Happy Christmas Everyone!

"Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and desires of little children; to remember the weaknesses and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and to ask yourself if you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear on their hearts; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open? Are you willing to do these things for a day? Then you are ready to keep Christmas!” 
― Henry van Dyke

And wishing everyone PEACE this holiday season. MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!!

Christmas e-shop

I will not be able to do some sewing for dress sponsorships so in lieu of this to continue to raise money for the construction projects of Pittwater Friends of Soibada in Timor Leste, I will be selling some Christmas handmade items which I made in the last few months and of which I was not able to sell in the Dreamers Markets Christmas market last week due to medical emergency.  A portion of the proceeds from any sale will be donated to the Pittwater Friends fundraising. 

As of today, I have raised $760.00 from Dress Sponsorships and am aiming for $1000 by the end of December. Items for sale have been posted with URL links in my facebook page but will be posting same here in my blog sometime today. Here is the link to the facebook album -

Christmas Handmades for Sale

If there is anything you like, please make a purchase. Proceeds go to a very worthwhile cause. Any questions regarding any of the items and/or donations made to Pittwater Friends if a sale is made, a spreadsheet will be made available so everything is transparent to everyone or you can send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. Thank you.

For everyone's info

The deadline last week closes the acceptance of any dress donations for the year. Due to an unforeseen medical emergency, I will not be accepting any dress donations so please do not send any more dresses and/or parcels until further advised. I will try my best to make sure all dresses are distributed as planned and all pictures from the distributions that will be available will be posted here. My heartfelt thank you to everyone who supported this campaign during the year 2015. It is very much appreciated. Thank you.

Reminder for last and final cut-off

Just a reminder that all donated dresses should be in my postbox by Friday, 27th of November to make it in the last and final parcel for christmas distribution. To make it to this deadline, all parcels must be posted by Monday, 23rd of Nov. Please note that deliveries are getting slower and slower each day and I cannot make it to the postoffice to pick up parcels all the time. Thank you.

For everyone's info

Can I please request donors not to insert anything metallic on the dresses or anything that will trigger security detectors or anything that makes a sound. It makes it more difficult especially these days to have the parcels released from customs. I think dresses are good enough to make these kids happy. Thank you.

Second and Final Cut-off Date for Christmas Distribution

The second parcel (Dress Distribution #98/1B) is now officially closed and parcel will be sent at the end of this month of October.

The last and final cut-off date of dresses for Christmas distribution is Friday, 27th of November. Please make sure all your parcels are posted at least a week before cut-off to make it to my postal box on Friday,27th of Nov. These dresses will need to be sent-off at the end of the month of November to meet the deadline of the freight company which is Dec 4. I need time to sort and pack so please be guided accordingly.

First cut-off date and guidelines on dresses reminder

This Friday is the first cut-off date for dresses to be distributed in December. Can I PLEASE remind everyone to PLEASE follow the guidelines in making dresses especially when it comes to fabric materials to use. If you can see your hand through the fabric then it is either you put a lining or not use the fabric to make a dress at all. Thank you.

Friendly reminder on dress guidelines

Just a friendly reminder on the type of fabrics to use when making dresses. please be guided by the guidelines on the link below to avoid inconveniences. thank you

Dress Guidelines.

Update on active projects as of 13-Sep-2015

Active Projects as of today, Sunday, 13th of Sept -
1) Project Soibada Timor Leste - Deadline is Wed, 23rd of Sept.

2) Project Christmas -
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First cut-off date is Friday, 23rd of October. Dresses that make it to this cut-off will be sent by Sunday, 1st of November.
Second and final cut-off date is Friday, 27th of November. Dresses that did not make it on the first cut-off will be included in this batch and will be sent by Friday, 4th of December.
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I would like all sizes between 1 to 12 to have at least a fair share of number of dresses to distribute so I am requesting anyone who is donating more than one dress to at least think of sewing an equal number of dresses of any size between 1 to 12. (If you are planning to donate 5 dresses, if you could please donate perhaps 2 or 3 of sizes 1-5 and/or 2 or 3 of sizes 6-12 or vice versa). I currently have almost a 100 dresses of the sizes 1 to 5 so if I find that I am getting more smaller sizes, the second and final cut-off date for the christmas distribution will be focused on larger sizes only. And please follow guidelines on making dresses to avoid inconveniences. Thank you.

Quality is of utmost importance.

With the Christmas collection opening up very soon, I would like to remind anyone who wants to donate including groups that quality of dresses is what counts the most rather than quantity. Less to distribute but would last longer for the child is better than a thousand to distribute and only half of this would last a week. Please follow the guidelines when making dresses. Unfinished hemlines will not be included in any of the distributions. Thank you.

Project Soibada Donations now due a week earlier - Wed., 23-Sep-2015

Good Morning everyone. I am moving forward by a week the due date of dresses to be donated to Project Soibada Timor Leste to Wed, 23rd of Sept from Wed, 30th of Sept due to a change in my schedule. I will not be available for pickups on the last week of Sept(starting the 28th of Sept until 7th of Oct) and these dresses need to be prepared on these days of which I am not available. So for those who are intending to donate dresses for Project Soibada Timor Leste please take note of the change in due date - Wed, 23-Sep-2015. Please try to send your dresses as early as possible. Thank you.

Forced to close collection for Project CDO Cabaraban today

This is my parcel for Project CDO Cabaraban. It is currently holding about 35 kilos of clothing(about 200 dresses) and is very full.It is quite a very big box and heavy. I know that the deadline for all dresses to be donated to this project is still on Wednesday, 10th of Sept. 

Although I am not expecting anymore parcels to arrive between today and Wed in my postbox unfortunately I can no longer squeeze in any more dresses so any dresses still to arrive and intended for this distribution will be allocated for the Christmas distribution project. For everyone's info. Thank you.

National Sewing Month

This month is National Sewing Month in the US and perhaps in Australia as well and is a good time to sew and share. Good time to make a difference in this world through sewing. If you are not into sewing or do not have the time to sew, let someone do the sewing for you through Dress A Girl Australia's Dress Sponsorship program and help make a difference to the lives of the people in the community of Soibada Timor Leste. For more information and how to sponsor, please click on the link below - Help spread the word around and thank you.

Dress Sponsorship Program

First Deadline for active project (Distribution #88/1B) - Thursday, Sep 10

Today is the first day of spring. 1st of September. Just a friendly reminder that Project CDO Cabaraban (Distribution #88/1B) is ending in 9 days time. All parcels should be in my postbox by Thursday, Sep 10, 2015 to make it for distribution. My parcel is ready, sorted and packed and just waiting for those who find it in their hearts to help make a difference to a few disadvantaged kids this September. Thank you.

Active Projects Due Dates

Just a friendly reminder on projects currently going on.
1) Dress Distribution #88/1B - 09/2015 - CDO Project Cabaraban - Due in my postbox on Thursday,10th of Sept 2015. There is a limit of maximum of 5 dresses per individual and/or 20 dresses for a group only. Dress sizes between the ages of 6 to 12. 

2) Distribution #91/1A - 10/2015 - Project Soibada Timor Leste - Due in my postbox on Wednesday, 30th of September. Number of dresses to donate is what you think is fair to donate. Dress sizes should be between the ages of 6 to 12 and preferably with sleeves. 

For more information, please make a comment here or send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com. Thank you.

Dress Distribution in September

September being my birthmonth I will be making a dress distribution. To those who would like to make dresses and make a donation, feel free to do so but with a maximum of 5 dresses per donor and/or 20 dresses for a group only. Dress sizes between the ages of 6 to 12. Please note quality of dresses should be adhered to per guidelines on how to make dresses. All dresses should be in my postbox on or before Thursday, 10th of Sept to give me more time to sort, pack and send as the group who will be distributing are available only at the end of the month of September. 

Postal address is Dress A Girl Australia, P.O. Box 240 Casula Mall Casula NSW 2170. Thank you.

Shared from The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation

Status of dress collection

May i request that you do not send me any dresses at this time. i am still trying to raise money for postage which is very slow. if i cannot raise money i cannot afford to pay the cost of distributing the dresses you donate and i do not have space to store the dresses. so please understand. do not send me anything as i have no plans of distributing at this time. when i am ready i will make an announcement. thank you.

No more paper patterns and/or labels

If Greece is refusing to follow austerity measures to improve their situation, Dress A Girl Australia is extremely following the austerity measures it has imposed to be able to sustain this campaign. So I would like everyone to know that I am no longer providing paper copies of patterns and/or Dress A Girl Labels. Links on patterns can be found in my blog under the section Tutorials - How to make dresses and a document you can use to print labels if you want to. These could be small items only but when in huge quantities the costs are huge on stamps, paper, inkjet cartridges and even petrol so I could drop off mails. For everyone's info. Thank you.

Fundraising Drive Sale

Help make a difference to the lives of disadvantaged kids. Support Dress A Girl Australia's campaign to continue providing clothing to the less fortunate by helping raise money for the cost of shipping and handling of parcels. Dress A Girl Australia has no major financial sponsors but relies on selling unwanted items in my garage and my small handmade business to financially support this campaign. So please check out what am selling and if there is anything you like, make a purchase. All proceeds goes to a very worthwhile cause. 

Thank you and please help spread the word around.