I've been putting it off, hoping it will go away and generally avoiding the issue but it just has to be done - I really must just stop Dressing A Girl Around the World!
I started this project just over a month ago and I honestly believe I could actually go on and on. Upcycling odds and ends of fabric and bigger dresses can be awkward and frustrating but, turns out, overcoming the various challenges is all part of the fun.
Two packages have now been sent off to Louise Horler from Sew Scrumptious, the UK International Partner for the charity and I'm in the process of packaging up my final parcel. Incredibly, Louise has already collected over 2000 dresses from sewers in the UK and on 14th August the latest consignment will be off to Uganda. How exciting is that?
As you can see, I have done all I can to use up every scrap of fabric so that each dress has a tiny doll wearing a matching dress, some kind of hairband and an extra pocket or a little bag to keep the doll in.
As is always the way with upcycling sewing projects,
there's always a scrap of fabric or a matching
button which can be added.
Then there are the challenges of adapting clothes for little girls. Sometimes I have added an extra layer of fabric so that the dresses are not see-through in the brightest sunshine. Occasionally I have added a panel across the top because, without the recipient to hand, I have wanted to be sure to preserve their modesty.
One thing I know for certain, I will return to making dresses for this amazing charity and several others I have found out there before long.
It's been a wonderful feel-good creative challenge - try it!
My Summer sew project is turning out to be such fun and all in a good cause. Seven dresses have now been despatched to Louise from Dress A Girl Around the World. I keep thinking I'm nearing the end of my stash of appropriate fabric but then I see some in a charity shop which would work...I have even cut up a few of the clothes in my wardrobe. Well, it's all in a good cause!
I have never claimed to be a dressmaker but perfecting my skills can't be doing any harm and I'm just loving working on the extras - the little rag doll, bag/pocket and hairband that I'm making out of the fabric scraps.
Most of the dresses are upcycled, which can be a challenge, and definitely tales longer than the dresses I make from scratch.
My goal is 10 dresses (for now) and then I must revert to all the other ideas stacking up! All you sewers out there - give it a go - just one dress will make a difference to a little girl, living in poverty somewhere. What a feeling.
It's only now, four months later that I can celebrate all the hard work we did last March in our front garden.
Since we moved here 18 years ago it has been ok-ish space. (We're on a main road with strip of flower bed next to the car space, behind a bus stop so it's not a great place to garden.) The previous owners had sensibly spent some dosh and put some thought into a low-maintenace front with a lovely ceanothus, a rose and a laurel. For years I had sort of maintained them with the occasional prune, and filled in the gaps with grasses, a yucca, lavender, hollyhocks, cardoons and lots of big pebbles.
In time I realised my additions had the potential to become the real stars of the show but the shrubs were ragged and overgrown and still quite dominant in the space due to their size. The trouble was, taking them out was going to be a nightmare job.
Thanks to the lovely sunny weather back in March (remember that?) I did start and what I start I always (doggedly) finish! Not before we had endured much extreme digging and sawing, not to mention trips to the dump and not inconsiderable backache for me and Mister.
The job was finished with a scattering of yellow and orange calendula* seeds and one of those mixed annual seed packets which I flung around with great abandon. Of course this year no watering was required through the spring as we watched and waited as the seedlings and inevitable weeds emerged. Some other flowers I added later did require some more care - the red sunflowers and dahilas are yet to flower (probably holding out for some err, actual sun). (The morning glory plants, which need sun, sun, sun have quickly chucked out a few puny flowers and given up in despair.)
So despite this vile summer here in the UK and the depressing lack of picnic, barbecue and seaside visiting opportunities, I rush to the rainy front window every morning to check what's new in the flower patch - simple pleasures!
* Bright and breezy but inexplicably unfashionable Calendula is one of my favourite healing herbs. Its soothing properties mean its flowerheads are fantastic in home-made skin creams. The flowerheads are also great in tea for sorting out upset tummies. James Wong is my guru for this kind of wisdom - I find his natural remedies are fun to make and often do work wonders.
Dresses, bags, hairbands and rag dolls completed this week for Dress A Girl Around the World.
Having so much fun - just finished bag for dress on the left and just started on the little doll to be clothed in the scraps left over from the dress and what's left from that makes a hairband.
