Sharing Love, One Dress At A Time

As you may know, this week is KCWC over on Elsie Marley's blog. I'm sure some of you have been squeezing in an hour a day over the last two days to make something for your own little ones to wear. I started early and took a break on Sunday to sit down and work on one of the simplest of patterns out there, the pillow case dress.

I thoroughly enjoy making things for my kids. They don't always understand or have the capacity to appreciate handmade things right now but I hope they'll look back at photos and old blog posts and see it as another way their mama loved on them. (There is that pose again!)

For this pillow case dress I used a vintage floral pillow case from my collection, extra-wide double fold bias tape, and grosgrain ribbon. The trim on the bottom was already there. I used what I had on hand and it took me about twenty minutes to figure out the logistics and put it together. Twenty minutes, folks!

I love me an instant gratification sewing project!

The thing is, our friends Katy and Adam are headed out to Haiti in June to take clothing and necessary supplies to orphans that attend a school that their church, New Bru (or Center City Church) helps sponsor. The organization that started the orphanage, Center of Hope, celebrated it's opening last October. New Bru is hoping to send over as many pillow case dresses as possible for the little girls that attend the school as well as ones in surrounding communities.

So, one pillow case dress turned into three.

And three turned into five. Five dresses took me an hour and a half to make but will be enjoyed by a handful of girls at the school for a long time.

I would LOVE if you would join me in making a pillow case dress (or two, or five) to send to these girls in Haiti. If you're participating in KCWC, or just really like to sew, think about taking an extra twenty minutes this week or next to put together a simple pillow case dress for an orphaned girl in Haiti.

My friend, Katy, has more information on the work their church does through members that live and work there if you're interested in finding out more. You can contact Katy Shatto at did2613(at)hotmail(dot)com to find out where to send your dresses when you're done.

Standard sized pillow cases will fit most elementary age girls in Haiti but they are also passing them out to younger girls in surrounding communities so they have a need for smaller sizes as well. The only guideline is that they aren't made from solid red pillow cases or any fabric with patriotic (American flag) prints. You can find a variety of tutorials to make your own including this one, this one, or this one.

For every dress sent to Katy, a name will be added for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to Fabricworm! If you send five dresses, you have five chances of winning $50 worth of fabric! All dresses must be post marked June 1st in order to arrive in time and the winner will be announced later that week.

What a great opportunity to share love in the form of something so essential to daily life. I'm looking forward to hearing Katy's stories of passing out dresses and supplies this summer and will happily report back to share what your kindness helped accomplish.

Again, for more details and an address to send your dresses to, e-mail Katy Shatto at did2613(at)hotmail(dot)com.

Thank you in advance from the bottom of my heart!
xoxo,
Rachel