First Sewing Circle Project of 2012

Making chemo caps for the Rockefeller Cancer Institute at UAMS was one of our most popular projects last year. The pattern we used was very simple and the girls had a lot of fun making embellishments for the caps, too (see photo below). The Cancer Institute tells me that our hats went very quickly, and they were excited that we are planning on making them again this year. Since we weren't able to get together in October to make them, I thought I would kick off 2012 with this project.

I know I told you that we would try to make the projects at home for a while, since attendance at sewing circle has been sparse for the last several months. However, I realized that if I don't intentionally (That's my word for the year!) set aside time to do the projects, I personally won't get them done. So, with that in mind, I will be at the church on Sunday, February 12th, from 2:00 - 4:00 pm to work on this project. You are welcome to make some at home and bring them to me or you can come join me to work on them.

FOR THOSE WORKING FROM HOME

You can use any pattern you like, but we used these patterns last time for the Easy Chemo Cap (which really lived up to its name!) and the Turban Cap (a little more difficult). If I have some time, I'll try to make some kits for those of you working from home. (If someone else has some time to devote to making kits, email me and let me know and I'll try to get some fabric to you. I'd love to have some help with that!)

SUGGESTED FABRICS

The hats need to be lightweight, so the suggested fabrics are stretchy cotton knits so they stretch to fit. The chemo caps can be unisex, so keep that in mind when choosing patterns. The male patients tend to be left out a lot when hats are made. If you find any great deals on fabric, be sure to pass it along to the group!

Thank you all, again, for your participation in the sewing circle. Whether you are coming to the meetings or doing the projects from home, you are blessing someone with the talents God has given you. Thank you for serving!

October Project: Chemo Caps

Making chemo caps for the Rockefeller Cancer Institute at UAMS was one of our most popular projects last year. The pattern we used was very simple and the girls had a lot of fun making embellishments for the caps, too (see photo below). The Cancer Institute tells me that our hats went very quickly, and they were excited that we are planning on making them again this year.

From the feedback I got from my last email, it seems like some of you enjoy meeting together for the projects and some prefer to do them at home, so I plan on continuing to meet together once a month, but I will also try to make the patterns available online so that those who need or want to do them from home can also participate.

With that in mind, we will meet together next Sunday, October 9, at 2:00 pm in our usual room to make the chemo caps. Please let me know if you are coming and if you can bring fabric (see below for details), so I will know if we have enough supplies for everyone.

FOR THOSE WORKING FROM HOME

I apologize that I don't have the time or fabric to make up kits for you this time. You can use any pattern you like, but we used these patterns last time for the Easy Chemo Cap (which really lived up to its name!) and the Turban Cap (a little more difficult).

SUGGESTED FABRICS

The hats need to be lightweight, so the suggested fabrics are stretchy cotton knits so they stretch to fit. The chemo caps can be unisex, so keep that in mind when choosing patterns. The male patients tend to be left out a lot when hats are made. If you find any great deals on fabric, be sure to pass it along to the group!

Thank you all, again, for your participation in the sewing circle. Whether you are coming to the meetings or doing the projects from home, you are blessing someone with the talents God has given you. Thank you for serving!

September Sewing Circle -- No REALLY!

Well, it has certainly been an eventful summer, and we have missed quite a few sewing circle meetings due to other activities going on in our church body. We will try to kick things back into gear on Sunday, September 11, from 2:00 - 4:00 pm in our usual room. We will continue the July project of making nursing covers for the Crisis Pregnancy Center. I still have 10 kits made that we can use. If you have some fabric that would make good nursing covers, feel free to bring that, too, and we can always make more. I hope to see you all then!

P.S. If you still have unfinished smocks for our nursery from the June project, bring those to the sewing circle and we can finish them the same day!

July Project: Nursing Covers for Crisis Pregnancy Center

Our normal meeting time for July sewing circle is THIS Sunday, July 10th. Since there are so many conflicts again this week during our normal meeting time, we will not meet together for sewing circle this month. However, I do have a project for you and will have kits available at the information desk Sunday morning for you to pick up and make at home.

Last month, we made smocks for our church nursery (and if you took a kit to make at home and haven't brought it to me yet, you can find me on Sunday or leave it at the information desk). I also mentioned that our nursery could use some nursing covers, so this month we will make nursing covers for our nursery (they could use about 5 more) and will make some extras for the Crisis Pregnancy Center.

Here is a link to my instructions. I took a set of free instructions (used to make the one in the photo below) and modified it slightly. If you want to make these using your own materials, feel free to use my instructions or any that you already have. I willl have 13 kits with instructions and all the materials you need (except for thread, of course) at the information desk this Sunday. Pick up as many as you want to make and then bring them back to me when you're finished.

Hopefully next month we will be able to meet together again. Until then, thank you for continuing to participate in these projects at home.

Project 7: Smocks and Nursing Covers for BCLR Nursery

I hope everyone enjoyed the break in May!

Our next sewing circle will be Sunday, June 12th, from 2:00 - 4:00 pm. For this month's sewing circle, we are going to make some smocks and nursing covers for our own BCLR nursery. I'm sure you have all seen the smocks, but they're basically like a v-neck, snap-front hospital scrub (see photo below). We will be making about 8-10 of these in a large size. The fabrics can be just about anything. The current ones are made of polyester/cotton blend fabrics, so search through your stash and see what you might have that would work well for a smock.

The nursing covers look pretty simple, too. They are basically 2 large rectangles of fabric sewn together, with some boning in one side and some straps. Below is a picture of one similar to the ones we have. If you want to make some of these at home, here is a link to a website with free instructions to make them. (If anyone has better instructions, feel free to send them on to me. I just found this by doing a quick internet search.) Again, just about any fabric will do for these and the nursery could use about 5 more.

Please reply to this email or comment on the blog to let me know if you have some fabric to bring. Also, it would be helpful to know if some of you plan to make these on your own so that we don't end up making too many of one thing.

I hope to see you all at the sewing circle on June 12th!

Project 6 Final Update

Project 6 was a project to make baby blankets and high chair covers to benefit The C.A.L.L. -- Children of Arkansas Loved for a Lifetime. There were only a couple of people who were able to participate in April because of other ministries going on at the same time. However, we were able to make 11 more high chair covers and 1 additional blanket.


If you add those to the ones made in March, the total comes to 22 high chair covers and 4 blankets for this project! Thanks to everyone who participated, either at the church or at home!

Since the second Sunday in May is Mother's Day, we will not meet in May. Enjoy the break and we will pick back up in June.

Project 6 Update and Plans for April/May

Project 6 was a project to make baby blankets and high chair covers to benefit The C.A.L.L. -- Children of Arkansas Loved for a Lifetime. We met March 13th and were able to complete 11 high chair covers and 3 blankets for the "CALL Mall."



I took the items to the CALL Mall on Saturday and toured the facility. Today I got this email from Tim and Dana Thomas, the people who run the CALL Mall:

It was such an honor and privilege to have the opportunity to meet you and your daughter on Saturday. Everyday brings new hope and excitement to the vast number of ministries God has planted in this small world we live. The covers for the highchairs are perfect! We cleaned up a couple of the chairs this weekend and placed the covers your group had made and voila, the chairs look new and are ready to be used for God's purpose. Dana and I can not express enough our appreciation for the way your group has help meet the needs of families here in Arkansas. So we say "Thank You" once again. Dana and I would like to share one word with your group and the mission/ministry God has placed in your hearts, "Godspeed".

If you weren't able to join us, this was such a FUN project! Working with the vinyl is very easy and the pattern is very simple. It was so much fun that I decided we will continue this project in April. I have gathered 4 tablecloths already, which is enough to make 12 high chair covers. I will try to have some cut out before the meeting to save us some time.

Since the second Sunday in May is Mother's Day, we will not meet in May. Enjoy the break and we will pick back up in June.

Project 6: High Chair Covers and Blankets for the CALL

Our March project will benefit The C.A.L.L. -- Children of Arkansas Loved for a Lifetime. Specifically, the items we make will go to the "CALL Mall."

The CALL Mall was started about three years ago for children in the foster care system. Foster families come through and get what they need for their foster kids, since many of them are moved from their homes with nothing. The CALL Mall supplies bedding, blankets, strollers, car seats, clothing, and generally just about everything imaginable for a child. They also help those that just need a little help to get on their feet. They don't turn anyone away with a genuine need.

We will be making high chair covers and baby blankets for them. The high chairs they receive are usually donated and very worn. Having a new cover for these would really help them out. Since they receive several different kinds of high chairs, we will try to make one that's pretty generic. I took the padding off one of our high chairs in the church nursery and made this pattern (Don't look too closely; this was my first attempt and it still needs some tweaking!)



For the fabric, I purchased a vinyl tablecloth for $5 at Wal-Mart. One of these oblong tablecloths will make 2 or 3 high chair covers and it was surprisingly easy to work with. I put one layer of batting in between the layers and added a flap on the back to go over the chair. We might also want to add some ties on the sides to make it work for other kinds of chairs.

This is a pretty simple pattern, but working with the thickness of the batting and the vinyl can be tricky. So, for our less-experienced sewers, we thought it would be better to make some simple baby blankets. These can be 2 layers of flannel, knit, or any other soft fabric sewn together (like the ones we made for the March of Dimes project, but larger).

WHAT WE NEED

For the high chair covers, we will need some vinyl tablecloths, batting, thread, and possibly some coordinating fabric with which to make the ties. If you have a vinyl tablecloth with a rip in it that you can no longer use, bring it and I'm sure we can get 1 or 2 covers out of it. If you have a chance to purchase some, that's great, too.

For the blankets, we will need fabric and matching thread.

FOR THE AT-HOME SEWERS

If you would like to help with this project but can't make it to the sewing circle, feel free to make any item that the CALL Mall could use (see description above). I would even go so far as to say that if you have some gently used items (even if they are not home-made), I would be happy to take those to donate as well.

I hope to see you all at the sewing circle on Sunday, March 13th!

Update on Project 5

Yesterday we delivered 14 beautiful walker bags to Valley Ranch Nursing Home (see photo). We also packed each one with a package of tissues, a pen, a notepad, and a Piper booklet (the same one that we include in the church visitor welcome packs).


Thanks to everyone who participated in this project! I would like to especially thank Mae for sharing her pattern, her beautiful fabric, and all the other materials to make these bags. This was a challenging project, but it was a skill-builder for all of us. I think we will definitely do these again some time. Maybe next time we will find some masculine fabric so that we can bless some male residents, too.

Our next sewing circle is in 2 weeks. I hope to have information about that project posted this week.

Cool Tool: Bias Tape Maker

I am working on making some kits for the walker bag project and I'm having so much fun with a little tool that Mae introduced to me. It's called a bias tape maker and it falls directly in the "Why didn't I think of this?" category.

You just cut your fabric twice the width of the finished bias tape, run it through the little gizmo, and iron as you pull the handle down the strip of fabric. Voila! Instant bias tape in a fraction of the cost! How cool is that?


I'm probably the last person on the planet to know about these things, but they are so cool I just couldn't resist sharing them with you anyway. And they come in several different sizes, too!

Bias tape is pretty expensive, and making it without one of these gizmos is quite time consuming. I am already daydreaming about all the fun projects these will help with... and how I'll spend all that time and money I'm saving...

Project 5: Walker Bags for Valley Ranch Nursing Home

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
(James 1:27)

For the next few sewing circles, I wanted to focus on meeting the needs of orphans and widows. This month, we will focus on widows (and other elderly people) by making walker and wheelchair bags for the residents of nearby Valley Ranch Nursing Center.

Here are a few photo examples of the kind of bags we're talking about:



You can use any pattern you'd like for the bags. However, Mae has a tried-and-true pattern that she has used in the past with great success. She has also graciously offered to supply all of the material we will need (fabric, zippers, and Velcro) from her "stash." (Remember how I told you you would get to clean out your crafty closet? Well, it turns out I was only talking to Mae! Sorry. You'll have to wait for next month's project.)

If you're making these on your own, Mae and I will be putting together some "kits" with fabric and instructions. If you'd like to take some of those kits home to work on, just let us know how many you think you will be able to complete. However, feel free to use your own pattern and fabric if you already have some that you prefer to use.

I'm really excited for this fun opportunity to bless the nearby seniors at Valley Ranch Nursing Home. I hope to see you all on Sunday, February 13th!

Update on Project 4

Even though the weather didn't cooperate with us and we had to cancel the January sewing circle meeting, we still managed to collect 12 Valentine-themed pillowcases for patients at Arkansas Children's Hospital (see photo below). I'll be delivering them next week, and I'm sure they will brighten some kids' faces.


Early next week, I hope to announce our February sewing circle project. This project will allow us to use fabric from our "stashes," so it will also help you if you have a new year's resolution to clean out your crafty closet. (Wasn't that nice of me to help you out like that? That's okay. You can thank me later.)

Project 4: Valentine Pillow Cases for ACH

January is approaching quickly, so I wanted to send out some information about our January 9th sewing circle project.

Because Valentine's Day is right around the corner, we want to shower the children at Arkansas Children's Hospital with love by making heart-themed pillowcases.

Be on the lookout for cute Valentine-themed fabrics. I have already seen some in the stores. You can find instructions for making pillowcases here or here. Because of infection control, all fabric for the pillowcases must be new (not recycled). I will bring ziplock bags in which to place each of the finished pillowcases.

I hope to see you all there!

Update on Project 3

At yesterday's sewing circle, we made winter and Christmas themed preemie baby blankets for March of Dimes. We had 10 sewing machines going full-blast and you guys made a LOT of blankets! My count as of this morning (which includes some that ladies gave me that they had made at home) is 81 baby blankets! Since our goal was 70, I'm very happy with that number!

I know a few of you are still planning on bringing me some blankets you've made at home. Please go ahead and bring those to me. I'm sure they will be able to use them, especially since many of them are not specifically Christmas themed.

Thank you again to everyone who has donated time, talent, and fabric to this ministry! We will not meet in December, but I plan on meeting in January. I will send an e-mail out after Christmas to make sure we have enough people who can come in January, since that is still a pretty busy time of year.

I have a few ideas for future projects, but if you have any ideas or know of ministries or charities that could use items, feel free to let me know.

Project 3: Preemie Christmas Blankets for March of Dimes

Our next sewing circle project will be for November only. I plan on taking December off, since that month tends to be so busy. For November, we will be making winter and Christmas themed blankets for March of Dimes.

The mission of the March of Dimes is "to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. We carry out this mission through research, community services, education and advocacy to save babies' lives. March of Dimes researchers, volunteers, educators, outreach workers and advocates work together to give all babies a fighting chance against the threats to their health: prematurity, birth defects, low birthweight."

During the week of Christmas, the March of Dimes normally takes pictures of the babies and gives those as a gift to the parents. This year, they would like to have blankets to take pictures with and then they will give the blankets to the families.

They really do not want large blankets to wrap the baby in. They want more of a "tummy time" blanket (about 11x17, but no larger than 22x17), in fabrics that celebrate Christmas or the winter season (for those who don't celebrate Christmas). That may sound small, but remember that these are preemies.

They could have as many as 70 babies during the week of Christmas, so that is our goal!

THE DETAILS

Be on the lookout for Christmas or winter-themed flannel. These blankets are super simple to make. Here's a sample tutorial for the kind of blanket I'm thinking about. For the 11x17 size, you can get 6 or 7 panels out of 1 yard of fabric and it takes 2 panels to make one blanket. To keep costs down, I recommend getting a coordinating solid color flannel for the back side of the blankets.

TIP: Kay M. offered a great tip for buying inexpensive flannel: look for flannel sheets on sale! (Both JCPenney and Target have theirs on sale this week for around $16/set.)

Since we have a specific number that we're shooting for, please let me know if you're bringing fabric and how much fabric you have. It's an aggressive goal, but I know we can do it!

Final Chemo Cap Count

On Sunday, we held our second sewing circle to make chemo caps for cancer patients at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at UAMS. I think I can safely say that you ladies have got the chemo cap pattern down pat! Everyone hit the ground running and we were able to complete 47 caps in less than 2 hours! We actually ran out of fabric before we ran out of time! You guys are incredible! That makes a total of 79 chemo caps that you guys have made in just 2 meetings! Here is a photo of the caps that were made this week.


I will deliver these caps to UAMS this week (probably on Thursday). If any of you at-home sewers are making some caps, let me know and I'll try to get yours from you on Wednesday.

We talked a little bit on Sunday about the project for November. More information about that will be posted on the blog in the morning and e-mailed to the group. We will take the month of December off since it's usually such a busy month.

Thanks again for your enthusiastic participation in these projects!

Chemo Cap Update

We met last Sunday to make chemo caps for cancer patients at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at UAMS. We were able to complete 32 caps, including quite a few embellishments to go on them (see photo).


If you're making the caps at home, we found that the turban pattern is a little more difficult. The "Easy Chemo Cap" pattern is much simpler but there is a small learning curve to it.

I will go ahead and take the completed caps to UAMS this week since they have an immediate need for them, but we will continue this project next month. I think now that we know what we're doing, we can get quite a few more of them made. And don't forget to select some fabrics that would be appropriate for male patients, too.

Thanks, ladies, for a very productive sewing circle! I know the patients will appreciate your labor of love.

Project 2: Chemo Caps for Rockefeller Cancer Institute

I am really excited about our next sewing circle project! (But let's be honest: when am I NOT excited about sewing circle projects?) For September and October, we are going to make hats for cancer patients at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at UAMS. In case you're not familiar with this institute, here's some information about them from their website:

The Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute is a center of excellence at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The Cancer Institute is Arkansas’ premier cancer research and treatment facility.

A center of excellence at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, the Cancer Institute is Arkansas’ only comprehensive cancer treatment and research facility. The institute’s staff of physicians, nurses, researchers and other health care professionals is dedicated to improving the health of all cancer patients, both from Arkansas and beyond.

The institute was renamed in 2007 to honor the memory of the late Arkansas Lt. Gov. Winthrop P. Rockefeller, who died of a rare bone marrow disorder that can lead to leukemia. A lifelong Arkansan, Rockefeller was widely known for his dedication to community service, and he championed the cause of bone marrow donation awareness following his treatment.

EXAMPLES AND PATTERNS

Here are some examples of the kinds of hats we will be making.



If you want to look at some patterns, here are some links I found: Easy Chemo Cap and Turban Cap. If you have other patterns, though, feel free to use them. These are just suggestions!

SUGGESTED FABRICS

The hats need to be lightweight, so the suggested fabrics are stretchy cotton knits or cotton blended with a tiny amount of lycra or spandex so they stretch to fit. The chemo caps can be unisex, so keep that in mind when choosing patterns. The male patients tend to be left out a lot when hats are made. We will plan on making them all Adult size and maybe some a little larger for the guys.

You'll notice that the middle photo has a cute embellishment on it. If any of you ladies or girls want to start making something like this to go on the hats, feel free!

Start sorting through your stash of fabric now for anything that would be appropriate for these hats. Please leave a comment on this blog entry (or e-mail me) to let me know if you have fabric to donate.

Also, Mae has made some of these before and she said that serging them made a much softer seam on the inside, so if you have a serger, plan to bring it to the next sewing circle.

As always, if you have thoughts, questions, or suggestions for better ways to make these items, please leave a comment so we can learn from each other's experience.

Project 1 Recap

We finished up our first sewing circle project yesterday! We ended up making 5 blankets and 8 curtains (16 panels) for the Dorcas House. This will allow them to put up curtains in the 6 windows they requested and have a few "spares" to use for other windows. I know they are going to be very excited to receive them! Also, Tandy donated a suspension curtain rod for them to use, which they really needed. (When I visited, some of the rooms had rods, but a few did not.)

Thank you to everyone who participated in this project. If you were at the sewing circle yesterday, you already know about the next project. If you weren't there, an announcement will be posted on the blog tomorrow morning. I will also try to get some pictures of our finished curtains hanging at Dorcas House once I deliver them.

First Sewing Circle Recap

The first meeting of the sewing circle was a huge success (even if I DO say so myself!). We were able to get all the curtains nearly completed and a few blankets completed. In addition, Kay M. got 30 blocks completed on her additional project that she brought. Not bad for just 2 hours of work!

Below are some pictures I took of the hard-working sewing circle participants. I witnessed a lot of older women encouraging the younger ones throughout the afternoon. I also personally learned a lot from many of you.



I'm so thankful to all the women and girls who came and worked hard yesterday. A special thanks to Mae for donating all that gorgeous drapery fabric and for sharing her expertise with the group.

We will continue this project next month (August 8th) and will try to finish the curtains and make some more blankets. If you have some fleece for the blankets that you can bring next month, please let me know either by e-mail or by commenting on the blog so I will know how much is coming. (The fleece should be in 2.5 yard lengths for the blankets.) We could also use some coordinating satin blanket binding to finish the tops of the blankets. I think a few women will be bringing sergers next time to finish the edges of the fleece. I'm looking forward to learning about that since I've never used a serger.

Thank you to everyone for a great start to this ministry!