For what seems like forever now Elizabeth and I have been talking about how we would love to get a group of women together to sew for some sort of children’s charity. We talked about it and talked about it and finally in January we started earnestly looking into our options.
We had very specific ideas for what we wanted:
*We wanted women who live anywhere to be able to sew along by the use of tutorials or their own patterns.
*We wanted everyone to be sewing similar items but items that could be personalized and changed according to the age of the child who would be recieving it.
*We wanted the women who sew along with us to have the option to either donate what they make in the area they live in or mail them to us to donate.
*We wanted the organization that we were donating to to be well organized and established.
*We wanted women to be able to sew for children who could use something made especially for them.
And finally after much searching, we found our answer—-we would make skirts for girls in the foster care system. (I still get teary just thinking about how perfectly everything seemed to fit together and still feel that same excitement I felt that night when it dawned on us what organization we should choose.) Once we decided we just needed to contact the Foster Care Foundation and pray that they would be as excited about our plan as we were.
Fortunately they were.
Which brings us to this:
Our Skirting the Issue Event!!!!
Here are the details:
*Skirting the Issue will take place the entire month of July both here at Simple Simon and Co. and over on Project Run and Play.
*We have over 45 bloggers (and let me tell you they are like some of the all stars of blogdom) who will each be sharing girls skirt tutorials with us. (Some of them will be sharing here and some will be sharing theirs over at Project Run and Play.)
*We have loads of information and stories (also from wonderful bloggers) about foster care to share.
*You are all invited to sew along with us and donate your skirts to the Foster Care Foundation. You can either donate them to your local Foster Care Alliance (we will have a resource page posted to help you find drop off points in your area) or you can mail them to us and we will donate them to our local Foster Care Alliance (we will post our PO Box as well).
*You are all invited to upload photos of the skirts you make and donate into our Skirting the Issue Flickr Group. (Please ONLY upload photos of the skirts that you made to donate—if you have other skirts or skirt tutorials you’d like to share please upload them to either our Simple Simon Flickr Group or our Project Run and Play Flicker Group.)
*Any skirt that is uploaded to the Flickr group (and donated) is eligible to win one of a PILE of gifts that we have from some of the coolest sponsors in town! (Really, they are AWESOME sponsors and gifts…we’ll tell you all about them soon!)
*Our goal (and we hope to figure out how to put up a counter before July comes) is to have at least 100 skirts sewn and donated and ready for those girls to receive just in time for back to school. (And we are hoping that you will all be willing to help—I think Elizabeth and I might be able to pull off 100 skirts but it wouldn’t be pretty.)
Ok, so I think that’s it. Hopefully I didn’t leave anything out.
We announced this about a month ago over on Project Run and Play and were so wonderfully surprised by the response. We’ve received emails from women across the country who are organizing groups to sew skirts to donate. (Oh, how that makes my heart sing to think about women working together to make something for girls who could use something beautiful that was made especially for them.)
I’m so excited…I’m so hoping we make (or even exceed) our goal! I can’t wait to get going. We will have more information and details coming soon but until then, what do you think?
Are you in?
What a fantastic idea. I am most definately in 🙂
Count me in! I’m fairly sure that Gracie will enjoy picking the fabrics for it, too for a little girl that doesn’t have an Aunt Laura to make her pretty clothes!
Oh, I can’t wait! I have plenty of fabric in my stash that will be perfect for this! I’m in! 🙂
I’m in – can’t wait
“Here’s to strong women:
May we be them
May we know them
And, may we raise them!”
Thanks to you both for setting the standard!
Julie
I love this idea and have been waiting anxiously to have this start! Just started buying all my extras, elastic, trims, and ruffles!!!
I love this idea!! As a foster parent, I can tell you that these are so needed, just to show girls that people care to give them something homemade! I’m in – just let me know when to start 🙂
I’m so excited! Fabulous idea! I’m in!
Fantastic idea! What a great way to give back to the community.
I’m SOOOO in!!! What a wonderful idea! I’m getting my girlfriends in on it too- count on at least 4 skirts from us!
Absolutely I’m in! I have 2 beautiful nieces who were adopted from foster care so this is a cause that is near and dear to my heart.
Love this girls!! I’m in too 🙂
What a great idea! I would love to help. I was talking to a woman I know that provides “Drop in Foster Care” or something similar. She takes emergency situations for overnight or sometimes a weekend. She told me once of a little girl that came to her with only the dress she had on. After taking this little girl on some errands, they went to use a public bathroom where she discovered that this little girl didn’t even come with panties. I have wanted to help somehow since hearing that story, and this is it! 🙂
Yeah, I’m so excited! I participated in making dresses for Dress a Girl Around the world about a year ago and it was so much fun. Count me in!
P.S. Is there a button for this event that I could put on my blog to let others now about it?
I am IN for sure! What a wonderful idea. I am going to get my 6 yr old to help. Thank you do much for doing this.
This is a great idea! I have a (very)small sewing group and we are planning on doing a project like this too. There is a blog called Sew Delightful and she sews dresses for girls in underprivledged nations. It is such a great feeling to be giving back when we are so blessed. Count me in for this one too! 🙂
Such a wonderful idea!
Kudos! This is such a great idea that can really make a difference to kids in need. Foster children can use all the support they can get: http://www.kidspeace.org/services.aspx?id=3596
HI,
I read and follow your website but never made any comments but let me tell you girl I am in for this project and I will start doing what I can.
Let’s fun begin.
Hetal
What a blessing.. Count me in.. Will get started on making them now… DO you only take skirts? Or do you take pillowcase dresses, shorts ,etc? Just let me know.. email address is kennycoke@ripleycable.net
thanks, Judy