Dresses made in memory of those lost in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy.

Soon after the tragic and senseless shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School just about 30 minutes from me in Newtown, CT, I began to receive requests for Dress a Girl Connecticut to DO SOMETHING.  After thinking about this for some time, I decided that we could honor all those lost in this terrible event by helping other kids, namely little girls who have little.  It feels good to help others and by making dresses in memory of those lost, we remember and honor those.

These are the labels that I came up with for all the dresses you make and send in to me. 

 S.H.E.'S. remembered = Sandy Hook Elementary School remembered

 

The following dresses were received from our DAG Virginia representative, Karen.  

She made personalized tags for each to honor an individual.

 

As received on Christmas Eve.

 

Interested in helping out?  Consider making a dress.  Green & white are the S.H.E.S. colors and many are now making dresses in green with white trim & details.  All dresses will be sent out to countries with girls in need.

Help us remember and honor the boys, girls and women of Sandy Hook Elementary School!

God Bless!

Dresses looking for a ride! :)

Are you traveling to a country with basic clothing needs for it's girls?  We are an organization of caring people who want to bless little girls with a new pretty pillowcase dress to raise her self esteem, maker her feel pretty and put a smile on her face...as well as meet basic clothing needs.

A girl in Zimbabwe waiting for her first pretty dress.

My name is Janine and I am the Connecticut State Representative for Dress a Girl Around the World.  We transform ordinary pillowcases into extraordinary, beautiful pillowcase dresses.  Each dress is handmade by a caring individual who selflessly constructs the dress, primarily out of donated materials, into something any girl would be proud to wear.  The dresses aim to meet basic needs but more than that, to make the girl who is blessed with it feel pretty.  The dresses are put on a girl right over any existing clothes she may have and a moment is spent on her level to fasten the ties over her shoulders.  She is told that the dress is a gift from someone who made it by hand simply out of love for her.  She is told that there is a God that loves her and that she is important.  For some girls, this is more individual attention than she may have had in a long time.  In many countries, girls have no value, no worth in the eyes of the people.  However, every person, every girls is special and important to God and we are trying to spread God's love by sharing these dresses with girls everywhere.

You can see she feels pretty and loved!

To date, Dress a Girl has blessed 126,000 girls in 64 countries with dresses of their own.  I am actively looking for people in and around Connecticut who are traveling where there is a need for these dresses.  I can offer you dresses and all that I ask is that you bless the girls as described above and take photos of the girls receiving the dresses so that we may share those pictures with everyone that sews for us.  The photos and stories are what drive all of us to continue to sew.  I can hardly put into words how awesome it is to see a dress I made on a girl who is smiling and feeling good about herself!  This goes for every person who sews for Dress a Girl. 

Dress a Girl Connecticut has made over 4500 dresses since I started in 2010 and we have many women getting involved each day.  It takes many volunteers, generous donations-both of materials and financial donations to keep us going.  Every penny we receive in will be put back into dress materials, label costs and shipping when necessary.

If you, your organization or your church are traveling soon, please contact me to arrange to get dresses to bless girls.  I currently have about 500 dresses looking for a ride to a needy girl.

How to make your own pretty bias tape!

Unlimited fabric pattern options!!! Love them!

I have had several requests for tutorials on how to make your own pretty bias tape.  We all know how expensive it can be to purchase.  Making it is so inexpensive and you can get many yards of bias tape from just one yard of pretty cotton fabric!  Here are a couple links to sites with good tutorials!

Prudent Baby Bias Tape Tutorial

SEW pretty!

Scientific Seamstress Tutorial 

This site has a printable card for feeding your strip of fabric into!

If you try any of these out, please post pictures for me!  I tried it a few times and it is simple but time consuming.  The up side is that it is super inexpensive and they are sooo much prettier than the plain colored ones we can buy in the stores!

Sewing in a jiffy!

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a woman who works for MyRecordJournal.com.  This is an online news website that wanted to feature Dress a Girl Connecticut on their site!  She asked if I had any dates planned for a sew-a-long that she might come out and video record what we are doing and interview me.  A couple of days later called the administrator at our church to find that she was in Mexico for a week or so!  The deadline was fast approaching and I was under the gun to get a date on the books at Sal's House-a cottage for fellowship on our church property.  I intended to throw a few people together and do a mini-sewing event.  On Wednesday of last week, I booked a Saturday 9am-12pm slot to use the cottage.  I frantically advertised it on Facebook, emailed and talked it up.

Saturday morning came and I had 5 women all show up to help throughout the morning.  It was perfect!  Not too many and they came staggered so that I actually got to talk with everybody!  We even had two new people come help that hadn't before!  Some ironed labels on, another sewing instructor that has been sewing for us did some sewing too. 

As it turned out when I was setting up, I realized just how many dresses I already had completed that just needed to be rolled, bagged and packaged for shipping.  I set a big table up and showed a friend how to do just that.  We worked on opposite sides of the table and talked while we worked.  I am usually running around like crazy instructing, helping and trouble shooting and don't really get to catch up with people as I would like to at sew-a-longs.  This was really nice for me.  And, I loved the smaller setting of Sal's House!  We rolled and bagged hundreds of dresses that have been sitting in a giant covered plastic container on my deck for months just waiting for funding to ship!  I will be so glad to mail those dresses out!  These will go to David Wagner in Florida to be taken to Africa and South America this year on his missions trips.

Dresses completed & labels just sewn on

Sewing on labels

Supplies boxes

Rolling/bagging dresses here

Rolled and Bagged & Counted!

Cutting, Serging & Sewing Station

Sponsor a Woman, Host an Event, email sign ups, Slideshow and Pillowcase party info!

In mid-January, I spoke to a group of Delta Kappa Gamma's and they were so moved by Dress a Girl and what we are doing in Connecticut that they opened their wallets on the spot and donated just over $100!  Now that I have that money in hand, I can afford to ship some of the dresses!  How wonderful!

The video recording went well, she interviewed me and a few others as well.  She took video for nearly 3 hours.  The article will run on Valentine's Day and I am anxious to see how it comes out.  I hope this drums up more interest and excitement for Dress a Girl and that more people will want to become involved.  I also hope that a Corporate Sponsor will come forward!  Surely there is a company out there that would like to help a not for profit help bless little girls by helping with shipping costs and supplies costs?

Either way, my hope is that more eyes be opened to see what we are doing to help bless girls!

It's a New Year!

Happy New Year!

Christmas & New Years are behind us and I am looking forward to all 2012 will hold for Dress a Girl Connecticut!  What a wonderful year 2011 was for us and I just know God has great things in store for us this year!

I am looking forward to a busy year in sharing what Dress a Girl Around the World is doing and how people in Connecticut and nearby can help with Dress a Girl Connecticut in blessing girls with their own pretty dress!

I am starting to plan events for the year as well.  If you'd like to plan one of your own, I am happy to help!  Just contact me at dressagirlct@gmail.com for more information!

I am always looking for people who are traveling to countries where there is a need for these dresses.  Maybe someone from your church is going on a missions trip?  We can provide you with as many dresses as you can carry with you!  All we ask for is that you take photos of the girls receiving or wearing the dresses so that it can be shared with those that sew.  It is "SEW" inspiring for us all!  It brings us great joy to see the smiles on the faces of little girls whose self esteem has been raised and spirits lifted to simply receive a pretty new handmade dress of their own.

If you would like to help but don't know how to sew, there are many other ways you can help.  We always need donations of supplies.

Here is a list of items we need constantly:

• Double bias tape:  We use 1/2" width double bias tape.  Each dress requires 2 pieces of 1 yard each for the straps.  This gets very expensive to buy and I always welcome donations!  We love colorful double bias tape!

• Elastic:  We use 3/8" braided elastic in the front and back of the dresses.  Each dress requires two 7" pieces.  We can use white or black elastic.

• Pillowcases:  New or used but in good condition.  Standard, Queen and King sizes.  Any colors and patterns.  We prefer not to use white as it can be see through and we want the girls to feel secure and safe in them.  However, these can be dyed or tie-dyed!

• Fabric in large pieces:  Lightweight cotton and cotton blends of fabrics in any color or pattern so long as it isn't see through.  Keep in mind that most of these dresses end up in very warm weather places so heavy fabrics or materials that aren't appropriate for these conditions aren't the best choices.

Of course, monetary donations are always welcome as I am often buying supplies in stores and in bulk on the internet.  A roll of bulk elastic costs me $25 and will make about 370 dresses!  A bulk of double bias tape costs me $50 and this will make about 70 dresses!  Please see the link to donate at the top of this blog-(a yellow button) through my Paypal account.  100% of your donation will be used for Dress a Girl Connecticut supplies for dresses!

Perhaps you'd like to come to a Sew-a-Long and learn how to cut, sew (It's really easy),  pin, or iron.  Let me know and I will do my best to include you in an event!

A girl in Uganda was just told she'd be receiving her first new dress!  Look at that smile!

Think about the smiles on the girls faces, as above, when they learn they are about to receive a gift of a brand new dress-handmade with love!  No more rags-just a pretty new dress!  Awesome!

Thanks for listening!  Hope to see you at an event this year or perhaps hear how you'd like to help us bless little girls!

May your 2012 be a very blessed one as well!

Another mystery donation appears!

Today I noticed my "donation" bin that is in my driveway was nearly full with pretty cotton fabrics!  Just want to thank whoever filled it up for me!  I am always touched by the generosity of people who donate to good causes!  Can't wait to get stitching!  I think tonight I will stop the mulching & planting I was doing, shower & get sewing!  After all, I have friends who help sew that are waiting on dresses from me to be completed!  Don't want to let them down!  Thanks again mystery donator!

Kids help by tie-dying white pillowcases & fabrics!

On Saturday, our Cheshire Newcomers & Neighbors Club sponsored a children's event in which kids could come and help tie-dye white pillowcases and fabrics. These pillowcases and fabrics are what I have received as donations for Dress a Girl Connecticut.  My friend Kristi organized it and has vast experience in tie-dying with superior dyes.  The kids and adults applied rubber bands to various parts of the pillowcases & fabrics.  Kristi and her husband took care of soaking the fabrics in soda ash prior to the kids applying dye.  Then the kids were given liquid dyes in numerous bottles (scary in itself!) to apply to the fabrics.  They did a great job and I can't wait to see what they look like!  Here is a picture of some of the kids that helped out.

Kids help out by tie-dying white pillowcases & fabric

Kristi said she'd wash the lot of fabrics and pillowcases for me and return them to me in a few days!  I am so excited to get them back!  We don't want to send white or see-thru pillowcases to little girls so tie-dying is an excellent answer!  I will post pictures of the fabrics, pillowcases and dresses when I get them back!  A huge thank you to all those that gave up a couple hours of their time to help out!

Ahhhh, Sunday.

I enjoy Sundays.  Aside from the chaos of getting three kids out of the house on time for church-which is always a challenge-I love looking forward to the message.  Our Pastor delivers great messages in a real world way,  arms us with tools we can use in our lives and he is funny.  I really look forward to church!  We have a great group of people there too.  It's all good.

Today, Kevin's sister Kitty is coming to church with us.  She lives about an hour away and we used to drive to their church before we discovered Cornerstone.  That ups the fun factor too as we get to see someone we love & don't see often enough!

When we get home we have the whole day to do whatever we choose. Today I think I will be sewing again.  With two days off I feel behind now!  So much to do, so little time! 

I am really pleased at all the people who have just discovered Dress a Girl-whether through this blog or otherwise.  I love to share what we do and why we do it.  It makes me feel good and I love knowing what it can mean to a little girl somewhere who has never had a dress of her own.  I love the idea that I can help raise the self esteem of a girl even just a little bit when she feels pretty in a dress.

Last night our elementary school held a dinner and auction fundraiser.  I donated some jewelry which is always popular and also donated a pillowcase dress.  I put my business cards out and inevitably a conversation is started about Dress a Girl!  Some don't know that it is me doing this, others don't know what it is at all.  Then I get to share what we do.  Some are interested in general, some want to know if they can buy a dress, others want to help or know someone that would love to hear about DAG.  Awesome!  It was a fun night.  My husband and I were out without our kids, enjoying the company of other adults we like, good music, good food and it was for a good cause!  Now it's Sunday and we can take a deep breath and relax and enjoy the day and the message we hear.

Spring organizing & cleaning time

I would love to spend the day sewing my pillowcase dresses for Dress a Girl today.  However, with the weekend looming and the fact that I hate to clean on the weekend, I feel compelled to do some major cleaning today.  With all that I have been doing this week, I haven't had time to do any significant cleaning-just pickup.  My jewelry studio is a disaster, the whole house needs another vacuuming and there's dusting.  I always like to do all my dirty laundry catch up on Fridays so no one can complain of not having clothes they want for the weekend.

Then there is the basement!  We are in the process of framing it out for a few new rooms.  It's exciting and daunting.  We cleaned out part of the basement & reorganized some to clear the "rooms" we needed to finish.  There is still lots to be done.  It is crazy how much one collects over the years!  I think I have too many hobbies!  I was a very active scrapbooker when we lived in Salt Lake City, UT.  Haven't really done very much since we moved back to Connecticut-nearly 8 years ago!  But, I would really like to again!  Can't part with all the stuff I have-alot-as I know what I spent on it all!  Ugh!  Then there is the soap making supplies, painting supplies, etc.  Then we come to my sewing stuff.  Used to be a relatively small area (except for the fabric in dressers).  Now it is taking over my basement!  I need to get a handle on it!

Besides all the cleaning and organizing, I need to move a bit around in the basement so that I can get to areas where we are putting walls up tonight.  My husband ordered tons of insulation for the ceilings and walls and that could come in today.  May have to go pick that up too.  Once that arrives, the push will be on to get it installed.  So, there are things I really need to get done in the basement-today.  Finish painting the cement 1/2 walls with Drylok so walls can be put up in front of them.  Finish insulating the heating supply duct that we started two nights ago but haven't finished yet.  Oh boy! 

As much as I really want to sew today, clearly this will have to be a day off from that!  Priorities today are organizing and cleaning-then those basement projects!  Better get off my computer and get started!  Tomorrow maybe-after my photography class and before the school auction/fundraiser.  There's always Sunday~

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!)

Girls blessed in Nicaragua

My niece, Mary, returned home on Sunday from a week at a CICRIN orpahange in Nicaragua on a missions trip with her school, Gordon College.  They brought 180 pillowcase dresses with them and she just emailed me her pictures of the dresses she handed out to the girls in the orphanage they visited and worked at.  They divided up the dresses and each of the students carried some in their luggage. 

Here are Mary's pictures:

Fabric I purchased for dresses!  Sew cute!

More fabric I purchased for dresses...

Actually started as a pillowcase...

More fabric I purchased-beautiful girl!

Purchased this fabric too-love it!

What a beautiful bunch of girls!