Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Dress A Girl Australia wishes everyone a very happy Christmas!

Happy, happy Christmas!

Last-minute Handmade Presents

It is an expensive hobby but sometimes it pays to be a fabric hoarder. This morning while trying to pack my christmas presents for our family christmas dinner tonight, I noticed I was missing two presents but could not figure out for which member of the family. I sat down and listed the names and ticked each name when I found a present and that was how I discovered that I was missing one for my 8-yr old niece and another for my 6-yr old nephew. No way was I going to drive to the mall and join hundreds of last minute shoppers.

Thanks to my being a fabric hoarder, I decided to make a couple of items to give and this is what I came up with - a pillowcase dress for my niece and a pair of shorts for my nephew.

I hope they will like my last-minute handmade presents. Their names would definitely be called out to receive a present from their aunt. 

Two Pairs of Shorts for Ujamaa Children Ally and Kevin

I always thought I have already written about the Ujamaa Children of Tanzania but I could not find it anywhere in the posting log and the items have already been sent over to the Crafty Ladies Movement facebook group who organized the drive weeks ago. These two boys Ally and Kevin from the Ujamaa Childrens Home of Tanzania will be the lucky recipients of  2 pairs of shorts made by me.

   

Ally is 5 years old and has a twin sister Halima and Kevin is 9.

They both live in the Ujamaa Childrens Home in Tanzania which was founded by Carley Andrews. To make the pair of shorts more interesting as Christmas presents, I had each pair wrapped in a fabric pouch with the pictures of both Ally and Kelvin printed on it. I also included a handmade Christmas fabric picture card and greeted each boy a merry christmas to make this gift-giving more memorable. 

If you want to know more about Ally, click here. To know more about Kevin, click here.   To know more about the Ujamaa Childrens Home, click here.

I hope these two boys would love the pair of shorts I made for them. If and when pictures would be available I will be posting them immediately on this site. Making these shorts was a good way to prepare myself to make more pairs for Dress A Girl Australia's 'shorts for the boys' campaign. Although I am starting to get enquiries on whether they can make shorts as well as dresses, the official launch of this 'shorts for the boys' campaign will be in March 2012. 

If you are keen in joining me on this campaign, please feel free to email dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Angels for the Forgotten Charity Drive Update

The Christmas Stockings has now made its way to the Angels for the Forgotten charity organization. I could just imagine the glow of happiness on each child's face when they receive it.

Operation Christmas Shoebox Update

Three weeks ago I donated 2 Christmas Shoeboxes in Samaritan's Purse Australia and New Zealand's Operation Christmas Shoebox. A week after that I received an acknowledgement letter informing me that the shoeboxes have been received by their warehouse and that they will be emailing me again when they know in which country the shoeboxes will be opened. 

Today I received that email advising me that the shoeboxes I donated are on its way to Thailand aboard the vessel OOCL New Zealand V056 which is due to arrive in Bangkok on the 8th of January 2012. 

I feel very excited knowing that a boy and a girl between the ages of 5 to 9 years old will soon be receiving the special box I prepared and I hope these children will like what they see inside the box. 

Fundraising Update

No more orders. I am no longer taking orders for the personalised Christmas stockings. The final count of Christmas Stockings I have sold is 27. It was a double effort on my part to make them as  I didnt have that much time in between taking the order during the day and actually making them in the evening after work. But I had fun making them.

Out of the 27 stockings sold, I decided to donate the sale proceeds from 10 of the Christmas stockings to the victims of the flash flooding in the Philippines (CDO). The rest of the sale proceeds will go to the postage fund of Dress A Girl Australia.

Dress A Girl Australia....until the next drive!

Donation Acknowledgements for the Week #2

I am not sure where this lady gets her energy to be able to make dresses and take care of her boys at the same time but she has been busy. Katherine has about 60 dresses and 30 pairs of shorts about to be completed using materials from her personal fabric collection which she has donated to Dress A Girl Australia and other supporters' fabric donations. I am excited on the shorts she has started to make for Dress A Girl Australia. In the next distribution, we will not only be making little girls happy but also the little boys.

Here are the latest fabric donations she has received and making them into dresses for little girls around the world.

From Renae Hambrook

and from TheFabricBug

http://www.facebook.com/#!/TheFabricBUG

and from Katherine's personal collection

Here are the dresses and the shorts made by Katherine so far. Amazing work.

To Renae and the Fabric Bug, thank you so much for your fabric donations and a special thanks to Katherine for making these fabrics into dresses. All your efforts are very well appreciated. Thank you so much.

Donation Acknowledgements for the Week #1

5 very cute dresses and a metre of 'Paper Dolls' fabric from Pam of 'Threading my Way'.

Pam, thank you for your continued support of Dress A Girl Australia. It is very much appreciated. The metre of fabric is very cute with the paper dolls print. Pretty fabric to make into a dress with its print for girls around the world. I hope to make 2 dresses out of this bundle.

Dress A Girl Australia was actually featured by Pam in her 'Threading my Way' blog. Click here to check out her blog. Her articles are very interesting and something different. I cant think of anyone who wouldnt find her blog helpful and interesting.  Check out how she transformed a wedding dress to a smart day dress. Very resourceful.

Again, thank you from Dress A Girl Australia.

Dreaming On

Only a week away from Christmas and am still dreaming on that I will meet my Christmas target of collecting 500 dresses for distribution to girls around the world early next year. Imagine a world where every little girl owned at least one dress and what if that dress were made by you. What better time to share with the less fortunate girls around the world, share the spirit of Christmas with a pillowcase dress.

Dress A Girl Australia...keep on dreaming!

Heart, thoughts and Prayers to the people of Cagayan De Oro City Philippines

My heart, thoughts and prayers goes to the victims/casualties of the flash flooding in yesterday's Typhoon Sendong (International code Washi) in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines . This place is very close and holds a very special place in my heart as this is where I was born and spent the first 16 years of my life. Very special that I chose this place as the first recipient of the dresses I have made and collected in the Dress A Girl Around the World campaign. A lot of victims were children who were asleep when it happened.

5 dresses in exchange for vacuuming

Some people think that I am a very organize person but really am not. I probably am when it comes to work or to other tasks I commit myself to but not when it comes to personal things. Am a very good procrastinator when it comes to doing chores at home. Sometimes I know I have to clean the house and start taking out the vacuum cleaner etc early in the morning only to end up for these cleaning tools in the same position same place I had them in at the end of the day. But sometimes I do end up with a new handmade card or a new image printed on a fabric sheet or finally magazines fully closed on top of the dining table which has been left opened on a particular page for almost a week.

I found another excuse for not cleaning so much so that images like the ones below are common to see in the house these days. You find  a pair of scissors, a needle and spool of thread on top of a bench, piles and piles of fabric materials, folded pillowcases, laces and accessories in one corner of an unused bed or pillowcases on top of a coffee table. (Mind you these are materials needed to make pillowcase dresses or waiting to be made.)

But it is because of these areas that are messy that I can find the time to make pillowcase dresses and this week I made 5 of them.

5 dresses, 5 big smiles for 5 girls around the world. And am happy with what I have accomplished for the day.

Another Donation Acknowledgements

Dress A Girl Australia has found another friend and campaigner in Katherine Nott. With her willingness to help make dresses for girls around the world, she was able to organize donations of fabrics from willing supporters as well. More fabrics means more dresses. More dresses means more smiles from more girls around the world.

On behalf of Dress A Girl Australia and all the girls who will be wearing the dresses made out of these fabric materials, I would like to say thank you very much to Amanda Sampson, Becs Bags and Chicken Ink Creative for the fabrics. Your donations are very much appreciated. It is people like you who inspires Dress A Girl Australia to strive more for the good of all the girls around the world. And to Katherine for making the dresses possible. My heartfelt thanks!

from Amanda Sampson

from Becs Bags

http://www.facebook.com/#!/BecsBags

and Chicken Ink Creative

http://www.facebook.com/#!/ChickenInkCreative

Thank you and more power to you all.

What does Dress A Girl Australia do?

Offer to help Dress A Girl Australia

I do have a list of things to write about but I inadvertently missed this one. This lady actually wrote to me a couple of weeks ago letting me know about her intention to help in Dress A Girl Around the world Dress A Girl Australia’s campaign to make dresses for girls around the world. Lynda Smyth has been sending dresses to orphanages in Zambia thru her contacts with the  Catholic Mission and this time she wants to help Dress A Girl Australia. She is thinking of helping or assisting along the lines of contacting and coordinating schools and see if the students could get involved with this campaign of which I thought is such a great idea.

One of my plans in 2012 (which is about 20 days away mind you) is to get in touch with schools and organize some sort of involvement from their students. Or schools that offer sewing as a subject or as an elective to propose to include making pillowcase dresses as a project and Lynda’s offer to help is such a good timing. Any kind of help to make Dress A Girl Australia’s campaign a success is very welcomed. Any effort, time you can spare and resources you can contribute to this campaign is very much appreciated.

Photograph of a dress using the smocking/shirring
technique by Lynda Smith


Lynda has also offered to help anyone who wants to learn how to do the smocking/shirring technique which she learned from watching tutorials in youtube.

If you are one of those crafters who wants to learn something new, this would be a very good opportunity for you to learn from someone who has actually done it.

Sew for those readers out there who wants to learn smocking/shirring, please feel free to get in touch with Lynda by filling up the form with your details below and will make sure that she gets it . Or click on the form located on the left navigation bar. Dont waste time.

Help spread the word of making pillowcase dresses

One of my favourite songs is ‘Imagine’ written and sang by the famous John Lennon. In this song, he imagined the world as one and where all the people were living life in peace. Dress a Girl Australia daydreams. Dress A Girl Australia is a daydream believer. We all daydream about a world where every little girl most specially the less fortunate little girls around the world owned at least one dress for each one of them deserves to own one and that dress are made by each one of us.

This daydream is starting to become a reality. Dress A Girl Australia is starting to have a little following. If it were a rock band, a little groupie is starting to get formed. Hahah! (Imagine me with a very big grin on my face writing this.)

It is starting to gain, slowly but surely, a lot of support in its campaign to make dresses for little girls around the world. Several of us are starting to imagine a world where every little girl owned at least one dress and are happy and proud and very much willing to making that dress. Woohoo!!

But we need more help as we need more dresses. If you are a daydream believer like Dress A Girl Australia, come and join us on this very worthwhile campaign. Together you and I can make a difference in this world ….one dress at a time. And in the very near future for all the little boys…one pair of shorts at a time.

 

 

Please help spread the word around. Help us put big smiles on those little girls’ faces by making pillowcase dresses. See them wear these dresses and standing proudly knowing that they own the dress they wear. Send us those unwanted fabrics so we can make more dresses and to make them more pretty, if you have any buttons, elastics, threads and ribbons just lying around or gathering dust inside a box perhaps in your garage, please send them to Dress A Girl Australia. One button you send can make a big difference to a little girl’s life. For more details on this campaign, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com

Please help spread the word around !! You will not regret it.

More Donation Acknowledgements

I'd like to acknowledge two more items donated by HeyBoom shop to sell for fundraising for postage. All two items are designed, handprinted and handmade by HeyBoom.

Canvas bag and made of pre-washed, distressed cotton canvas tarp.

And a screenprinted bar apron made of linen cloth.

Thank you from Dress A Girl Australia!

If you are interested in more handmade and handprinted items designed by HeyBoom, please check out her online shop at madeit by just one-click on the link below -

                                                                 HeyBoom

If you are interested in joining this campaign of imagining a world where every little girl owned at least one dress and what if that dress were made by you just like HeyBoom, please send an email to dressagirlaustralia@gmail.com.

Looking forward to hearing from anyone of you wishing to join me on this great campaign.

Dress A Girl Australia's On-line shop is now open

Finally, Dress A Girl Australia's on-line shop is now open! Although not everything I wanted to make the page look great has been done at least I have finally made it running before Christmas is over!

For those who are interested and wants to check out all the donated items that are for sale, please click on the image below -

or do a 'copy and paste' of the URL below on your internet browser -

http://www.dressagirlaustralia.com.au

(Note: For those who are enquiring about the blue clutch purse they saw from the album 'Items for Sale' in Dress A Girl Australia's facebook page, that item is now sold and no longer available.)

This online shop will be selling all items donated to Dress A Girl Australia for fundraising to help shoulder the cost to send dresses to various locations. With the increasing number of dresses I am distributing, the parcel becomes more heavy and the postage more expensive but I am determined to keep on going and proceeds from the sale of the items in this shop will at least help Dress A Girl Australia along the way.

Also, this shop will be selling some of the items I have handcrafted all these years and which I believe is about time to be sold off without feeling guilty about it especially that it is for a good cause. I usually just keep these items either in my cabinets or display cabinets or for some quilts they are hanging on the walls.

All proceeds from the sale of the items I have made and from the donated items will go to Dress A Girl Australia's postage fund. Please help Dress A Girl Australia continue on her dream of dressing little girls around the world for we all deserve to have at least one dress by purchasing an item you like on this shop. Please help spread the word around.

All the items are 100% handmade, excellent quality materials and the craftmanship of the donated items are almost perfect. I like beautiful things so I always look at the way they are made and these donated items more than passes my quality control. And that is why I love handmades! Each handmade item is unique in its own way. If you are not happy with your purchase, you can always send back the item you purchased in its original packaging and you will be given a refund less the amount you paid for the postage just like any item you purchase from shops. 

Donation Acknowledgements

It is time to acknowledge and appreciate donations to Dress A Girl Australia from special people who believe and support this campaign. Thank you to Joan Wolf of HeyBoom Shop for donating these packs of laces. Each pack contains about 7mtrs each of these beautiful 3 and 4 inch wide of laces which will be used to embellish pillowcase dresses for little girls around the world. And these laces are very expensive in the shops. Thank you.

From Penny Grey and Fabric Cutouts, these donations will go a long way with the number of dresses Dress A Girl Australia can make. 

Pillowcases from Penny Grey

Fabrics and linen sheets from Fabric Cutouts

Laces, spools of threads, elastics from Erlyn Ballesta Sanchez. I didnt realize how many it was until I actually took them out from a plastic bag and arranged the items to take a picture.

And a metre of lacy fabric which will make a great add-on to some of the plain pillowcases.

On my way to buy lunch two weeks ago, I happen to pass by a department store near my place of work who had a big 'Sale going on' banner posted on the front window and saw girls' tshirts of different sizes for a dollar each or 5 for $3.00. I thought they were a good buy and real value for money so I bought 10 of them which I would make into T-shirt dresses.

And 3 shops farther was a small thrift store and bought rolls of ribbons for a dollar each. A work colleague of mine actually saw me come out of the bargain shop and asked what I bought as the shop was a little bit rundown and a mixture of everything that if you want to buy something specific you had to find it.  Well, the rolls were still sealed in plastic but were kind of dusty but really a good buy. I always enjoy going inside thrift and dollar shops as you never know what to expect and can buy for a dollar or two. These kind of shops are always a big help especially when you want to spend on items as cheap as possible so you get to purchase more. 

And with all the purchases I did the past two weeks, Dress A Girl Australia's moneytin is about to go dry but will keep me busy in the coming months.

Again, my heartfelt thanks to the donors. These donated items will go a long way in Dress A Girl Australia's imagination of a world where every little girl owned at least one dress. Each item received is very much appreciated.