BOXES

In the last few weeks I have gotten boxes from two locations in Washington, one from British Columbia and one from Alberta...

Thank you to all of the sewers that are sending these beautiful dresses.  You are all amazing!!  There are many little girls that will be smiling because of you!!!

Alberta

British Columbia

Washington

Washington

suzannewithdressagirl@gmail.com

The Kindness of Strangers

I love going to the fabric store!!  Recently I was visiting a lovely quilting shop north of us and I met Noel.  I was sharing with her about sewing dresses for little girls in need.  She said she thought it was a wonderful idea.  About two weeks later I received a phone call from Noel and she said that she had been cleaning out her fabrics and would I like to have some to make dresses.  I thanked her and of course said "YES!!"  When we met she opened the truck of her car and there was so much fabric.  My husband estimated that she gave us about 80 pounds of beautiful cotton fabric!!  I have already shared some of this fabric with two sewing groups and I wanted to share my first creations out of the fabric...

Thank you Noel!!!

If you are in Washington and you want to sew for little girls in need... I have everything thing you need to make dresses just send me an email at suzannesewdleightful@gmail.com

Thank You

Last week I received an email from a Navy Mom... they decorate pillowcases for the troops... but they can only use plain pillowcases.  She had 90 pillowcases and wondered if we could use them?  YES!!!
Yesterday the two boxes arrived...

I have already given out 5 of these pillowcases!!

And here is the first dress made from one of them!!

Thanks sew much Nancy!!

A Dreary Saturday Afternoon in Seattle

What to do on a cloudy and cool Saturday afternoon... how about sewing!!  Today, I made four dresses for little girls.  The first two are made out of wonderful fabric donated by Bug Fabric, an online fabric retailer...

This fabric is bright and has an adorable gecko pattern... coming in several colors including the cream that I used for the ruffle, pocket and straps.  Speaking of other colors I also made one in green...

Since the geckos are in several colors I had my choice of contrasting rick rack, lace and bias tape.  For this dress I chose blue but I also have other green gecko dresses in the works with yellow, orange and red contrasts.  After I finished these two dresses I decided to challenge myself with a solid colored pillowcase.

Purple was my color of choice and I decided to pair it with a white eyelet ruffle, pocket and bias tape... simple but hopefully special for a little girl!  Next I used up the last of a sheet to make a 

soft burnt orange dress...

These four dresses are going, along with sixteen others, to Cameroon.  This is the first time that dresses from Washington have gone to Cameroon and I am sew excited to have Lois taking them in two weeks.  

Thanks to all the people who have made recent donations.  I was talking to one of my sewers this week and she said that she thinks she is addicted to sewing dresses for little girls.  I have to agree that helping these little ones is sew much fun and yes I am also addicted!!

Thank you!!

Yesterday Joyce and I were invited to pick up a donation of fabric.  Bug Fabrics is an online fabric store with beautiful cotton fabrics!!  When we got there we met the owner and she showed us her fabulous warehouse of fabrics.  We also met met two of her wonderful staff...

And we were able to visit for awhile... they are truly generous people!!

Because here is what Bug Fabrics shared with Dress A Girl Around the World

29 partial and full bolts of the cutest fabric that you could wish for.. along with several loose pieces of fabric.  Joyce and I had so much fun going through the fabrics and exclaiming over the adorable prints!!  I just could not wait to start sewing... so I didn't... here is the first Bug Fabrics Dress of 2012

Thank you sew much Bug Fabrics!!!

Please visit their website and see the beautiful fabrics for yourself

http://www.bugfabric.com/

Sew Many Helpers

Today Barbara took time out of her busy schedule to deliver dresses for another sewer.  And Claudia took the time to make these beautiful dresses!!

Thank you to all of the ladies that help with this ministry.

There are seven little girls that will have new dresses.

And yesterday I met another new friend that wants to sew!!

Thank you Marguerite!!

suzannewithdressagirl@gmail.com

Dedicated to the Ladies of Washington!!

I am sew impressed by the ladies that sew in Washington... they have creativity, imagination and heart!!  One of the sewers stopped by to drop off dresses and she shared this beautiful creation with me.  Anne is a quilter as well as a Dress A Girl sewer!!

And her is one of her adorable dresses 

(don't miss the sweet heart in the corner)

And here is a sweet gift given to me by another sewer!  Barb spends hours working on 

dresses and opens her studio so others can make dresses for this project!!

And most important... here is the reason we sew!!

Ladies of Washington you inspire me and I must thank you for all of your encouragement and friendship!!  There are sew many ladies and they work sew hard for Dress A Girl!!  I feel blessed to do this work because we help so many little girls and also because I have met so many of you and gotten to know a few of you very well!!  You are quite incredible!!

(you can see pictures of some of these ladies at the left of this blog)

Thank you!!

suzannewithdressagirl@gmail.com

We have sew many people to thank!!

Daily I am amazed by the generosity of so many people.  Once they hear about helping these little girls in need they are excited to help.  I have met people at garage sales, ladies in line at the fabric store, vendors at the Sewing Expo, Polyvore ladies, friends, businesses, and relatives... all wanting to help.  One person will give money, another will post a picture and spread the word about the campaign, another will collect pillowcases, another will sew, another will donate fabric, and another will support me with comfort when the road gets tough.  In a world where there is so much hate and violence, we are all working together to change the lives of these little ones. We pray for them and we tell we love them by using our gifts and talents.  We recycle in the most wonderful way... making that gently used pillowcase in a new creation.  We built friendships with each other.  I do not believe that I have ever seen a project that is sew logical or one that does so much with so little!!

Here are two of our sewers discussing how to finish this adorable dress.  

Now my question is...

Is there a way you can help?

suzannesewdelightful@gmail.com

Gifts

Since I have been working with this project I have been given so many gifts.  The joy of meeting and getting to know some wonderful ladies!  They are generous and sweet and I feel very fortunate to have met each of you.  The smiling faces of little girls when they are wearing a dress that I have sewn...  gives me a feeling that is indescribable!!

And last week I was given a very sweet little dress to display at home and at Dress A Girl Around the World events.  It is made out of a vintage hand towel and represents the creative of its maker and also all of the ladies involved with Dress a Girl!!

Thank you Barb!!!

suzannewithdressagirl@gmail.com

The Bears are Done

At the tea we turned bears that I had sewn and then stuffed them.  On Sunday evening my daughter and I started stitching up the sides.  On Monday evening my daughter and I continued stitching up the sides.  On Tuesday Morning I started adding the eyes and noses and bows.  On Wednesday morning I finished adding the eyes, noses and bows.

Now there are over 100 teddy bears ready to go into the pockets of little girls dresses for a sweet surprise.  And I am starting to sew more bear... so the cycle begins again.  Thanks Denyse for helping to cut more teddy bears and thanks Krista for helping to sew bears!!

Talk to Everyone

I find that I talk to everyone sewing dresses for little girls in need.  It just seems to always work into the conversation.  Someone in line at the fabric store will ask for advice on a piece of fabric and then they will ask me what I am sewing.  At the Sewing Expo, I asked each vender that I was buying from if they would like to know what I was using their product for.  At the Chiropractors' office while I was getting a massage for my aching back, I just happened to mention why my back was aching.  This last discussion let to dresses being taken to Malawi this week.  Sofiya works in this office and she was making a trip to Malawi and said yes to taking dresses!!

Thank you Cynthia for sharing what I told you about sewing dresses!

Thank you Sofiya for taking dresses!!

One person can make a difference!!!

Washington Tea

On April 2, 2011 we had our first annual Tea.  Twenty-one ladies came and celebrated making dresses for little girls!!  We turned and stuffed over 100 Teddy Bears to put in the pockets of our dresses...

We ate so many wonderful goodies...

And we shared about the girls in need, how to sew a dress and saw many of the dresses that are ready to go to the girls...

Thanks to all the great ladies that attended!!!

suzannesewdelightful@gmail.com

Box to Dress A Girl

Tomorrow this box is off

Here are some of the dresses in the box

Thanks to the following sewers

Joyce

Barbara

Shirley

Luba

Karen

Lucille

Suzanne 

Marcia

Linda

Cherry

Carolyn

Norma

Anne 

And also a big thank you to the people that donated fabrics, pillowcases and notions

Over 120 dresses made for this box!!

suzannesewdelightful@gmail.com

To all the people involved with Dress A Girl...

There are many people that care about the little ones around the world

To all the volunteers I say...

Thank you!!

To the sewers, to the cutters, to the donators, to the encouragers, to all of you!!

Surprises

Dress A Girl Around the World was promised a wonderful donation by

In The Beginning Fabrics

We so appreciate the generous donations from caring people!

I was expecting 10 pieces of beautiful fabric.

The box arrived and I was so excited!!

The box was heavy...

In it...

31 pieces of the most beautiful fabric!!!

Everyone gorgeous!!

I can't wait to see the incredible dresses made from this amazing fabric!!

(my daughter says I use a lot of exclamation points but with surprises like this it is 

either exclamation points or capital letters)

Thank you!!

So many wonderful people have been helping with Dress A Girl Washington

Here is a little Thank you!!

You can see some of the dresses created from your donations...

With Love