charity projects

My 8 yr. old granddaughter is beginning sewing. A couple of good
projects for her:

1. Pet blankets for the SPCA to give to animals. They get to keep the
blanket & take it to their new home, if adopted.

2. Dress stuffed animals for the highway patrol or police to give to
distressed children.

As to the latter, where can I find directions, pattern or suggestions
for a simple vest? I think closing with velcro and a button sewed on
for decoration.

Any suggestins gratefully received

Joan

Joan, how about going to www.wildginger.com and downloading their
freebie program Wild Things? There are a lot of neat little things to
make in this program, including bags, hats, and ponchos.

A friend of my daughter's, a girl who is in the new "Fashion Design"
(actually, sewing) class at our high school, did a service project over
the past couple of months. She and friends made hats and mittens for the
homeless, using polar-type fleece fabric. I thought it was such a good
idea that I donated a bunch from my stash. Their goal was to make 40
sets, but I haven't heard how well they ended up doing.

Karen Maslowski in Ohio

jes wrote:
My 8 yr. old granddaughter is beginning sewing. A couple of good
projects for her:

1. Pet blankets for the SPCA to give to animals. They get to keep the
blanket & take it to their new home, if adopted.

2. Dress stuffed animals for the highway patrol or police to give to
distressed children.

As to the latter, where can I find directions, pattern or suggestions
for a simple vest? I think closing with velcro and a button sewed on
for decoration.

Any suggestins gratefully received

Joan

"jes" wrote in message
ups.com...
My 8 yr. old granddaughter is beginning sewing. A couple of good
projects for her:

1. Pet blankets for the SPCA to give to animals. They get to keep the
blanket & take it to their new home, if adopted.

2. Dress stuffed animals for the highway patrol or police to give to
distressed children.

As to the latter, where can I find directions, pattern or suggestions
for a simple vest? I think closing with velcro and a button sewed on
for decoration.

Any suggestins gratefully received

I made "luvy bears" for a local police department but not till it took me
about a week to find an agency that would take "home made". I was pretty
much floored when I called to say I'd like to make and donate bears and was
told they only take $$$ donations to purchase them. Several of the local
shelters also told me, very politely, they would accept $$$ donations for
toys but not home made stuffed animals. *sigh* So check first with the
agency to whom you plan to donate. They all seem to have their own policies.

Karen's suggestion about sewing up some simple garments or bags from the
WildGinger site is a good one. There's always a calling for hats, mitts,
slippers, totes, etc.

One other suggestion I might make (not necessarily for your little daughter
to do) was a project well received at the Women's Shelter. Several of my
friends hit all the local department and drug store's cosmetic people ( I
think they may have cornered a few Avon and Mary Kay ladies too, LOL) and
scored big time on samples. I made little pouches of fancy materials from my
stash and we put an assortment of samples in them and dropped them off. They
were thrilled. As us girls know, sometimes a new lipstick, a little blusher,
mascara and dab of perfume or nail polish, lotions, potions and creams goes
a long way to make a bad day seem a wee bit better.

Val

Val, this is a wonderful idea! I'm adding it to my idea file.

Karen Maslowski in Ohio

Valkyrie wrote:

One other suggestion I might make (not necessarily for your little daughter
to do) was a project well received at the Women's Shelter. Several of my
friends hit all the local department and drug store's cosmetic people ( I
think they may have cornered a few Avon and Mary Kay ladies too, LOL) and
scored big time on samples. I made little pouches of fancy materials from my
stash and we put an assortment of samples in them and dropped them off. They
were thrilled. As us girls know, sometimes a new lipstick, a little blusher,
mascara and dab of perfume or nail polish, lotions, potions and creams goes
a long way to make a bad day seem a wee bit better.

Val

On 30 Dec 2004 14:19:24 -0800, jes wrote:
As to the latter, where can I find directions, pattern or suggestions
for a simple vest? I think closing with velcro and a button sewed on
for decoration.

Pick a pattern for the vest, and overlap front and back at the side seam,
matching the seamline. Now you've got a single piece that makes up the vest,
and only needs the shoulder seams sewn, and a lining. If you make it with
something like felt, double knit or polarfleece, no lining or edge finishing
is needed.

If you need instructions for a lined vest totally done by machine, drop
me a note at kay(at)fern(dot)com. Personally, I'd make a button loop of
decorative braid (middy braid or soutache, perhaps) or a buttonhole or a
sewn on snap rahter than fight with machine sewing small spots of velcro.

Val:

Possible they refuse to take donations for 3d parties because they
don't know the donor. Urban myths abound -- the one about the razor
blades in trick or treat candy has no known factual base, yet people
believe it and tout it as truth. Dunno, but the ones you contacted may
fear a wierdo put some itching powder in the toy, or some such
nonsense.

Joan

jes wrote:
My 8 yr. old granddaughter is beginning sewing. A couple of good
projects for her:

She could make tote bags for foster children to use as suitcases when
they go from home to home. A simple tote bag is really easy to sew.

http://www.suitcasesforkids.org/

She could make simple quilts to give to homeless people

http://www.reese.org/sharon/uglyqult.htm

There are a number of places that have ideas for charitable sewing, and
a Google search will net lots of ideas.

What a great project, Melinda. Once I was staying at a hotel in downtown
Baltimore that also houses a branch of a culinary school. At the same
time, the hotel is often used for displaced families. While I was there
I witnessed one such family coming in with all their worldly belongings
in plastic trash bags. It was pitiful, and I've often wondered how one
would help such a family. This is definitely a piece of the answer. It's
difficult to have dignity when you're dragging your stuff around like a
bag lady.

Karen Maslowski in Ohio

Melinda Meahan - take out TRASH to reply wrote:
She could make tote bags for foster children to use as suitcases when
they go from home to home. A simple tote bag is really easy to sew.

http://www.suitcasesforkids.org/