Dress a girl around the world (and boy)

I recently stumbled across a great charity called "Dress a girl around the world"  through Louise Horder (@SewScrumptious), who is their UK ambassador. This charity encourages people to make dresses (and shorts) for underprivileged children around the world out of pillowcases, or leftover fabric. The patterns are easy to follow and the resulting clothes are really lovely.

As someone who has recently started working with an orphanage in Uganda (more on this later) I can really see the use in this charity. So many poor children in the world wear worn second hand clothes. having a nice piece of clothing that is theirs and was made just for them can make a big difference to their self-esteem. It may seem like a small thing when these children often don't have enough to eat. But  I think knowing that a stranger cares enough about them to hand-sew them something has the potential to improve their lives, if only minutely and for a short time. The photos of children receiving their clothes speaks volumes I think.

Malawi 2011

Uganda 2012

You can believe if I had a sewing machine I would be making up a batch of these straight away. However, as I don't I will instead be collecting a bundle of clothes from Louise in August and bring them back to Uganda with me instead. 

If you have some spare fabric and time please think about making some clothes for children around the world. You can read more on this, including where to get patterns and how to donate here on Louise's blog. There is also a useful magazine article pattern here.

Let's all dress some children!

Patterns: Hand art

This is my hand decorated with henna. I thought it was a beautiful enough pattern to share.

Baking paper: Makes excellent pattern paper

Although I filled my suitcase with craft supplies for our move to India (and then Uganda) every now and then I curse some essential item I forgot. Recently I discovered that I really didn't have any paper thin enough to allow me to trace a shape to make into a pattern.

So I did what I always do in this situation - I popped to the local supermarket and scoured their shelves.

Baking paper (available even in Uganda) makes excellent pattern paper. It's thin enough to trace through AND thin enough to pin to fabric to allow shape cutting. The fact that it's super cheap is an extra boon. To be honest I even used it in London. It's too useful!

The following photos show me using baking paper to make my felt map of Uganda.

Easy to make felt baby shoes

I was reading A Beautiful Mess (really awesome blog) the other week and found this amazing post about DIY moccasins for children.

The author Katie had adapted the idea from Purl Bee's pattern for felt baby shoes.

Awwwwww! It's at times like this that I wish I had children to make things for. Not to be deterred I decided to make some anyway. The pattern is super easy! I made the above shoes in above 30 mins - and that includes faffing time.

They're not quite finished as I don't have any elastic and as you can see the fabric pen hasn't faded yet. But.... I was so excited I just wanted to share this awesome new project.

Book Review: Creepy Cute Crochet by Christen Haden

This, as the title suggests, is a very cute book. It provides patterns for making a variety of amigurumi creatures. Amigurami is Japanese art where you make small stuffed animals or creatures using knitting or crochet. This book is all crochet.

The creatures within the book are all very imaginative and fun. You can make a vampire, a ninja, a zombie, a Spartan and many others. The photographs in the book of the creatures are all adorable and inspiring.

Haden provides clear lists of material needed to make each creature. My only criticism of this book is that it can be difficult to follow the instructions. This is not a book for those who are new to crochet. Also, you really should invest in some crochet markers (like pins to mark your place in the crochet) because I kept losing how many stitches I'd done.

Skeleton bride and groom from Creepy Cute Crochet

I made the above skeletal bride and groom from the book as a wedding gift for a friend. Well, I made the bride and my mother helped me keep to time restraints by making the groom. The stitching on the groom was not pulled quite so tight which is why he is far larger than the bride. This was no veiled comment on the groom himself. It was a little difficult to get started but once started easy to complete.

This is a fun book and I recommend it. It is available on Amazon and probably other bookshops.