Thursday, May 26, 2011

Delta Kappa Gamma is taking on DAGATW!

I was just invited to speak at the January dinner by Delta Kappa Gamma, an honor society for key women educators.  They want to take on the Dress a Girl Around the World campaign as a 2012 project and think this will go to the state level!  They tell me it is in keeping with past projects they have taken on such as raising funds for Afghan girls’ education, AIDS baby quilts, Soles for Souls, homework bags for children in shelters, etc.

I am SEW excited!!  Can't wait!  I am so pleased that doors are opening all around to this great cause! 


Stay tuned!!!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Listen in!

Want to hear what Dress a Girl Around the World is doing across the nation?  Join us on our conference call Thursday night!  It is great fun to listen in and see what other state reps and individuals are doing!

Here is the information:

Tune in to our Hope 4 women/dress a girl conference call to hear exciting updates from around the world. 
Thursday, May 19th.
Conference Dial in Number: 1-605-475-4900
Access Code: 910146#
Press *6 to mute and unmute yourself
Times:
6PM Pacific
7PM Mountain6PM Arizona
8 PM Central
9PM Eastern
 

Friday, May 13, 2011

New to sewing? Free patterns online & tutorials

Just want to say thanks to Marie-our Dress a Girl in PA-for posting this great website!

If you are new to sewing and feel more comfortable with following a pattern no matter what you are sewing, this is the website to check out!  Free Needle!  http://www.freeneedle.com/index.php

Here are a few I looked at:

Here is a way to turn a pillowcase into a shirred top (or a cute dress for little girls!!!):
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/05/shirred_pillowcase_top.html#more


Here is a pattern for turning an old skirt into a little girls dress:
http://manyskiesmama.blogspot.com/2010/08/tutorial-repurpose-womens-skirt-into.html

Here is a way to use an old kids t-shirt and turn it into a really cute dress by adding fabric!
http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/05/re-purposing-t-shirt-into-dress.html

Here is one for turning a t-shirt and bandana into a girls dress:
http://www.girlythingsbows.com/bandana_dress.html

Okay, so you get the idea!  Thanks Marie for finding this great source of help!  Can't wait to check out more!  Great "idea" site!

Now, fire up those sewing machines!  Have a great weekend!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Support Dress a Girl Connecticut

Sew, I became involved in Dress a Girl Around the World last fall when a dear woman at our church, Pauline-(love her!)-found out about DAG & wanted to help by hosting a sewing event.  From there, I have been on a wild ride that I know God has put me on and is directing my way.  When I decided to become the CT state rep for DAG, I prayed that if I took this on, that God would allow this all to unfold at a pace I can handle without becoming overwhelmed and that He would provide and open doors to help me be successful in blessing little girls internationally with a beautiful handmade dress.

God is so good!  To date, everything is going great!  I have lots of women who just "find" me through this blog, my Dress a Girl Connecticut Facebook page or through word of mouth.  Daily they call and write and seek me out to ask if they can help-whether that is through sewing, donating, organizing or distributing dresses!  It really is incredible.  Now churches and organizations are calling asking if I will come speak at their gatherings to tell them about Dress a Girl.  You may remember that I posted in February that I was invited to speak at the New England Prayer Center's Conference on Inspiration.  At that conference, I was asked by a pastor in Florida to provide him with 10,000 dresses by July.  He is traveling with teams to Africa and South America this summer and wants to help us bless little girls in those countries!  I just have to get the dresses to him and he will bring and ship them to his contacts in Africa and South America.

So many people have been helping to donate pillowcases and fabric and even more are sewing!  We are chipping away at the number!  Our DAGATW founder, Rachel, was gracious enough to commit to 5,000 of the dresses we need from her warehouse in Arizona!  Thanks Rachel!

I am at a point where I am ready to send boxes of dresses to the pastor in Florida and need help in funding for shipping.  There are two ways you can help donate to this.  First, you can write a tax deductible donation check to Cornerstone Church-Dress a Girl and mail it to Cornerstone Church, 1146 Waterbury Road, Cheshire, CT  06410.  Also, I now have a way to donate online through Paypal.  You can use a credit card this way.  On the top right of my blog home page, click on the "Donate" button.  Any amount is appreciated and all money will be used for Dress a Girl!

For more information just contact me!  I love to share what Dress a Girl Around the World is doing!

Thanks & God Bless!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

An amazing Sewing Event at Temple Beth David

A couple months ago a good friend of mine called and explained that their Temple would be hosting Mitzvah Day event May 1st.  Mitzvah Day is a day of giving back to the community.  They had an outdoor planting event planned and wanted an indoor event in case of bad weather.  Marlena asked if I would bring Dress a Girl to their Temple!

Originally I believed we would have a small group due to the large community garden planting project.  And then I heard the weather would be good and was sure we'd have a small group.  Marlena had different plans though!  She organized a pillowcase drive and I found out Friday night that she expected 35 people.  This is larger than my previous events and I have to admit I was a bit nervous.  I was concerned-I didn't know the people there, would it go smoothly, would I have enough supplies, could I get them excited and passionate about DAG as I am?

Can I just say how amazing and wonderful the people were?  And I hazard to say we had close to 50 men, women and children there helping us!  I started off by telling them all how I came to be involved, how DAGATW started and why we do it.  I gave basic instruction and then they got to work!  They donated over 160 pillowcases and notions too!  Nine women brought and set up sewing machines.  More brought them but never set them up as they were doing other steps in the process.  I didn't even set up mine.  We had four ironing stations, cutting stations and a couple tables for elastic insertion and bias tape pinning!  We even had a table set up for the youth to paint on plain dresses!  So cute!

This group of people were so excited about DAG that many took home piles of dresses to finish and some offered to go out and get all the supplies they need, and make the dresses for me!  Awesome!    They want to continue to have regular sewing gatherings!  I am hopeful that they will organize more events at their Temple!

What a great blessing it was to bring Dress a Girl to Temple Beth David.  They in turn are going to be such a blessing to little girls all over the world!