Summer sew project

Over the last few days, my sewing machine has been silent, I've been feeling listless, after a flurry of deadlines and frantic activity suddenly I had no projects on the go and nothing was inspiring me... I was trying to hide it but days were passing and nothing was getting done.


When I get like this I have learnt to just go with it and see where it takes me and yesterday afternoon I found myself Googling 'crafts for charity'. After about 2 hours of contemplating lovely crafts I can't really do and great charities which were not really 'speaking' to me, I realised the answer was in a charity I came across months ago, called Dress a Girl Around the World.

It goes like this - people who sew are asked to make dresses for girls living in poverty in the developing world. Can you believe there are little girls who do not have a single dress? Some sewers make bags, hairbands, puppets and dolls to accompany the dresses which I think is such a lovely touch. When I read more, I suddenly realised the time was right for me to get involved. You know that whoosh when you realise that everything has been leading up to something and suddenly now is the time?


We try so hard to be green in our house but the girls and I are as guilty as most of us of buying clothes which we hardly ever end up wearing - that in a world where there are girls who do not have a single dress? To somehow compensate for the wickedness of this habit,I have tended to hold on to all the perfect, cotton clothes 'to upcycle'.


Trouble is, and this is shaming, the pile grows quicker that I can make sleep pillows, cushions, bags or whatever I'm into.


But the reason for my restlessness was obvious - this project was calling me and I had to rediscover it!


Yesterday I emailed Louise from the lovely blog Sew Scrumptious, who runs the UK branch of the charity and now all systems are go.

Check this blog for how I get on and a link to the charity (their website is down as I write).

Check Louise's blog for more info, including patterns and how to donate.