Using My Powers for Good

I would be willing to bet that the sewing community as a whole is one of the most charitable groups of people  in the world. I don't know too many sewists who don't enjoy sewing for other people, especially for anyone less fortunate than ourselves. 

There are many outstanding sewing organizations that benefit charity. We're probably all familiar with ones like Project Linus, Margaret's Hope Chest, Do Good Stitches, and Craft Hope. One that I've recently become acquainted with is Hopeful Threads. 

Each month, Kristy of Hopeful Threads organizes a sewing service project to benefit a particular group. This month the focus of our sewing is to support and encourage the mothers and babies of the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations in South Dakota in cooperation with Sew for Kids. I know that for myself, a lot of times when I think of under privileged kids, I often think of children in other countries so it was a little eye-opening reading about the needs on these reservations. I'm well-aware that poverty is everywhere, but for some reason this project really it home with me, perhaps because I have babies at home that have so much more than they really need. 

Since I have been cleaning out and organizing my sewing room to prepare for this move, I realized that I have quite a bit of remnant flannel and other fabrics that I've previously used for baby gifts. So when I came upon this month's project I knew that I would be diving in! Sewing for babies is fun, and most of the necessities are really easy and quick to sew. Plus, I get to reduce the amount of stuff I have to pack up and move. I call that a win-win situation. And since our plans for the weekend fell through, I had some free time to devote to the project.

I made a few flannel receiving blankets and thought it would be fun to finally use some of my machine's decorative stitches to do the top-stitching. It was neat, but takes about 10 times as long.

I didn't really use a specific pattern or tutorial for the blankets, washcloths, or burp cloths since they are so simple. I did use this Sushi Roll tutorial from Sew, Mama, Sew for the changing pads.

I actually made these bibs last year as a gift, but for some reason I never finished them. All I needed to do was add the velcro and they were done. Unfortunately, I have no idea what pattern I used for these, but a quick google search turns up loads of patterns if you need one. Personally, I love this bapron pattern from Jessica at Craftiness Is Not Optional.

There was a slight casualty this weekend while I was working on these. Apparently sergers don't appreciate it if little boys come in and turn the knob the opposite direction while their mamas are sewing. My poor serger came to a grinding halt and I had to finish the rest of the washcloths on my regular machine. I'm hoping to be able to make the trip to my not-so local LQS next week and evaluate the damage.

If you are interested in helping Hopeful Threads, there is a Pinterest page devoted to patterns and tutorials for this month's project, and here is a master list of pattern links from Sew for Kids. If you know of any other charitable sewing groups, feel free to leave a link for them in the comments!