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!

Tre La Creativity - supping lattes in the coffeehouse

Attention all! I bring news of an excellent new magazine. It's called 'Tre La Creativity'. And... it is all about using creativity to help with illness and stress. Huzah! Now I for one can attest to the wonderful benefits of doing crafty things. Nothing cheers me when ill or 'down in the dumps' quite like making something insane out of felt. In particular I believe it is important to TALK about ill health, stress, depression and all that jazz rather than hiding it behind closed doors. No more shame!  I am genuinely enthused and excited about this project.

You can see the info pack below (hopefully).

Open publication - Free publishing - More crafts

I love the front cover!

It's going to be PACKED full of inspirational articles, tutorials for making beautiful things, and all kinds of lovelies.

Tre La Creativity is also creating a wonderful fledgling online community. The Coffeehouse is a great place to kick off your shoes, enjoy a (virtual) latte and share ideas and projects with other crafty folk. I joined it just the other day and am having a whirl. I think it's going to turn out to be a goody. Come on by and have a peek!

Tre La Creativity is launching on the 6th of September. It will be stocked on-line and at independent retailers. You can pre-order now!

Squee!

How to make a pom pom

It is very easy to make a pom pom. Easy but also monotonously boring. It involves a lot of winding wool. If your fingers tire easily then this may not be the project for you. It is fun at the end when you have your pom pom though. Children love it. In fact if you have access to a child I recommend using them for the more monotonous winding stage.

First, you need to cut out your template. You need to cut a donut shape out of something fairly stiff - a cereal packet works wonderfully. Here are a series of templates I have made for different sized pom poms. Cut around the outer circle, then cut out the middle circle. Use this to draw around onto cardboard. You'll need two for each pom pom. I failed to take adequate photos when making the above pom pom - sorry.

Next, place the two donut shaped pieces of card together. Pick some wool - if you alternate colours then you get stripes like on mine. Wind the wool around the rings. This is now the tedious part. Keep winding.....and winding. And winding.....until your donut looks like this:

Make a loose slip knot with the two ends of wool. Then cut along the edge of the wool - cutting between the two pieces of cardboard.

When you've cut all the way round tighten the slipknot, tie another one, pull and the cardboard and voila you're done. Nothing left but to enjoy your new pom pom.