28 Dresses & 4 pairs of shorts for 28 days of February

Today is the last day of February, Day 59/365 for the One-Dress A Day project. Here are the 28 dresses I made for the month and 4 pairs of shorts which I would like to share with everyone and most especially to the donors. With these numbers, it brings my total to 64 dresses and 10 pairs of shorts as of the 28th of February.
Dresses -

Pairs of Shorts -

Thank you very much to the following donors who made these dresses and pairs of shorts possible -
1) Flor dela Cruz
2) Jenny F
3) Linda Smyth
4) Sylvia Lowe
5) Louise Wright and family
6) Penny Grey
and heyboom shop and Mila Elloso for the embellishments.

Tomorrow will be the first day for the month of March and I look forward to the project in March.

When it rains...it's pairs of shorts

Yesterday's rain gave me the chance to make pairs of shorts but only limited to two pairs because I still have not bought the elastic I needed. The elastic I used in these two pairs I got from a 2-dollar shop and they only had 1 pack left for the size that I wanted good for about six pairs. I also needed to do some advamced cuttimg.
Here are the pairs I made yesterday - there are about 5 more from this particular fabric waiting to be sewn - fabric donated by yours truly.

This brings my total to 8 out of a personal goal of 200 for this year. Still a very, very long way to go. 

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/02 #17 - From Karin Maltby

Number 17 are the dresses that Karin Maltby from Perth won after bidding for the Tasmanian Bushfire Auction and which she kindly donated to Dress A Girl Australia. That is supporting two causes in one go. Wow! Such a wonderful act of generosity.
Here are the dresses that Karin won and donated -

Karin, thank you for your unwavering support of dressing the less fortunate girls around the world. It is very much appreciated. Thanks!

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/02 #16 - From Nikki of House of Handmade

Nikki Deglaitis learned about Dress A Girl Around the World when the 'The Handmade Library' held an auction for the Tasmanian Bushfire and one of the winning bidders (Karin Maltby) donated her items to Dress A Girl Australia. When she sent Karin's parcel she also included an extra donation from herself along with some hair clips from Pretty Little Petals.
Here is Donation #16 from Nikki -

Thank you Nikki. Much appreciated.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/02 #15 - From Sandy Lew of Qld

I posted Sandy's picture in my facebook page last Sunday and it is time to post it here in my blog. I must apologize though as I named her Sandra and while reading her letter again tonight I noticed it is Sandy. (Sorry Sandy!)

Sandy is very happy with the 27 dresses she made but even happier being part of something bigger especially that it involves children. Not just any children I believe but the disadvantaged children. She learned about this project from her sister and started making dresses with her sister's help. Dresses all made with love.
Here are Sandy's contribution to the campaign -

Sandy, thank you for your kindness and generosity. Am pretty sure whoever receives each dress you made would feel the love you put into making it. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/02 #14 - Another parcel from Wendy

Finally opened the last parcel standing and this time from Wendy Yates of Victoria. Number 14 on the list is a parcel of 5 dresses, 16 boys' shorts and 10 girls' undies. Wendy finds it a pleasure to be a part of Dress A Girl Around the World. Thanks! 
Here are the goodies from Wendy -

Last year I was wondering if I would be able to pack a parcel containing 70 dresses with an undie on the pocket of each dress. Now am drowning with undies. Amazing work and donation from all of you ladies. Thanks a whole lot! Much appreciated.

Wendy, thank you so much for your generosity and your unwavering support. Sorry to hear about your overlocker. Hope you get it back soon and in good running condition. :-) Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/02 #13 - Dresses and more goodies from the Ladies of Kapunda S.A.

Number 13 on the list are lots of goodies from the Ladies of Kapunda S.A. So many that I hope I get them right. :-)
Let me start with the dresses from Mary Lauke, Sally Giles and Julie Quast -

A pack of girls and boys undies from Deborah Parish and Lyn Crossley

Also from Lyn Crossley are boys' t-shirts and trousers -

and boys' shorts from Virginia Schrapelli and Valda Sutch who is nearly 80 years old! Wow! - this is one good thing about the Dress A Girl Around the World campaign, it is for the young and the young at heart. Age is never considered a hindrance to its success - in fact it is good for the mind, body and spirit regardless of age. Thank you Betty Barrett

From the fabric donations of Lyn Crossley, the 'Fusion' op shop and Valda Sutch, the group has now collected over 55 dresses, 11 pairs of shorts and handmade boys t-shirts which will contribute a lot to an upcoming collaboration event with the Kapunda Quilters.

To all the ladies of Kapunda, South Australia, thank you so much for your continued support of this campaign, thank you for your kindness and generosity. It is very much appreciated. You have made a lot of disadvantaged children happy. Thank you.

Also, a special thanks to Virginia Schrapelli for helping send these items to Sydney. Thanks a lot everyone.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/02 #12 - Another parcel from Sarah

Number 12 is a parcel of 2 dresses, 9 pairs of shorts and a t-shirt from Sarah Tanmahapran of Victoria. Sarah had a great feeling of pleasure sewing these items. She has a 4-year old daughter who helps her by trying on the dresses she makes for measurements and pattern cutting and gives her feedback on the garments. What a cutie! She knows why her mum is making dresses for the less fortunate children and that is probably why she is very enthusiastic in making a feedback. It is a pleasure for the little girl as well to help her mum knowing where the dresses are going.
Here are the dresses, pairs of shorts and t-shirt that Sarah sent to me this month -

Sarah, thank you so much for the items and give your little girl a hug for me. The garments are attractive. Thank you.

It is always nice to know what the story is behind the dresses you make, why you make them so please write a small note and insert it in the parcel. I love and enjoy reading notes and writing them in the article too. And I keep all those small notes too so please feel free to write. Thank you.

Dare to be different....Make a difference!

With the number of emails I have been getting from ladies wanting to make dresses and more dresses this year, I truly believe 2013 is going to be the 'year of living' making a difference if not for some but for all us. 

For at least an hour, a day, a week, a month or a year or whatever makes you happy, join us in a world where every little girl owned at least one dress for each one of us young or old deserves to own at least one. Help make the world a better place to live in. Help make a difference.....with one small dress at a time!

You do not have to be a perfect sewer to help make a difference. For more information, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. Would love to hear from anyone!

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/02 #11 - another parcel this time from Frances

I better hurry up in acknowledging donations before I get drowned with parcels to open. And yes, Number 11 on the list is another parcel of 22 dresses and 2 pairs of shorts from Frances Cornish of ACT. 17 of these dresses were pre-cut by good friend Keryn Thompson and sewn by Frances. What a great combination!
Here are the 22 dresses which by the way, thank you for the pictures Frances!

and here are the two pairs of shorts -

Thank you Frances for your kindness and generosity and thank you to Keryn Thompson for cutting the fabrics. Your time and efforts are very much appreciated. Thanks a lot!

Awe-inspiring young lady from NSW

Yes, awesome and inspirational. This is Bethany Greenaway from Blaxland NSW. She is a 17 year old Girl Guide and as part of her Queens Guide Award she had to undertake a service project for a minimum of 30 hours over 3 months. She chose Dress A Girl Around the World as her project and set herself the challenge of completing 60 dresses in 3 months. She has now completed this challenge and sent me this picture. 

Job well done. Thank you so much Bethany. Your efforts are very well appreciated. You just made 60 girls very happy. Thank you!

Update on One-Dress A Day campaign

Today is the 15th of February and that means we are past the first half of the month. Here are the dresses sewn from Day 32/1st of February to Day 46 which is today. So far I have sewn 15 which brings my total to 51 dresses in 46 days.

I look forward to the second half of February.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/02 #10 - From Dianne Menzel

Number 10 on the list are 5 orange dresses from Dianne Menzel. They come in assorted sizes. Here are the dresses -

Thank you Dianne for your support. Thank you for your dresses. Much appreciated!

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/02 #9 - From Jenny Jarvis of Victoria

Parcel number 9 is from Jenny Jarvis of Victoria. Included in the parcel were 6 dresses, 6 pre-cut fabrics, 2 bundles of fabrics and bias tapes. This is the first parcel for the February donations.
Here are the dresses -

and here are the 2 bundles of fabrics and white bias tapes too - 

and here are the  6 pre-cut fabrics. 

Thank you so much Jenny. Dont worry too much of the unfinished ones, I will check them later on. Just what I needed to be able to finish the pillowcases into dresses. I can in the meantime borrow the bias tapes while waiting for my order to arrive.

Happy Valentines Day

'Share the love' this Valentines day and every day of the year.

 Hope you all have a wonderful day!!

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/01 #8 - From Betty Barrett

A parcel filled with 16 dresses, 6 pairs of shorts, 24 little bags and 20 scrunchies is donation #8 for the month of January. This I believe is the last parcel received in the month of January sent in by Betty Barrett. The 16 dresses had small or mini bags inside each pocket. Here are the 16 dresses -

Some of the materials used in making these dresses were donated by Betty Barrett's sister Mavis.
Here are the 6 pairs of shorts -

Betty Paull, the other Betty helped with making the scrunchies below -

And the parcel also included these small drawstring bags which I can put inside some of the donated dresses -

And by the way, the postage so this parcel reaches Sydney was donated by Betty Paull.

Ladies, amazing contribution. Thank you so much Betty B, Betty P and Betty B's sister Mavis. And a special thank you to Sharyn who post parcels for them. Thank you everyone. Thank you for your unwavering support of Dress A Girl (around the world) Australia. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. It is very much appreciated.

Back to one dress a day

After a silent night last night I am back to one dress a day and this is what I made for day 44.

Found more fabrics from my scrapbags which will make good hemlines to the pillowcase dresses I am making. For more on the one-dress a day campaign, please click here or click on the '365 days diary' tab  found at the top of the page.

Forks to Papua New Guinea

Yes, they are finally on its way. 24 pieces of forks for the orphans of BFO in Mt Hagen Papua New Guinea after almost 2 months delay.

These forks were meant to be a christmas present for the orphans of BFO but had problems in the packing and got caught with tasks that were more priority. I hope the orphans will enjoy eating their food with these forks.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/01 #7 - From Deborah Parish and the Ladies of Kapunda

Number 7 on the list is a parcel from Deborah Parish and the ladies of Kapunda. The group has a couple of new sewers. Claire Clark and Anne Goedeck. Inside the parcel were 28 dresses and some baby accessories.

Here are the dresses - sewn and donated by Claire Clark(9), Anne Goedeck(3), Chris Redden(2), Margaret Adair(3) and 5 dresses from Beth and Maddi(High School teenagers from Clare) and Deborah Parish(6).

Deborah also donated underpants(8 packets), Bra tops(8x), bibs and socks. Here they are -

To Anne and Claire, welcome to Dress A Girl (Around the World) Australia.
To Deborah,Chris, Margaret, Claire, Anne, Beth and Maddi, thank you so much for the dresses. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. Much appreciated.

Still a Dress of Hearts for Day 41/365

To celebrate the season of love this month and most especially on Thursday, I will be posting on this site dresses I have made that are full of hearts. Today is still a dress of hearts for Day 41 of my 'one-dress-a-day' campaign but this time not only at the hemline but also at the top is filled with hearts and the pocket is edging with hearts. The pillowcase was donated by my friend Flor dela Cruz, dress #9 out of 15 pillowcases.

The hearts take away the boring plain colour background of the dress. And not only that. You can feel and smell Love in the air and everywhere you look around on this dress. :-)

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/01 #6 - From Monika Osvald

A very generous donation of 18 dresses, 10 pairs of shorts and 5 scarves is donation #6 for the month of January from Monika Osvald.
Here are the dresses in varying sizes -

 and here are the 10 pairs of shorts also in varying sizes -

and the accessories of 5 scarves -

To Monika, thank you so much for your support, kindness and generosity. It is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/01 #5 - Parcel from Katherine Nott

Number 5 on the list for the month of January is a parcel from Katherine Nott which includes 5 pairs of shorts and 4 dresses.
Here are the dresses -

and here are the pairs of shorts -

Thank you Katherine. Thank you for your unwavering support. Much appreciated.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/01 #4 - Parcel from Siobhan Leyne and Anna Dacre

Here we go. Making up for the lost time in donation acknowledgements. Number 4 on the list for 2013 is a parcel of 10 size 6 dresses, 4 size 3 dresses and two packs of  girls undies from Siobhan Leyne and Anna Dacre of ACT. These dresses and accessories is counted as part of January donations even though we are now in February month.
Here they are in such lovely colors -

To Siobhan and Anna, thank you for the dresses and the extra two packs of girls undies. Much appreciated.

More embellishments made...more to help make a difference

Opening my fabric scrapbags yesterday literally triggered my mind to become creative once again. Something I have not done for quite a while now but it feels so good when you get the chance to think and do something you love and do best and enjoying every minute of it. And perfect timing as I need more ways to raise money for postage. You probably have seen the dress I made yesterday which had a hemline of appliqued hearts. And you probably have read about Dress A Girl Australia's terrariums with succulent plants coming from my garden.

Also yesterday, still in the mood to celebrate the month of love, I made this Angel of Heart from my fabric scraps.

I still am undecided on whether to use a wooden ball for the head but this is basically it and I will be making more of this to sell in my Dress A Girl online shop. I already have the lavender house and now I have the angel of heart. 

The angel of heart measures about 16cms x 20.5cms. I placed a thin wadding(the ones I normally used in my fabric postcards) and also I placed a small georgette bag inside with a 20ml of lavender. And the highlight of this handmade heart is the key which you find at the center of the heart. This is a rusted garden key measuring about 6cms and inside a pocket measuring about 4.5cms x 7.5cms sealed by a craft plastic. 

What does that tell you? That this is the key to my heart. :-) This handmade item will be available in Dress A Girl Australia's online shop in a few days (I need to schedule when I can update my website) so watch for it guys if you are interested in the lavender angel of heart.

Since I have showed you my new creation I might as well show you the rest of the items I made with my fabric scraps. Flowers....roses...fabric flower to embellish my bag.

Make sure you look at them now as the next ten postings coming up on this blog will be donation acknowledgements and you may find it difficult to see this posting again. WooHoo!  Love what am doing!

Terrariums of Succulents helping make a difference

The past couple of weeks I have been looking at my frontyard (which unfortunately I have now really neglected) and started thinking what can I get out of my front garden and sell so I can start packing parcels. I saw my succulents and said "perfect" ! And this is what I did.

The jars used to have candles in them. Never throw empty jars as they might be useful in the future. The coloured pots were handmade by my sister who runs WeePots but did not pass her stringent quality control so she gave it to me and now have filled it with cactus soil, growing succulents and small pebbles. The plants have started to grow but I will wait for another week and then start selling them. The only thing with these items is that they are quite heavy so the postage might become a deterrent for people who would like to buy one. By the way I call them Dress A Girl Australia's terrariums. :-) I bought 4 fishbowls from a dollar shop yesterday and I made 4 more this morning not in the picture(as I ran out of soil). 

Thinking out loud even my garden is helping change the world...helping me make a difference! 2013...the year of making a big difference!


** If anyone is interested to purchase just the succulents which would become light to pack, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. I also have small yucca plants in my backyard which I replanted from their 'mother' yucca.

Dress of Hearts for Day 40/365 Days

I spent an hour today assessing my fabric scraps as I am thinking of making a lap quilt for Easter and if I had to do it I better start cutting my blocks when I saw this fabric full of hearts about the size of a fat quarter. I thought it is great timing as we are about to celebrate the day of love or valentines day on Thursday, the 14th of February. It would be great to use it on the dresses I make everyday.

So I decided that starting with today's dress until I run out of the fabric heart remnant, I will be using it to embellish the dresses. To start it off, this is Dress #40 for my 'one dress a day' for 365 days campaign. This is a pillowcase donated by my friend Flor dela Cruz and I used the fabric as a pocket and did an appliqued hemline of hearts but only on the front panel. 

Wear your heart(s) on your dress(es) and not on your sleeve.

To check out how I am doing with my 'one dress a day' for 365 days campaign, please click here or click on the '365 Days Diary' tab which can be found at the top of this page.

Donation to the TSL Dolly Drive 2013

This morning I posted a parcel addressed to Karen Inall who I believe is the Sydney Coordinator for the Westmead Hospital in the TSL Dolly Drive 2013. Inside the parcel are the softies below which I have handmade and donated on behalf of Dress A Girl (Around the World) Australia -

The valentine button was removed from the teddy bear just to make sure that everything is sewn and made of fabric. There is an appliqued heart at the lower back of the owl (not shown in the picture) and I hope the recipient of these toys will like it.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/01 #3 - Vintage lace fabric from Jenny

I have started using it but I havent really formally acknowledged this fabric donation of my friend Jenny. She had it when she was still in high school and still looks very new and smells new too so my friend really took good care of this fabric all these years. Real vintage I believe. It is a lacey kind of fabric and I have used some of them as hemlines and last night as a pocket.

Thank you Jenny. Much appreciated.

Sharing pictures from yesterday's sewing bee in South Australia

What is a sewing bee? According to wiki it is a social event centered around sewing. Participants either work on a project together (such as a large quilt, or blocks of knitting for a blanket) or individual projects. Refreshments are traditionally served and the atmosphere is party-like, similar to an afternoon tea.

And these ladies live up to the definition. These ladies from Kapunda, South Australia had their first sewing bee of the year 2013 yesterday, the 2nd of Feb. These ladies are sewing for a great cause. They are helping make a difference in the lives of disadvantaged girls around the world by sewing a dress for every girl deserves to own at least one.

Way to go Ladies! Thank you!

Sharing from Southern California

Another lady was making dresses last week and she sent me a picture last night of the 7 dresses she has completed. She is Jernay Verrios of Dress A Girl Around the World - Southern California. She said that 4 other ladies sew for Dress A Girl and loves to share what they have accomplished. Here are the 7 dresses -

Jernay, thank you for your email and thank you for sharing your picture. Much appreciated.

If there is anyone out there most especially in the Southern California area who wants to join Jernay in their journey to help make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate children around the world, please feel free to write to her by clicking here. Or you can contact her via her facebook page by clicking here. Thanks!