What a month it has been!

I am so grateful for all that has happened in this past month!  It has been a mega month for Dress a Girl Connecticut!

Thanks to Farrah Duffany of MyRecordJournal.com's article and video news report on Dress a Girl Connecticut, this ministry has gone viral!  The Associated Press picked up the article and it has run in a viral manner throughout New England in major and local newspapers!  It still continues to run a few weeks later!  I have been completely overwhelmed and swamped with calls, emails and requests to help from all over New England! 

You can view the article and pictures here:  MyRecordJournal.com-Dress a Girl Connecticut.

In addition, I have been contacted by the owners of an upscale store in West Hartford Center about partnering with them to celebrate girls and women!  Two big events are in the works!  What a blessing this is!!!  I don't want to go into details yet as we are still solidifying plans but trust me, it is REALLY big & exciting!

I have been contacted by so many people!  Everyone wants to help!  So wonderful!  We really need more help and here are ways you can become involved-even if you can't sew!

DONATE !!!

We need PILLOWCASES of all sizes and colors.  We just ask that they not be see-through!

We can use lightweight cotton and cotton blend FABRICS in larger pieces.  If you are/were a quilter and have fabric left over, we'd love it-just no tiny pieces please!

Pretty, patterned, colorful TOP SHEETS make a good starting place for dresses.  Please NO white sheets.  We'd have to dye them first...

DOUBLE BIAS TAPE 1/2" wide in all colors.  This gets quite expensive to buy-however- it is easy to make if you are interested!

3/8" BRAIDED ELASTIC white or black works.

 GROSGRAIN RIBBON in any color 1/2" to 1" in diameter.

GALLON zip-lock bags (any brand) for packing the dresses in for shipping.

June Tailor DARK T-SHIRT TRANSFER PAPER for label making.

CASH !
Always needed for purchasing supplies and shipping dresses!

DONATE TIME & SEW!

Stay tuned for more information about Dress a Girl Connecticut and what we are up to!

Join us to sew, pin, cut, iron and package dresses:

Saturday, March 31st 

9am - 1pm
Cornerstone Church
1146 Waterbury Road
Cheshire, CT 

Start your engines (or sewing machines!)

Ladies, the Gordon College trip to Nicaragua was a huge success and has prompted a ripple effect!  One of the professors that went on the trip is going to Honduras in May and is asking for dresses for that trip.  She doesn't have an exact number yet, but we are starting with assuming 100 pillowcase dresses.  There are actually two groups going so we will wait and see how many we actually need.  However, couple that with the 10,000 dresses we are sewing for David Wagner of Father's Heart Ministries & well, yikes!

So, if you can sew and would like to help a great cause in providing a dress for a little girl internationally, please help!  We need lots of dresses!  Which also means we need lots of pillowcases & sheets, elastic, ribbon and bias tape! 

Don't know how to sew and want to help?  There are lots of ways! 

• Do a pillowcase drive among your friends, neighbors and co-workers.  Wash them as they come in and then drop them off with me.  
• Come to our next sewing event April 1st at Cornerstone Church in Cheshire.  
• Start your own sewing circle or event.  
• When going to yard/tag sales, ask if they'd donate sheets, pillowcases or fabric to our DAGATW.

Thanks for stopping by and please consider helping.  Even sharing this blog with your friends via Facebook or email will raise awareness and possibly prompt someone to help out!

Have a blessed day!  (And start your engines!)

Magic elastic & ribbon threader! A must have!

I found this at my local Michael's store in the sewing notions section and paid a whopping $1.99 for it. I figured it was a good investment if it worked and an inexpensive experiment if it didn't.  Joann's sells one just like it also-a little more expensive there.

This is what it looks like hanging on the display. It's made by Dritz as you can see in the bottom right corner.

And here it is out of the package, just a long, flexible, plastic stick that is thicker at one end and tapers to a thinner size with two openings at the other end.

So all you do is thread your ribbon through the casing into the two holes at the end, then run the thicker end through the casing and out the other end. I was able to run an elastic or ribbon through the casing of a dress in seconds. I now own about 5 of these- great for our sew fests-things move way faster!!!


Borrowed the pics from "Hooked on Needles" blog...

Missions, Construction & Tie-dying!

My niece, Mary, is a Junior at Gordon College in the North Shore area of Boston.  Back at Christmas time, she suggested that I get in touch with her schools Director of Missions.  She told me of a trip they were taking to Nicaragua to an orphanage to help build homes on the property.  So I contacted the school and explained what Dress a Girl was all about and asked if they could bring pillowcase dresses to the girls there.  Long story short, they said yes they would like 125 dresses for Nicaragua and more for a team of kids going to the Dominican Republic!  I was so pleased!  I drove up to Boston's North Shore a week ago and delivered 180 dressses to them.  Mary is currently in Nicaragua and due back in a few days.  I asked her to take lots of pictures and can't wait to see them when she returns!  I will post pics as soon as I get them!

So, how do these dresses get made?  I am not the only one making these pillowcase dresses!  After starting our sew fests at our church, our local paper ran an article on what I was doing.  My goal in talking with the Cheshire Herald was to increase awareness, get people excited about DAG and motivate them to donate pillowcases & fabrics.  The article focused too much on me I think, but did raise awareness and generate donations.  Once we started sewing, many of the ladies at our church brought home piles of dresses in a particular state of construction.  For example, Maureen, likes to feed pieces of elastic through the casings in the top of the dresses.  She pins it in place and then brings the pile back to church to hand them off to Marie, who then tacks the elastic in place.  I then get the piles back, pin double bias tape on both arms to create the ties and I give the pile to Georgia who sews the bias tape on.  I get the piles back, sew on a tag and it is done!  We have a great team of about 6-8 people that move these dresses through the process.  This keeps the dresses constantly being made in a team effort even if we don't have a sew fest planned each month!

In addition, the article that ran in the newspaper and all of my Facebook posts have generated lots of interest and donations.  I received two older sewing machines from an elderly woman in town who just didn't need to have extra machines in the house.  Several women called and asked if they could come over and see what the dresses looked like and get a mini-lesson on constructing a pillowcase dress.  These women are now making dresses on their own in their spare time!  Just awesome!


I also received a call from a friend whose 9th grade daughter wanted to learn how to use her sewing machine.  She offered to hold a DAG party and invited friends to bring pillowcases and learn to construct a pillowcase dress.  Eleven girls came with two pillowcases each and we had alot of fun
as I showed them how to make the dresses and use a sewing machine.  By the end of the night, each girl made at least one and felt good about what they were doing.

I have received alot of sheet donations and many are white.  Sometimes these are not quite as white as they should be.  The fabric is still good, they are just dingy looking.  Once they are washed, I am cutting them into dress sizes and serging them into a "pillowcase" shape.  I put out a call for help on Facebook for a group to volunteer to tie-dye the dresses.  Two friends called asking if they could help.  One is planning a Cheshire Newcomers & Neighbor Club children's event to tie-dye the dresses.  The other offered her kids help tie-dying dresses once the weather is a little warmer!  I am thinking this may be the answer to re-using slightly dingy or discolored fabrics!