organization here in Australia who I feel very comfortable with sharing dresses this Christmas. For this Christmas, I will be sharing 100 dresses and possibly more with the Pyjama Foundation, an organization who creates a bright future for Australian children in care, offers a learning-based mentoring program free-of-charge to children in foster care. The dresses will be delivered in time for the children's Christmas parties. Woohoo!! More details coming up very soon.

2) All requests for labels will be posted on Saturday, 2nd of December.

3) Make-it or Break-it Christmas Charity Drive is still going on. The more dresses we make the more smiles we can get. Feel free to create a mess of handmade dresses and shorts in Dress A Girl Australia's living room this Christmas. Gifts that will make a real difference to kids who need it the most.

4) If you havent done your Christmas cards shopping yet, I still have lots of cards available for sale. (I actually did a second batch printing last night). 
                     Dress A Girl Australia cards pack of 10 - $12.50 plus postage of $1.80
                     Vintage Christmas cards pack of 10 - $14.50 plus postage of $1.80
Hurry before they are gone!

5) Christmas gifts which I have been collecting for sometime now for the schoolchildren of Katuuso Uganda will be delivered this Saturday to Annabelle Chauncy, co-founder of the School for Life Foundation. Items will be leaving for Uganda on the 9th of December.

6) Details of the Dress distribution parcels I have sent so far or still to be sent will be made available very soon. Will probably be doing it mid-December when I get to start my holidays.

More pictures from the CDO Philippines' dress distribution

I have added a few more pictures from the first batch of the dress distribution event recently completed in Cagayan de Oro City Philippines by the Ladies of Zonta International CDO Chapter II.

Please click here to see more of the event. More pictures will be posted once available.

More Christmas cards for sale

Just barely a week to go and December will be here. The past few nights I have created more Christmas cards to sell. I made these cards about 5 years ago when I was at the peak of my cardmaking journey. This was at the time when I decided to take a year-long break from work and after travelling to keep myself busy I did a lot of cardmaking. I kind of stop making cards when I went back to work. 

I am hoping I would be able to raise the amount of $50.00 from the sale of at least 30 of these cards. I've sold a few to friends and colleagues and am now on my way to reaching my target which I will use to sponsor a little Christmas party for a group of special children in Uganda wearing their new dresses and enjoy something special this Christmas. 

If you have not started your Christmas shopping yet and intending to buy Christmas cards to send to family, relatives and friends this Christmas, please consider these cards and make a purchase if you like them. They cost $1.75 each plus postage of 60cents. The inside panel is blank to write your personal message and comes with a matching white envelope just like any greeting card you see in the shops. And by the way, I can issue a sales receipt from the sale of these cards to anyone who wants an invoice.

For more details or to purchase, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Sewing Bee event in South Australia

The ladies of Kapunda, South Australia have done it again. Today they had their final sewing bee event for the year 2012.

Great job ladies and lots of thanks for the unwavering support you have provided! Watch them make a return in 2013 with more passion and fun making dresses for the less fortunate children around the world. 

Dress Distribution by the Ladies of Zonta International CDO Chapter 2 Phils - Nov-12

Zonta Cdo 2 of the Philippines has completed their dress distributions. They distributed dresses made and donated by some high school students and ladies from Australia in brgy Kalabaylabay, El Salvador, Misamis Oriental, Philippines. El Salvador is about 30 minutes by car from the city of Cagayan de Oro and about an hour and 40 minutes by plane from Manila. That is how far the dresses have travelled from Sydney and before that from different locations around Australia.

Here are some pictures of the actual distribution and the children who got to wear the dresses.

Another 100+ little girls from the Philippines got to wear new dresses and heaps of thanks to all the donors of the dresses for making this event possible. Thank you so much to the Ladies of Zonta International CDO Chapter 2 Philippines for their time and effort in making this distribution happen. Much appreciated ladies! 

For more details about this and other dress distributions, please click here.

Donations on behalf of the winning bidders(Charity Auction) Batch 2

This is the second batch of dresses donated on behalf of the winning bidders in the first Charity Auction for Dress A Girl Australia last Nov 2-7, 2012. Sorting and identifying which bidder donated which dresses was easy as I actually made all these dresses and pairs of shorts specifically for the charity auction. In fact, I had one extra dress with no item to go with so have decided that I will be giving the dress as an additional donation on behalf of my mum who made a bid for 2 dresses.

This second batch of dresses and pairs of shorts are for the following donors and bidders -

1) Donor - Doris Beatty               Winner - my mum Jolly Nelly Sun

My mum donated the dresses she bid for to Dress A Girl Australia

Dresses donated on behalf of my mum

Extra dress donated on behalf of my mum

2) Donor - Kikay Designs                Winner - Amy Richens

3) Donor - Soft Treasures             Winner - Dreamers Market

4) Donor - Soft Treasures              Winner - Fabi Sun

5) Donor - Linda Smyth                 Winner - Jo Kelly

6) Donor - Dress A Girl Australia       Winner - Rachel Platt

7) Donor - Doris Beatty                     Winner - Rafaelita Joan Wolf

8) Donor - Deborah Parish                Winner - Rose Preston

The last batch of dresses and donors and winners will be coming up very soon. Thank you to all the donors and the winning bidders. Thank you for your support.

Donation Acknowledgement FY2012 #131 - From Steven Walter Children's Cancer Foundation in Katoomba

MBCCD #11 These bundles and bundles of fabric donation is from the Steven Walter Children's cancer foundation boutique op shop in Katoomba and is number 131 on the list and number 11 for the Christmas Charity Drive. These bundles were given to Monika Osvald to make into dresses to donate to Dress A Girl Australia. What a noble act it is from one foundation involved with children with cancer to another group involved in a world of making dresses so that every little girl in the world owns a pretty dress.

My heaps of thanks to the Steven Walter Children's cancer foundation boutique op shop in Katoomba and to Monica who will be spending time sewing dresses, pairs of shorts, scarves from these bundles. Thank you!

Donation Acknowledgement FY2012 #130 - From Katoomba

MBCCD #10 Number 130 and number 10 on the Christmas Charity Drive donation is from Monika Osvald from Katoomba. An assorted collection of 11 dresses, 14 t-shirts, 6 pairs of shorts, 4 head scarves, 28 boys undies and 19 girls undies. She wrote to let me know that she was going shopping at Kmart which was closing down with a voucher she received and wanted to donate to Dress A Girl Australia. And she really went on a shopping spree for the less fortunate children with the number of t-shirts and undies she sent over.  :-)

Thank you so much Monika for your kindness and generosity. Thank you for filling up my box with undies. They will be on their way to Uganda in early December. And the t-shirts will be on their way to India at the end of November. Thank you. Much appreciated.

Another Dress A Girl (Around the World) Australia campaigner in the news

Well, the campaign is not only spreading around but the ladies involved in Dress A Girl (Around the World) Australia are also starting to make it in the news via the local newspapers. I am so proud that I will not miss publishing articles of anyone involved in this campaign who makes it in the news here in my blog.

This time the article is about Loris Pullen, another Kapunda lady actively involved in the Dress A Girl Around the World campaign. In the 'Loris' special link with her past' article published in the 'The Leader' last 14th of November in Kapunda, South Australia, Loris, who is a kitchen designer by the way, talks about her work in the kitchen design industry and how she uses her creative talent making clothes for disadvantaged children.
Check out the full article below and for a more readable version, click on the writeup image.

Congratulations, Loris! Job well done.

Angel Doll Advent Calendar for the 'Make-it or Break-it' Christmas Charity Drive

This is something different. I thought I would make the 'Make-it' or 'Break-it' Christmas charity drive more, more exciting for myself so I made this Angel Doll advent calendar from a fabric panel I bought sometime in June of last year. I wasnt able to make it into a calendar last year. This time I allocated a time and I was able to finish it. 

Here is what am going to do. Starting on the 1st of Dec (that's when the calendar starts) and everyday thereafter, any dresses I receive on a particular date for the charity drive I will put the number of dresses I received on the pocket. I know that I have already received about 156 dresses since the drive started last October but I would like to know how many occurred in the month of December just for fun and also so I could use the pockets of the angel's skirt. :-)  And everytime I sew a dress I will put the number of dresses I have made inside the pocket on the particular date I made and finished the dress so at least I could make it halfway to my personal goal this year. You see, these days sometimes it takes me 3 days to finish one dress. LOL! This calendar will motivate me to finish the dress before I leave my sewing machine behind to do another task. So wish me luck!

Donations on behalf of the winning bidders(Charity Auction) Batch 1

Am starting to receive the dresses sewn and donated by donors on behalf of the winning bidders of the Charity Auction for Dress A Girl Australia held last Nov 2 to 7, 2012. This batch of dresses are for the following donors and winners -
1) Donor - Geraldine Harper     Winner - Christine Peters

2) Donor - Sharyn Paull   Winner - Elizabeth Rowlands

More to come in the next few days. Thank you to the donors and the winning bidders. Thank you for your kindness and generosity.

Donation Acknowledgement FY2012 #129 - From Wendy Yates

MBCCD #9 Number 9 on the Christmas Charity Drive and #129 on the donation acknowledgement list is from Wendy Yates of Victoria. A collection of 17 dresses and guess what else....17 girls underpants. Woohoo!! Wendy is so happy to donate the items and is so impresses with the work that all of us do. She said it is amazing.

Wendy, thank you so much for the dresses and the underpants. Thank you for believing in this cause. I am so happy that you are so happy to donate. Thank you. Much appreciated.

Donation Acknowledgement FY2012 #128 - From the Ladies of Kapunda

MBCCD #8 Number 128 and #8 in the Christmas Charity Drive is a collection of 13 dresses and 2 pairs of shorts from the Ladies of Kapunda namely Deborah Parish, Margaret Adair, Chris Redden, Shirley Bell and Loris Pullen. 

These ladies find so much happiness and enjoying their passion of making dresses to help the less fortunate children which is so admirable. To Deborah, Margaret, Chris, Shirley and Loris, thank you so much for all the help, kindness and generosity. Thank you for helping spread the word around. It is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY2012 #127 - From Lyn Wagner

MBCCD #7 It is Donation Acknowledgement time once again. Number 127 on the list and #7 for the Christmas Charity Drive are 8 dresses in various sizes from Lyn Wagner of Toowoomba Qld.

It is so nice to know that the Dress A Girl Around the World campaign is slowly spreading around the country. To Lyn, thank you so much for the dresses. Thank you for joining me and the rest of the lady campaigners around the country in making a difference to the lives of the less fortunate children. Thanks a lot!

Kapunda Ladies in the news

WooHoo!! Deborah Parish and the ladies of Kapunda, South Australia were in the news. The article "Changing a Life" was published in the Herald newspaper of South Australia with the Kapunda Ladies featured on the article. 

Please read below about how Loris Pullen and Deborah Parish talked about their passion for sewing, how it feels great to be doing something worthwhile and the sewing bees they hold to make dresses. Click on the images to get a more readable version of the article and the ladies of Kapunda holding the dresses they made in one of their sewing bee event.

On the same note, Deborah Parish was also featured in the Kapunda Quilters newsletter and their big plans on making dresses and shorts for Dress A Girl Around the World. In the newsletter it says Little dresses for the world but they actually meant Dress A Girl Around the world. Please see below the article from the newsletter - click on the image to get a more readable version.

Congratulations, Ladies! Job well done!

This Week's a bit of this and a bit of that

A quiet first three days of the week in Dress A Girl Australia's environment, a busy first three days of the week at work. Christmas is just around the corner and I hope everyone is starting to feel and hear the Ring, ting-a-ling ting-a-ling light little bright little bells for Christmas.

Make-it or Break-it Christmas Charity Drive is still going strong on its 6th week. If you want to help make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate children anywhere in the world, then join us on this campaign. Create a mess of handmade dresses and pairs of shorts in Dress A Girl Australia's living room this Christmas. A gift that will make a big and real difference to kids who need it the most. If you do not have a sewing machine, we also accept fabrics and accessories and we will make the dresses for you. For more information, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Have just added Garden of Life family in India to my list for dress distribution in the next few weeks with children under the age group of 2 to 18 years and 108 under their full time care. First parcel will be posted on the last week of November (last Saturday of the month) as this is the only time (Saturdays) that I can post parcels.

All dresses and/or pairs of shorts made and donated on behalf of the winning bidders in the Charity Auction for Dress A Girl Australia will be included in the parcel to India.

Am starting to sew and collect dresses as well for the children of Bangladesh. Like India, children in this area cannot wear dresses with open necklines. My niece who is in Dhaka, Bangladesh working for the UN reminded me two nights ago that the dresses I should be sewing and/or collecting for the Bangladesh children needs to have sleeves and long if possible covers the legs. So if you feel like making these type of dresses, please help and send them to Dress A Girl Australia, P.O. Box 240 Casula Mall Casula NSW 2170. Thank you in advance. 

More selections of Christmas cards are available for sale. This time with vintage christmas images. For a pack of 10, it will cost you $14.50 plus $1.80 postage. Please see below images on the pack and if you have not made any Christmas shopping for Christmas cards yet, please check this out and make a purchase if you like them. All these cards have been handmade by me printed from my old inkjet printer.

 If you prefer the Dress A Girl Australia cards, these are also still available for purchase. Your purchase of these cards will help make a difference and put a smile to a disadvantaged child's face this Christmas. To purchase any of the Christmas cards, please click here. Thank you in advance.

Imagine a world where every little girl owned at least one dress. What if that dress were made by you. Or you helped make that dream come true. Dress A Girl Around the World Dress A Girl Australia. Helping make a difference in this world with one small dress at a time.

Charity Auction successfully completed

A very successful Charity Auction for Dress A Girl Australia finally completed last Wednesday, 7th of Nov 2012. The event raised a total of $336.00 and items are now in the process of being posted to the winning bidders. Please click here for a complete list of the winning bidders. A summary of all the dresses and pairs of shorts donated on behalf of all of them to Dress A Girl Australia will be published later on once all parcels have been sent off and received. 

I wish to thank all the bidders for their generosity and kindness. A very special thank you to all the donors of the items auctioned (Delcie Wardrop, Kikay Designs, Deborah Parish, Cassie Ashley, Geraldine Harper, Sharyn Paull, Linda Smyth, Christie Sturre, Katherine Nott and Doris Beatty) and most especially to Katherine Nott for all the hard work and organizing the auction event. Thank you so much everyone. Thanks a whole lot!!!

Charity Auction ending in less than 24 hours

People love handmades because they are unique and made with so much love for details, care and gusto that comes from the heart. Each of the items up for auction represents that uniqueness, love for details, care and gusto and in less than 24 hours some of the items will be gone. You have less than 24 hours to decide which item you want to bid for and at the same time give the gift of love, care and uniqueness to a less fortunate child anywhere in the world with the matching set that will be donated on your behalf. Share and celebrate the spirit of Christmas by making a unique bid everyone if there is anything you like. A bid that is filled with love, care and gusto. Here is the link -

Charity Auction for Dress A Girl Australia

Charity Auction for Dress A Girl Australia is ending in less than 24 hours (7pm Wednesday, 7th of Nov 2012). If you havent been to the page yet, please drop by before it closes. A few more items still up for grabs. Check them out before they pass you by.

Christmas Charity Drive Update - 5-Nov-12

Here's an update on the 'Make-it' or 'Break-it' Christmas Charity Drive. After 31 days the total number of dresses received is 114 and 18 for pairs of shorts. We really are starting to create a mess of handmade dresses and shorts in Dress A Girl Australia's living room. 

We are now on the second month of the drive. Let those dresses keep on coming. The more dresses we make the more smiles we can get. Thanks!

Big thanks to the quiet contributors

Thanksgiving Day is still about 3 weeks away but I would like to acknowledge a group of people who I refer to as the quiet contributors of this campaign . Without this group and their contributions that helps lessen the cost of sending parcels whether here in Australia or overseas , the task  of making a difference in the lives of the less fortunate children cannot be completed. 

First on the list is a 16-year-old Kapunda High student Rachael Clifton. Thank you Rachael.
Sharyn Paull's Mum Betty, Deborah Parish, Margaret Adair and the ladies of Kapunda S.A.
The ASG Warped Wenches of Tasmania
Work Colleague Jenny
Work Colleague Joan for giving me bags of lavender from her garden so I can keep on making lavender packs to sell
Friends and colleagues who buy my handmades
Sponsors  Kikay Designs, Heyboom Shop and Wrapped in Fabric

Heaps and heaps of thanks for your kindness and generosity. 

My contribution to the Christmas Charity Drive

MBCCD #6 It is the last quarter of the year 2012 and here is my contribution to the Make-it or Break-it Christmas Charity Drive. We all know we made it. We have reached the goal of 1500 dresses but we dont stop at 1500. We keep on going. 

Every quarter with all the coins I saved at work I try to find fabrics on sale and buy them with the coins. I may not be able to make them into dresses immediately but I know that anytime I want to sew a dress that will have my name on it as the donor I have the materials needed. 

So for this quarter for $18.50 (I must have drunk a lot of cans of coke as this is all I had in my bucket) and 100% cotton fabrics (yes, am a very good bargain hunter) I was able to buy these bundles and I think I have between 18 to 20 metres on these bundles. And they all have a width of 100 or 120cms. That is a lot of dresses to make. :-)

Well, if I want every little girl in the world to own a pretty dress then these bundles are not enough. Here's looking forward to another bargain hunting next quarter ....next year 2013. Not so sure if I would be able to save that many coins as between now and the end of the year there will be a lot of activities happening to celebrate the Christmas season and a lot of spending but we will never know.

Donation Acknowledgement FY2012 #126 - From the amazing 2 Betty's

MBCCD #5 Betty Barrett has done it again with the help of her good friend Betty. A collection of 15 dresses and 7 pairs of shorts is number #126 on the list and Christmas charity drive donation #5.

Betty Barrett, your enthusiasm to help the less fortunate children around the world is just amazing and teaming up with your good friend Betty to make sure that the dresses get to Sydney is incredible. Thank you so very much to the two of you for your unwavering support, kindness and generosity. Your partnership makes a very good example to follow not only in the world of sewing but to the whole world. Thank you. It is very much appreciated.

Donation Acknowledgement FY2012 #125 - From Tasmania

MBCCD #4  Number  125 on the list and number 4 donation to the Christmas Charity drive is a collection of 72 dresses from Helen Shearer, The Hobart Embroidery Club and others and the Wednesday Group at the Quilted Crow in New Town of Tasmania. Helen came to know about my Dress A Girl Around the World charity work from an article printed in Hobart's The Mercury daily newspaper in May. Since then she has been talking enthusiastically about it to all her sewing friends and together they have made a total of 72 dresses. 

In Helen's letter she wrote that everyone enjoyed being involved and that all dresses were made with love and great support for the work I am doing. Some of the ladies were experts at sewing while others were not but each dress is very special. They made them in different sizes and hope that somewhere in the world they can make 72 little girls very happy.

Here are the 38 dresses Helen made -

The 23 dresses from the Hobart Embroidery Club and others -

and the 11 dresses from the Wednesday Group at the Quilted Crow in New Town.

What an amazing work from a group of amazing ladies. Individual names were not given as they are all happy to be identified by the group name.

To Helen and all the ladies in the group, my heartfelt thank you for the work that you have done. Owning at least one dress is going to be a reality for 72 disadvantaged girls somewhere in this world and thanks to each one of you for making it happen. Thank you for your kindness and generosity and thank you so much for supporting this campaign. Thank you for joining me in this journey of making a difference in the lives of 72 disadvantaged children with one small dress at a time. For some of us it could just be one of those dresses that we would normally wear but for these 72 little girls, it could just be their world. Thank you. It is very much appreciated.

And last but not the least, heaps of thanks too to the ASG Warped Wenches for their donations and postage for the dresses to get to Sydney. What a great team work! Thank you so much!

Special thank you to a good friend

I wanted to do this article for a while now to show my appreciation to a work colleague of mine (Joan Lui) but I keep on forgetting it. Not everyone may know why but lately I have been making a lot of lavender packs to sell so I can raise money and allow me to send more parcels than I currently am able to do. The lavender that I put inside some of the packs actually comes from Joan's garden. When she knew I was making them, she offered and gave me two big plastic bags so I do not have to buy. 

Here are some of the packs I have made. I sell them at $5.00 per pack and weighs about 40-50gms each and at a special price of $12.00 for 3 packs. I have bundles and bundles of Christmas fabrics I have collected over the years and I thought it was time to use some of them especially those ones whose prints are big enough to use as cover. Some are covered with vintage christmas card images printed on fabric which I bought from a handmade market I went to in one of my holiday trips. (This lady's hobby was printing on fabrics and was selling them in bundles). For some packs just regular cotton fabrics and embellished with wooden beads. I was able to send one more parcel last week from the sale of these packs -

And I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Joan for making it possible. Thank you Joan, thank you for your random act of kindness and generosity. It is much appreciated.

Gone past the 1500 Mark !!

WooHoo!! I think I have gone past the 1500 mark on dresses to collect for 2012. As of this writing, this is where Dress A Girl Australia is -
On dresses -

On pairs of shorts -

And I have practically over 50 days left to go -

The status of the dresses tells me that I need 30 more dresses to make it to 1500 but I actually have made about 45 dresses which is not included anywhere in the count yet. I have been sewing dresses whenever I feel like making one but just folded them and put in the corner. The only number of dresses included in the count are the dresses I donated for the Charity Auction where I needed to make a match for the donated items. But it looks like more work is required for the pairs of shorts as I still need about 185 as I have pairs of 10 not included in the latest count of 299.

WooHoo!! We made the target of 1500 dresses. And with 56 days more to go, the 200 is attainable.

Thank you so much to everyone for helping Dress A Girl Australia achieve its goal of dressing 1500 less fortunate girls around the world in 2012. I am pretty sure more dresses will be coming...so keep them coming as the more dresses we make the more happy children we can make. Thank you.

Today's 'A bit of this and a bit of that'

Good Morning everyone! Hope you all are starting to have a good weekend. A few things to share with you this Saturday morning. I have numbered them down on my piece of paper so I thought I would also do so on this space. :-)

1) Regarding the Christmas cards. In reply to an enquiry about postage, to send via international airmail to the US for a pack of 10 Christmas cards it will cost AUD$6.20 and to send to New Zealand will cost AUD$4.50. I think for the US it will take between 7 to 10 working days depending on where you live and for New Zealand between 3 to 7 working days.

This is still a good buy at an average cost of AUD$1.75 per card and is for a good cause if you believe in what I believe in. Dress A Girl Australia belongs to an imagined fifth sector of 'no-profit do-good' economy. :-)  To purchase the cards,you can either send me a message (via Contact Me) or send me an email at dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com or click here or click on the image below :

2) 'Make-it or Break-it' Christmas Charity Drive. This is the second month running. Have you decided on whether you are joining Dress A Girl Australia in this journey of helping the less fortunate children around the world? Now would be the best time to share the spirit of Christmas and not just to anyone but to the disadvantaged children. Let us include them even for just one dress when we start to think of how to be merry and bright this Christmas season.

Join in the fun this Christmas. You do not have to know how to sew. Anyone can help even by donating fabrics and/or fabric accessories such as threads, elastics, buttons, ribbons, bias tapes etc. We will make the dresses on your behalf.

3) Charity Auction for Dress A Girl Australia. Do not forget to drop by at the Charity Auction for Dress A Girl in case you are looking for something nice to give to someone this Christmas. The bidding for the items has started and will be running until Wednesday, 7pm, the 7th of November. Perfect place to browse and perhaps shop. All goodies are real handmades, real treasures carefully handcrafted and donated for this purpose. If you love handmade markets, this is the easy way to find real handmades. No need to drive around looking for a parking spot. Here is the link and please help spread the word. 

Charity Auction for Dress A Girl Australia

Last but not the least, have a great weekend. Thanks everyone!