5/10/11

Sharing Love, One Dress At A Time

Dresses for Haiti
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!)

There's 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.

Dresses for Haiti
So, one pillow case dress turned into three.

Dresses for Haiti
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.

Dresses for Haiti
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.

Pillow Case Dress for Haiti
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

45 comments:

Molly said...

Beautiful dresses coming from a beautiful place of love. I'll work to spread the word!

Sophie Slim said...

Hey Rachel, I think this is great and i'm so stoked that a blogger who I read every day has a heart for others and is willing to use what she is good at to help them!

Keep it up! :)

Loving Leelah Lou said...

I absolutely ♥ these pillowcase dresses. I have been buying cute vintage pillowcases when I thrifting and am looking forward to making them.

morgandkim said...

This is awesome. I wanna try make some.. thanks so much for sharing about it.
kim

ps. my word verification is "makievie" haha

Jenn said...

Wow, this is really cool!! Very inspiring and a great cause.

Zoe said...

Such cute dresses they look adorable.
I love the idea of making them to send to Hati such an amazing idea!

Zoe x

http://blessedbeeapothecary.blogspot.com/

Katie said...

Wow. Using Pillowcases to make a dress? Awesome idea! Making pretty dresses for disadvantaged children? Fantastic.

x

Katie said...

I love this post so much I wrote a blog about it right away.

http://katiescreative.blogspot.com/2011/05/i-love-blogland-because-of-things-like.html

Keep Smiling and being lovely!
Katie x

Eleni said...

What a lovely project! I had a friend at uni who used to make tops and skirts for herself out of pillowcases :)

Have you heard of Craft Hope?

http://crafthope.com/2011/04/project-12-orphan-outreach/

They have all kinds of charitable craft projects that anyone can sign up to - right now I'm making friendship bracelets for orphans in Russia and last month I was crocheting granny squares for blankets to send to the victims of the floods in Australia.

I'll see if I can find some nice pillowcases in the charity shops this weekend and send some love to Haiti, too!

Thanks for sharing :)

Therese said...

I saw in the tutorials that most people are using sewing machines. I don't have a machine, but I can sew pretty well by hand, does anyone know if that would be an issue? I know machines make a stronger hold. I would love to help out!

Unknown said...

what a great idea!! i am going to try my best to get a few done to donate:)))

thanks for sharing.
and your baby girl...a doll! love the pose!

Anonymous said...

i love these! i am going to repost this on my blog!

Bonita Rose said...

gorgeous dresses.. wow!

Unknown said...

So cute! You inspired me. I made a dress tonight which I'll be donating. See it here... http://simonebadour.squarespace.com/simonebadourboudoir/2011/5/11/for-a-good-cause.html

Thanks for bringing this program to our attention! xx, SB

Unknown said...

What a lovely idea! I will pick up some pillowcases at the thrift store this week and make a few dresses to donate. I don't have a vintage linens collection, though I have admired yours for a while, so I guess it's time to start! But I do have a collection of vintage ribbon, lace and buttons to embellish them with :-)

DavidandSteff said...

I love this idea! I linked your post to my blog (www.3boysagirl.blogspot.com) and asked people to get involved too. I want to use my time and talents for Jesus, so I'll be making some dresses to send. Thanks so much for sharing! Btw, your pillowcase choices were amazing!

RachelDenbow said...

Cece's Mommy,
I don't think it'll be an issue at all. So many little girl dresses used to be hand sewn, and it probably wouldn't take much longer.

Thank you so much for the response everyone!

Unknown said...

what a great cause and a fun project wrapped up in one! I'll definitely spread the word!

jessie b said...

those dresses are just so happy. im sure they'll brighten up a few dampened spirits.

janaetime said...

This is such a fantastic idea! I'm going to try to get a group together to make a few of our own to contribute. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

I love this!!! I've tweeted it to spread the word.

Miranda said...

what a wonderful idea! I've gotta try making one of these for my little girl.

ringmaster said...

i will be making a few to send off! i also shared the link on my blog! thanks for letting us know about this!

heather

Rubyellen said...

i so need to join that week, but ah this week is filled with gardening. maybe i will challenge myself next week! those dresses are just so lovely rach!!!

Jamie said...

OOh I'm going to try to get involved! BTW Ruby has the best "blue steel" I've ever seen. Adorable.

nest full of eggs said...

this is such a good thing ~ i recently finished sewing (during Spring Kids Clothes Week) a couple of pillowcase dresses for Dress a Girl Around the World.
it's amazing how just a little sewing from fabric from your stash can improve a little girl's life :)
keep up the good work

Anonymous said...

These are adorable! Thank you for sharing! What a great idea!

Shewearscrazywell said...

Okay..so if I could give out an award for Best Dressed Baby Girl in the Entire Planet...you would sooo win that award! Seriously...there are times I wish I was your infant daughter so you'd dress me up amazingly! (That'd be wicked weird though...just saw a show on adult babies..it was super scary and creepy). Your such a stylish Mom...and you definitely know how to dress the kiddies! Hearts, Janna Lynn

So Yeah So said...

I will be participating! I posted this on Facebook and will blog about it as soon as I finish my dress.

Sécia Mischke said...

So lovely. What a fantastic idea!

♥ sécia
www.petiteinsanities.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

This post makes my heart swell! I would be thrilled to participate and make a few dresses. I'll do my best to spread the word too. Thank you for sharing this opportunity!

AshleyAnn said...

I love this post Rachel. Your dresses are beautiful, Ruby is gorgeous and the heart behind it all is stunning.

Unknown said...

wow, the dresses turned out so lovely and what an incredible cause to donate them to! bravo!!
~Andrea @ http://hecallsmewifey.blogspot.com/

Carolyn said...

I love your pillowcase dresses! Awesome post!

Homeowner Insurance

Rachel said...

Wow, those dresses are beautiful! Such lovely patterns and colors... the girls who wear them will be so happy!

Unknown said...

I'm so in love with these... and so excited to know some are on their way to put smiles on the faces of some very deserving little girls...

Joyeful said...

Oh I can't tell you how much I LOVE the fact that you are sending these dresses to Haiti!!! And of course, they are just *gorgeous*! Thank you for spreading the word about the need there!! I am actually in the planning stages of making women's and girl's dresses for Haiti right now so I was so excited to read this post!! Our church is planting an orphanage in Haiti and my husband is taking a team of young people there in July.

Love what you're doing :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Rachel,
I whipped up a few and blogged about the project, thanks for letting us be included in it, what a great service project :)

http://sewshesews.wordpress.com/

Jaime

Kim said...

Oh gosh I so need to learn to sew, these are stunning!

Claire M. said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

She is ridiculously adorable & so is her outfit!

Debi said...

That's such a great idea! And such a good thing to do to help.

Rachel I love the clothes you make for Ruby, I have a baby boy, do you make many things for Sebastien? I have such sewing envy looking at all the cute dresses and things but there seems to be a real lack of boy projects out there!

emily-kallista said...

Gorgeous job on these little sweet dresses... and what a beautiful cause... do we just email the address provided to get info on where to send them?

emily-kallista said...

this is so lovely... do we just email Katy to get the mailing address?

Lindsay @ 402CenterStreet.blogspot.com said...

Thanks so much for linking to my tutorial! (your little girl is ADORABLE in hers!) Thanks even more, though for using your love of sewing to help others! Be blessed!
~Lindsay