I finished gathering up supplies and such today for our Daughters of Grace meeting on Monday when we'll be making the Little Dresses for Africa, made from pillowcases or fabric yardage. I've made three more since I last showed you. They're so fun and easy to make! Several of the ladies at church are busy making them as well, and I'm eager to see all the finished dresses when the group gets together on Monday and makes more at our sewing bee. We're making them for a couple of orphanages where there are missionaries from our church family--Faith Children's Village and New Hope Uganda.
The idea for the project began when I was poking around on a sewing site, Nancy's Notions, and came across an interview with the founder of Little Dresses for Africa. It all began when this lady took a birthday trip to Africa and saw the destitute conditions of the children there. Since then, her organization has sent 20,000-25,000 dresses. You can listen to the interview here.
We're making ours a little differently to make it a bit easier for us, but Nancy shows the basic idea here. Instead of using elastic in the casing and bringing the ties from the armhole binding, we're binding the armholes and putting the bias tape through the casing and tying that at the shoulders. That eliminates the need for elastic. Either way, the dresses are easy and cute.
Since I've been working on the project I've found that many churches and groups across the country have taken on the project. As Rachel says, "Changing lives one little dress at a time." The dresses do help, but the greatest change comes where the girls see Jesus caring for them through the compassion of the people working in the orphanages. They are instruments in the hands of the Redeemer.
Here's a short video clip of another organization showing some African girls expressing thanks for the dresses they've received through another organization called Dress a Girl Around the World. Listen closely to the words.
