Happy Easter Everyone!

Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter!

Sewing Bees

My most frequently received emails (FRE's for short :-)) are enquiries on Sewing Bees. I would love to organize a sewing bee. This is the number #1 wish I have on my bucket list and still does not have a tick mark after 24 months. Due to circumstances beyond my control(i.e. work, family, coordinating,organizing,raising fund tasks for Dress A Girl including sewing at least one dress a day which I don't want to give up but I have been missing a lot of days now) sewing bee is still a dream for me which I hope to achieve in the near future... BUT.... there is a group called BobKin Sewciety by Vanessa Gowans. I believe the current members are in the process of organizing sewing bees and they come from different locations around Australia, please join the group and join in their discussions on organizing sewing bees. And if you live in Kapunda S.A. or in any suburb near Kapunda, there is a group called Dress A Girl Around the World-Kapunda Ladies sewing group, you may want to join in this group too for sewing bee schedules being organized by Deborah Parish. 

Here are the links to the facebook group -
1) for the Bobkin Society -
                           https://www.facebook.com/groups/BobkinSewciety/?fref=ts
2) the Kapunda Ladies sewing group -
                           https://www.facebook.com/groups/433445666746866/

Join any of these groups whichever is more convenient for anyone and have fun making dresses! Thanks!

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/03 #36 - from Kaylee Healy

This time it is from Kaylee Healy for Donation#36 of 6 dresses also from NSW and a good friend of Laurel Murphy. Here are the dresses sent in by Kaylee in shades of red -

Haylee, thank you for your kindness and generosity. Another 6 happy faces on this planet we will be generating with the 6 dresses you have made. Thank you.

If you want to know what's keeping Kaylee busy during her spare time, check out her blog.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/03 #35 - From Laurel Murphy

Donation #35 still for the month of March is a parcel of 11 dresses from Laurel Murphy from NSW sent in by a good friend Kaylee Healy.
Here are the 11 dresses from Laurel -

To Laurel, thank you for making 11 girls happy this time with your dress donations. It is very much appreciated. Thanks!

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/03 #34 from Lyn Granger

I better continue my acknowledgements before the month of March ends and before I get inundated with unopened parcels. :-)

#34 on the list is from Lyn Granger of NSW. This time (this is the second "filled with love" parcel from Lyn) inside the parcel are 5 dresses and 6 pairs of shorts and here they are -

To Lyn, thank you for making this world a better place for 5 girls and 6 boys from the less fortunate locations anywhere in the world with your donation. Thank you for giving these kids the opportunity to own at least one dress or one pair or shorts each especially if they never owned at least one. Much appreciated.

Amazing feedbacks from Dress A Girl (Around the World) Australia supporters

A couple of feedbacks from supporters and campaigners of Dress A Girl (Around the World) Australia which I'd like to share with you -

#1 - In Jabiru, the heart of Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory is an arts and craft group who started a Dress a Girl project about a month ago, hand-carving their own lino blocks to print their own fabric to make into dresses! Penny Hart said that they would love to send the dresses to Sydney for distribution once they're done and are very happy to see that an Australian group/campaign existed. Wow! Thanks heaps, Penny Hart!! Much appreciated!!

#2 - Sometime late last year I received an email from Mary Gast a textile technology teacher from Beaconhills college, victoria who wanted to introduce making dresses for Dress A Girl Australia as a co-curricular activity for her students. Today I received an update from Mary letting me know that she has 14 students on board making dresses and will be finished at the end of Term 2. Such a fantastic news that I am jumping up and down with joy. Another group of young girls helping other young girls who are less fortunate. What more can Dress A Girl Australia asked for. Thank you, Mary!!

If you want to help make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate children around the world, then come and join us in this journey of dressing girls around the world. Help make this dream of every girl owning at least one dress become a reality and not just imaginary. For each of us deserves to own at least one. What if that dress were made by you.

For more details and/or information about this campaign, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

What to do...maybe it is time to have a rest for a few days

Today is the 26th of March and in another 5 days the month of March would be gone and I have only made 13 dresses out of a forecasted 31 dresses for the 31 days of March. A lot of unexpected things happening which made it impossible to make one dress a day and I look at it as a sign that maybe I should stop dressing girls for a few days...have a rest!

First, it was my sewing machine. It just wouldnt move, If it does move, the threads are tangled and the sewing machine jams up. And when I started sewing again using my sister's sewing machine, last night I discovered I only had about half-a-metre left of bias tape. it wont even be good enough for one armhole. When was the last time I made bias tapes? cant remember! :-) Looks like ages ago. I did'nt want to make a dress and not finished it so no dress was done since last night. Then I thought maybe I should just print labels. But guess what. two cartridges of my printer has no more ink and usually when there is no more ink, most printers wont work even if the other cartridges still have some ink left. For my printer to work, it needs 5 inks. I didnt force it to print since I didnt want my printer to get damaged. I have ordered rolls of bias tapes this time (as I dont think I will find the time to make them anyway I can buy them at wholesale price) and also have ordered the ink cartridges. The shop I go to did not have the colours I wanted in stock. Without these two very important materials, am kind of paralyzed. Cant do much until I receive the items so I might as well have a rest and re-energized. I am still hoping that I could at least make a dozen dresses before the month of April starts on Easter Monday.

What to do! But I think I am enjoying and having fun overcoming these challenges! 
Here is a link to the 13 dresses I have made so far.

One dress a day for the month of March

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/03 #33 - Bundles of Fabrics from Joan

When I went to work last Monday the first thing I saw on top of my desk was a big plastic bag. I was thinking that whoever placed this plastic bag on my desk must have found it on top of their desk and wants to get rid of it by putting it on another desk which was my desk. (I think that is what some people do when no one is looking) . You see we just moved into a new office building and were told to always have a clean desk, keep everything inside the locker we were provided before we leave work as we may not be seated on the same desk the following day (they call it hot-desking) but since we moved I have been sitted on the same spot everyday. I go to work early so I always get the same spot. :-)

Anyway, I opened the bag and this is what I found inside. Three bundles of different fabric materials and definitely was meant for me as a few people at work knows that I collect fabrics for Dress A Girl. It wasnt until after about 10-15 minutes later that I found out who left it on my desk (not just anyone who wanted to get rid of a plastic bag. LOL!). It came from Joan Lui who was so happy to see the pairs of shorts I made for him worn by some school kids from the School for Life Foundation in Uganda she decided to start looking for fabrics again in her cabinet to give to me. Donation #33.

 To Joan, thank you so much for the bundles. Thank you for keeping me busy making a difference in the lives of a few disadvantaged children through your fabric donations. It is much appreciated.

Dress Distribution #22 - Parcel for the children of Mbale East Uganda (Bushikori Christian Centre)

This parcel is long overdue. I had wanted to send it early December but then I thought maybe after Christmas would be ok so the chances of it missing in the posting is less especially that there are no insurances for parcels to Uganda. I lost a parcel in December and that was only here in Australia. I finally found the time to complete the packing and added t-shirts and undies I had received and collected during the Christmas season and finally the parcel is sent. 

Dress Distribution #22 is a parcel of 54 dresses for girls, 12 boys and 24 girls’ undies, 12 t-shirts for small boys and 1 small clothing for a baby and is going to the needy children of a community in  Mbale, Eastern Uganda care of the Bushikori  Christian Centre. The community is situated in a rural area and the Centre organises sponsorship of orphans and desperately needy children so that they can be educated and be employed. According to Lianne Foord who is a member of the of the Australian Support Committee, the children in their program often only own one item of clothing which is sometimes in poor condition. . Today I started sorting the second parcel which I intend to send mid-April.

Here are the contents of the parcel -

made possible by the following donors -
1)Jane Kelly, Marieka Ashmore and Liz Skinner of Coffs Harbour
2) Holly Landman
3) Karen Interlandi
4) Nicole Devet
5) Gaylene Herrmann
6) Miss Mollie and friend
7) Christie of Joyfoolery
8) Alison Harley
9) Sharyn Paull
10) Leonie Harrison
11) Ladies of Kapunda S.A. 
12) Sandra Price and her mum
13) Sarah Petrie and daughters Claudia and Charlotte
14) Sandra Hart
15) The Sewing Library facebook group
16) Prudence Mann
17) Liz Lynzaat
18) Deborah Steed
19) Heyboom shop
20) 2Bettys - Barrett Barrett and Betty Paull
21) Helen McMahon
22) Monika Osvald
23) Anonymous Donor

For larger images of the items, please click here. For more details on dress distributions, please click here or on the 'dress distribution' tab which can be found at the top of the page.

Thank you so much to all the dear donors who made this parcel so very possible. A special thank you to Lyn Crossley, Valda Ridley and Monika Osvald for the t-shirts and the undies. Through your kindness and generosity, some of these children will own another clean and decent dress. Thank you.

To know more about the works of the Bushikori Christian Centre (Supporting orphans and widows in Uganda) please click here.

Time to say 'thank you' once again.

After having filled 4 boxes the past couple of days and I think I can still go on (if I had not run out of boxes to fill), I feel the need to stop doing anything and say 'thank you' to everyone for your support, great kindness and generosity, for helping make a difference to some disadvantaged children around the world....with one small dress at a time.

 You all are indeed living the year 2013 making a big difference and we are only in the month of March. Imagine what we all can do by the end of the year.. still with just one dress at a time. 

Thank you everyone. The time, effort and cost you all have contributed is very, very much appreciated. Thank you.

Dress Distribution #21 - Parcel 1 for the Children of the Garden of Life, India

For the children of the Garden of Life, India is Distribution #21. This is the first parcel of 66 dresses. Coming up with the collection was quite easy but the sending has been quite a challenge. There is no other way to send the parcel except by airmail and the cost was beyond what I had allocated for it. I didnt want to use the funds that I had already allocated for the other parcels so the sending had to be put on hold until I could come up with the rest of the amount.  

And finally here are the dresses that have been allocated -

and the list of donors are listed below -

1) Ladies of Kapunda, South Australia

2) Frances Cornish

3) Sharyn Paull

4) Liz Lynzaat

5) Katherine Nott

6) Cassie Ashley

7) Monika Osvald

8) Wendy Yates

9) Heyboom Shop

10) Dress A Girl Australia

For larger images of the dresses, please click here. For more details on dress distributions, please click here or on the 'dress distribution' tab which can be found at the top of the page.

To all the donors, thank you so much for helping make a difference in this world, helping make a difference in the lives of the girls who will soon be receiving and wearing these dresses. This parcel of 66 dresses has been made possible through your kindness and generosity. Thank you. It is very much appreciated.

And lastly, my very special and heartfelt thank you to two big-hearted 85-year old craftivists, two Bettys for their continued support, great kindness and generosity. I was able to raise the needed funds to send this parcel to India through selling the handmade items (bags and doorstops) Betty Barrett made and making sure the items got to Sydney in time for my market by Betty Paull. Thank you Bettys, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Feedback on dresses with sleeves

No dress made today as am spending my time sorting and packing dresses. I appreciate very much the dresses that you make and send but to all those who are making dresses with sleeves or peasant style dresses, please do not be offended but please do not make the neckline of the dress too wide as the dress might fall off the child wearing it. This is the first time am packing dresses with sleeves and I noticed that some necklines are too wide. Even if the neckline has an elastic, I think some are still too wide. Dresses with sleeves are going to Asian countries such as India, Bangladesh where sleeves are required but these children are not of heavy build. Please take this comment positively as a guide to making a more beautiful dress and one that a child can enjoy wearing. Thanks everyone!

Feedback from Parcels sent to PNG and for the children of Katuuso Uganda

I thought I would share with you all the feedback(parcel acknowledgements)  I got from the parcel of forks I sent to Papua New Guinea and the parcel for the schoolchildren of Katuuso Uganda.
The first note is from Aunty Rosa of the BFO Orphanage, Papua New Guinea -

The second note is from Annabelle Chauncy, co-founder of the School for Life Foundation in Katuuso Uganda -

Thank you to everyone who made these parcels possible. Much appreciated.

For more details and/or information on dresses, shorts and other items' distributions, please visit my Dress Distribution page whenever you have the chance. You can also click on the tab 'Dress Distributions' which you can find at the top of this page.

Back to Sewing

After missing 12 days this month sewing dresses for my one-dress-a day campaign, I am back again and hope to make up for the missing dresses between now and the end of March. I am still hoping that I would be able to make 31 dresses for the 31 days of March. 31 dresses in honour of the memory of my high school classmates who have left this world quite early.

Last night I did 2 dresses from the fabric donations of Linda Smyth and Monika Osvald and tonight I did a t-shirt dress from the fabric and t-shirt donation of Monika Osvald. Here are the 3 dresses -

Thank you to Monika and Linda for their fabric donations which made these 3 dresses possible. Thanks Heaps!

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/03 #32 - from Gaylene

A parcel of 51 dresses and 1 pair of shorts from Gaylene Herrmann is donation #32 on my list. I think I have mentioned this before that Gaylene is one of the pioneer donor of dresses. In fact she is  the second person to donate dresses to Dress A Girl Australia.
Here are the dresses she has donated this time -

and here is the pair of shorts -

To Gaylene, thank you so much for your kindness, generosity and support of the Dress A Girl (Around the World) Australia program. It is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/03 #31 - From Heather and friends

Donation #31 is a very good example of sewing and spreading the word among family and friends. 9 dresses made of fabrics donated by her sister Debbie Nikolic and friend Wanda and sewn by Heather Harris. Everyone gets a chance to help make a difference in this world by helping one another and here are the dresses that will dress 9 lucky girls around the world -

Thank you to Debbie Nikolic and friend Wanda for the fabrics and to Heather for sewing them into dresses.  I love the good deeds that the three of you have accomplished. It is what Dress A Girl Around the world is all about and makes everything about this campaign more rewarding. 
Thank you so much!

Important Notices

Been quite busy the past few nights preparing for the Dreamers Markets' Autumn market. Am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be another lucky day for me. Being lucky would mean more and more girls around the world will be made happy.

Two things worthy of special mentions -

1) I will not be able to pick up parcels at the post office this Saturday, 16th of March due to Market Day. I have 2 parcel card notifications which I picked up at my postbox last Tuesday (as usual the postoffice was closed when I got there). I received two emails letting me know about parcels so my guess is that these 2 cards are for those email notifications received. Will try to pick them up early next week otherwise it will be done next Saturday.

2) For those who sent me emails since Tuesday this week) and requires responses, just to let the senders know that I have read your emails and will be responding after Saturday's Market Day. Thank you for your understanding.

Since the day my sewing machine broke down, I have not been able to make dresses for my one-dress-a-day campaign. I borrowed my sister's sewing machine but then my time is being eaten up by the preparations I have to do for this coming Saturday's market. I will resume making dresses perhaps on Sunday and try to make at least 31 dresses for the 31 days of March. I hope! :-)

Back with a bit of vengeance

The terminator said 'I'll be back' in the Terminator movie. Gen Douglas MacArthur said 'I shall return' during WWii to fulfill a promise he made to go back to the Philippines and save them from the Japanese invasion. (I wasnt even born yet :-)). 

Now it is my turn to say 'I am back' with my sister's sewing machine. I will be back to continue on my mission of one-dress-a-day after the Dreamers Market on Saturday, the 16th of March at the Riverside Theatres, Parramatta and aim to catch up and make at least 31 dresses for the 31 days of March.

Mini Pillows and Buttons for Sale

When I took more than a year off from work a few years ago I needed to find something to do to keep myself busy. I went travelling, created websites, cardmaking, did a lot of quilting, gardening and made a lot of pillows just to be busy. Earlier from reading magazines I found that I can actually create my own fabric or print images on fabrics using an inkjet printer that when I travelled to the US the first thing I did was look for the materials that was mentioned in the magazines I was reading. When I came back to Sydney I handcarried two reams of the special inkjet fabric sheets. I printed pictures and graphic images one sheet after another that I ended up with almost 25 small pillows created. LOL! I started selling them one at a time when I decided I wanted to go back to work but I didnt expect that I would immediately find a job. It was my first application/interview so I ended up not being able to sell all the pillows.

Today I decided I was going to bring all the remaining pillows at the Autumn Market of the Dreamers Market this coming Saturday to sell. I hope they would sell so I can raise more funds. Here are the pillows that I will be selling -

In addition to making pillows I also did a lot of button making and I have pinned some of the buttons on the pillows where appropriate. These items will also be available for sale at the Dress A Girl Australia e-shop soon.

More buttons are also available for sale for the Easter event. These are new items I created during the weekend when I could not use my sewing machine.

These will be posted in my e-shop very soon.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/03 #30 - From Katoomba NSW

This lady has been kept busy. A combination of dresses, pairs of shorts, scarves and a pencil case from Monika Osvald is Donation #30. Yehey!! Now I've got something inside my school supplies collection box again after I emptied it last week to send to the schoolchildren of the School for Life Foundation in Katuuso Uganda. 
Here are the items I picked up from the post last Saturday morning -

Heaps of thanks, Monika. Every time and effort you spend making these items is very much appreciated. Thank you so much.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/03 #29 - Another parcel from Leonie

Another parcel of 8 dresses from Leonie Harrison is number 29 on the list. Since the last time she made and donated 12 dresses which I think was in May of last year, she has been meaning to send more and here they are -

Thank you so much Leonie!  I am sure these eight dresses will make eight girls very happy. Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity. It is much appreciated.

Ladies of Kapunda Sewing Bee #2 for the year

Here are some of the Ladies of Kapunda who joined the scheduled Sewing Bee for the month of March. They completed 120 dresses and pairs of shorts. Isnt that an incredible job!

The dresses and shorts they have made this month and for the next couple of months are in preparation for their 'Buy A Dress-Send A Dress' promotion of Dress A Girl Around the World upcoming May event in collaboration with the Kapunda Quilters' Quilt Exhibition. The money they raised will be used to sponsor women in the business programs of Hope-4-Women Intl by the ladies of Kapunda S.A.

My sewing machine is broken!

I am broken-hearted. Looks like the bobbin in my sewing machine has finally given up on me after 15 years of sewing just about anything and dresses for the past two years. Last night I spent almost 4 hours making just one dress when it should only be for at least an hour. The bobbin kept tangling the thread and jams up the machine. I tried all possible combination of fixes but nothing seemed to work and I broke two needles. Today I tried to make a dress but unsuccessful and broke 2 needles again in my attempt so I stopped as I didnt want my day to be spoiled because of a bobbin.

Tomorrow I am going to window shop and shop for a new sewing machine. Until such time that I can buy a new sewing machine or have my sewing machine fixed, it will be very quiet and lonely and miserable days here at Dress A Girl Australia.

A little bit of sewing this week

The month of March seems to be going so quickly. I have not been making a dress everyday since the month started. I have only made 5 so far and to think that I am dedicating the dresses I will be making this month to all my high school classmates that have left this world quite early I think I should be making more. :-) Schedule seems to be a bit tight with two markets coming (one next weekend and another in May)

Anyway, could'nt stay away from my best buddy, my sewing machine for too long and here are the dresses I made for Day 66 and 67 (dresses #4 and #5 for this month)

Hope to catch up and make at least 31 for 31 days of March most probably after next weekend.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/03 #28 - From Clare McAdam

Number 28 on the list are these bundles of fabrics donated by Monika Osvald's colleague Clare McAdam.

This is going to keep Monika busy in the next few weeks thanks to Clare. Thank you Monika for helping spread the word around.

Clare, thank you for your kindness and generosity. These bundles will go a long way in dressing girls from the less fortunate locations. Thank you. Much appreciated.

New Logo

After 2 years of dressing girls and boys around the world, I am changing Dress A Girl Australia's logo to 'We dressed girls around the world'. Just fitting and proper after providing 1105 dresses and 209 pairs of shorts to the less fortunate children around the world with more to dress in the near future. This change coincides with another milestone Dress A Girl Australia is celebrating. She just turned two today! Yippeee!!
Here is my new logo -

Starting with just myself and my sewing machine two years ago with the help of my crafty sisters, Dress A Girl Australia is gathering momentum, quickly becoming an Australia-wide campaign.  With a career in IT including 15 years as a programmer I never thought I would one day be sewing dresses for the less fortunate children, dressed about 350 children in 2 years time. Redundancy was a blessing in disguise as it opened my eyes to the outside world and saw that there is life outside work and so much better when you are helping make this world a better place, helping make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate especially with children. I am still working but I consider it as my part-time and always look forward to going home everyday and start my full-time tasks with Dress A Girl.

Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart to all the donors, campaigners, supporters of Dress A Girl Around the World specifically Dress A Girl Australia. Without your help, kindness and generosity, Dress A Girl Australia the way it is now would'nt have been possible. Thank you so much! And more power to Dress A Girl Around the World.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/03 #27 - From Sarah Tanmahapran

There are a lot of us making 2013 the year of living making a difference and Sarah Tanmahapran is one of them. Third batch for the year for the month of March are 11 dresses and is number 27 on the list, the first for the month of March.
Here are the dresses she donated for this month - dresses very well done.

Sarah, thank you for the dresses. I can see that you are enjoying making a difference in the world of the less fortunate. Soon your dresses will bring lovely smiles on the girls' faces who get to wear them.Thank you for your kindness and generosity. Much appreciated.

Dress Distribution #20 - Parcel for the children of Katuuso Uganda

Could not do much in such a short notice but we have done it again and very thankful to Annabelle Chauncy, co-founder of School for Life Foundation in Katuuso Uganda for letting me know about a container that was leaving for Uganda this Friday. I really wished I could send more but I only found 2 spare boxes in my garage last night. 

Anyway, I managed to pack 30 pairs of shorts, 45 dresses, about 50 girls undies, coloring and activity books I have collected, pencils, crayons and a few packs of small watercolor sets and about 20 exercise books. These school stuff every now and then I get to collect and receive from a few friends. I would have wanted to put an undie on the pocket of every dress but didnt have enough time so I just bundled them up and leave them to be given to each girl who receives a dress otherwise I would have gone beyond midnight and wasnt a good idea on a weekday.

Here are the goodies that will be sent off today and hopefully make it to the container on Thursday night to depart on Friday -
Dresses and pairs of shorts -

School Supplies and a bunch of girls' undies -

Due to time constraint I could only identify a few donors just by looking at some of the dresses and the packaging of the dresses and pairs of shorts where I pulled them out from. When I get to identify more (and will keep on trying), then I will update my list -

1. 2Betts (Betty Barrett and Betty Paull)
2. Sharyn Paull
3. Deborah Parish and the Ladies of Kapunda S.A.
4. Wendy Yates
5. Karin Maltby and the Ladies from Perth
6. and I think Monika Osvald and Lyn Crossley
7. Sarah Tanmahapran
8. Friends for the school supplies
9. Dress A Girl Australia

Thanks everyone for making these 2 parcels possible. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. Thank you for making another 45 school girls happy and 30 school boys jump up with joy with their new pairs of shorts from the School for Life Foundation, Katuuso Uganda. Much appreciated! 

For larger images of the contents of these parcels, please click here. For more on dress distributions, please click here or click on the 'Dress Distribution' tab found at the top of this page. I try to update this page whenever a parcel leaves my humble abode....and I still have about 5 more to publish. Still need to find the time to do it so watch this space!

Dress Distribution Feedback from Katuuso Uganda Mar 2013

Here are some pictures of the school kids of the School for Life Foundation wearing their dresses and the boys their new pairs of shorts taken from a completed dress distribution in Katuuso Uganda. I just love looking at the pictures of the kids having a good time.

For individual and larger images, please click here.

Thank you to Annabelle Chauncy, co-founder of the School for Life Foundation for providing me with these pictures. Much appreciated.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/02 #26 - From Bronwyn also from Tasmania

Yes, I seem to be getting a lot of support from Tasmania. Number 26 and the last name on my list for the month of February is a parcel of 12 dresses from Bronwyn Reynolds. I would'nt be surprised if Bronwyn, Monika and Louise are group of friends as they seem to have the same name of suburb. And what a way to spread the word around...thru family and friends.
Here are the 12 dresses from Bronwyn -

Bronwyn, thank you for supporting this campaign. Your dresses will make a dozen children happy. Thank you for your generosity. It is much appreciated. Thanks!

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/02 #25 - From Monika Briant

This time is a bundle of pink fabric from Monika Briant of Tasmania and this is donation #25. I would guess that she learned about this campaign from Louise Wright, another generous donor of fabrics as her return address had a care-of  Louise name on it.
Here is the pink bundle which surely will dress and make at least 4 girls happy anywhere in the world -

Thank you Monika for your kindness and generosity. Much appreciated. Thanks!

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/02 #24 - From Linda Smyth

Number 24 on the list is a parcel that was dropped off at my place last Tuesday by Linda Smyth. She lives about 10-15 minutes away from my place. The parcel had 8 dresses and 5 pairs of shorts and 4 bundles of fabrics. Also in the parcel was 2 sets of patterns for boys' shorts.
Here are the dresses and the pairs of shorts -

and the 4 bundles of fabrics -

Linda, thank you for the dresses and the pairs of shorts and the bundles of fabrics which will make children from the less fortunate locations happy. And thank you for the patterns. Thank you for thoughtfulness.

Another Sewing Bee schedule for the ladies of Kapunda S.A.

Yes, Ladies of Kapunda S.A. and from the nearby suburbs, there is another Dress A Girl Around the World sewing bee scheduled for this Saturday, 9th of March 2013 from 10:00am - 4:00pm at the Lutheran Church Hall, South Tce., Kapunda S.A.

Craft and Hope in collaboration with Dress A Girl Around the World where everyone meets and sew, quilts, knits, crochets for your favourite charity.Everyone is welcome.

For those who plan to join in this event, please contact Kathy Pfeiffer (85662189) and/or Deborah Parish(85663628)  and/or if you want more details on this event. Please help spread the word! Thank you everyone!

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/02 #23 - A unique parcel from Betty Barrett

Number 23 on my list is a parcel full of unique handmade items from Betty Barrett and with the help of her best friend Betty Paull making sure that the parcel arrives in Sydney. As some of you would probably know these two Bettys wants to dress the whole world (and she and friend Betty are both 85 years old!) but what was inside the parcel were not dresses but handmade items she made for me to sell to help raise funds for postage.

One of the handmade items was a doorstop(in fact 13 of them) and I filled one of them using the decorative pebbles I used for my terrariums. Here are the items I received which I will be selling in a market very soon and also I will be posting in my shop. Don't forget to check them out as they would have full details on how to fill up the doorstops.

And here is one of the doorstops already filled - I just love the result of it once it was filled with 2.5 kilos of decorative pebbles. 2.5 kilos of pebbles weigh the same as 2.5kilos of rice if you prefer to use rice or 2.5 kilos of clean sand.

If anyone is interested to purchase any of these items, please feel free to send me an email at dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. It is going to a very worthy cause and the item is made with full of love.

Thank you so much for the items Betty B and thank you so much for making sure the items get to Sydney Betty P. You two are a great inspiration and I hope to other people as well. Thank you from the bottom of my heart....and never miss your walks. I just think about the 2 of you doing your daily walk and am out the door walking too! :-)

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/02 #22 - From Bethany Greenaway

A few weeks back I posted an entry about a 17-year old Girl Guide by the name of Bethany Greenaway of Blaxland NSW. She received a Queens Guide Award and had to undertake a service project for a minimum of 30 hours over 3 months.  She chose to set herself the challenge of completing 60 dresses in 3 months and has completed it. Donation #22 are the 60 dresses Bethany did as part of her award and here are the 60 dresses she has donated -

And in case you missed the picture I posted earlier of Bethany, here she is with her 60 dresses -

Look at the dresses. What a pro! Congratulations, Bethany! What a job and very well done! Thank you so much for choosing Dress A Girl Around the World campaign as your service project. Thank you for dressing 60 girls from the less fortunate locations around the world. I hope with your work it will inspire a lot of kids your age to help make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate. Thank you so much!

March dresses dedication

Last week a high school classmate and friend passed away. Actually it was on my sister's birthday, the 21st of February. In memory of her passing and all my other high school classmates who have left this world quite early I am dedicating all the dresses including pairs of shorts I will be making this month of March to them starting with last night's dress. 
This is the first dress I made for the month of March (Day 60) last night -

I want to say thank you in advance to all the donors of the fabrics I will be using in making this remembrance possible this month. Thanks everyone! 

To be updated on my one-dress-a-day project, please click here or click on the '365 Days Diary' tab found at the top of this page and every other page of this blog.

An unwanted fabric egg

Last night I decided to make a fabric egg and spent about two hours trying to perfect it...to make it look like an egg. Here is the egg I made -  

This morning when I woke up the first thing I saw was this egg sitting on top of my benchtop and I started to wonder what I should do with this egg. I cannot even break it because it is made of fabric and filled of hobby-fil. If I wash it am sure it will stand up again looking like an egg when it dries up. LOL! I think I was challenged last night to make it look and shaped like an egg that is why I had to finish it but I went blank this morning on how to make it useful to me.

Anyway, am sure I will be able to come up with something in the next few days on what to do with it....how it can help Dress A Girl Australia. :-) If you have any ideas, please feel free to let me know.

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/02 #21 - From Heather Harris

A parcel of 4 dresses and 4 pairs of shorts is number 21 on the list from Heather Harris of ACT. She sent me an email about a couple of weeks ago letting me know how excited she was to make more dresses. Her sister and her mum gave her more fabrics but she also said that she cannot find her shorts pattern after rearranging her sewing room. :-) To make you feel better Heather, most of the time I cannot find my elastic or bias tapes when I want to use  them and I do not even re-arrange my sewing room. How much more if I do. And when I do not need them..well guess what... I can find them. LOL!
Here are the dresses and pairs of shorts from Heather -

Thank you Heather for supporting this campaign of dressing the less fortunate children around the world. Please extend my heartfelt thanks to your mum and sister for providing you with fabrics to sew. Thank you all for your kindness and generosity. Much appreciated. Thanks!

Donation Acknowledgement FY13/02 #20 - From Lyn Granger

This is Donation #20 from Lyn Granger of NSW. A parcel of 5 dresses and 2 pairs of shorts and a note full of love. This must be the reason why it takes me a long time to finish donation acknowledgements. I look at each dress and admire and I read every word on the note that comes with the parcel. :-)
Here are the 5 dresses from Lyn -

the two pairs of shorts -

and the note full of love - (I removed the contact details so please ignore the lines shaded with white.) It says 'much love' and with colourful hearts drawn underneath. Isnt that sweet?

Lyn, thank you for the dresses and the pairs of shorts and thank you for the note. It is very much appreciated. Thank you.