National website for Dress-a-Girl Around the World
From: Barbara Taylor <bestluv2u@gmail.com>
Hi Everyone!
Welcome to our new volunteers! The Lord is continuing to turn hearts toward the needs of girls living in poverty around the world.
Here are flyers of our November 7th event so that you can invite your friends to discover the joy this ministry brings to all of us. Our four SewFests per year are held at Twin Lakes Church from 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM in Monschke Hall. We set-up from 2:00-4:00 PM on the Friday before each SewFest. Your help is greatly appreciated.
We have some exciting things planned for November 7th! Even though it’s not even winter yet, we will call this SewFest “LOVE IS IN THE AIR”---a VALENTINE/SPRING theme. We will be sewing Valentine’s Day and Easter dresses for girls around the world. We’re not certain where they will wind up but we have many possibilities brewing in Haiti, Australia, Malaysia, and/or Laos.
This photo of 32 gleeful girls came in from ZAMBIA recently:
Look how beautiful this dress makes lovely Mary Jane from the Philippines feel.
Since our last SewFest, we have surpassed the 5,000 dresses sent mark! WooHoo!! Thank you everyone and congratulations! You have all worked very hard and “as to the Lord”. I am pleased with the quality of your dresses, too! We continue to strive to give our very best dresses to girls around the world---it could be the only dress some of these girls will ever own so we want it to be very special!
This is exactly our mission! To raise the esteem of girls living in poverty around the world by giving them a well-constructed, beautiful dress so that they see themselves how the Lord sees them--as His beautiful princess!
Here is a beautifully hand sewn yo-yo.
YOYO’s: On the topic of giving our best---I have now seen over 5,000 dresses one at a time and I think I can say with some authority what I deem to look the most attractive in a dress. I thought I would make such recommendations regarding our fabric yo-yo’s.
We love those yo-yo’s, don’t we? We have many new seamstresses and I’m not sure if you all know how they are made. We take a flat piece of scrap fabric and have someone painstakingly hand stitch it so that it puffs up into a flowery 3-D form. Yo-yo’s are a great way to make buttons or bows stand out or “pop” so that they are not “lost” on our dresses. They also add a “finished” look to them.
Did you know there is a front side and a back side to yo-yo’s? The gathered (puffy) side is the front. This is the side the button or bow should be sewn on. I have seen yo-yo’s come in backwards and flat as a pancake. It doesn’t make sense to me to have someone puff it up and then someone else flatten it back down to its original form. If you like the “flat” look please consider using an applique on your dresses instead. We have lots of them and they will be available at our November 7th Sewfest for your use!
Also, we really prefer that you hand stitch the yo-yo’s to the dress rather than machine stitch them as machine stitches tend to “flatten” the yo-yo’s out again. The recommended time to hand sew yo-yo’s is BEFORE you attach the pockets to the dress. So, this will take planning on your part. You will need to decide how you want to design the pockets BEFORE you attach them to the dress. It will be much easier to sew the yo-yo nicely when the pocket is not already sewn on the dress.
I don’t mean to belabor the point, but I know how much the girls LOVE yo-yo’s on their dresses and I want to be sure you know the best technique for achieving the desired look. THANK YOU!!!
Have you looked at our FaceBook page recently?
I have added some photo albums of dresses to give you some sewing ideas. There are four albums you may be interested in:
- Sweet Baby (Sizes 0-3)
- Yes, You Are Special! (Sizes 4-8)
- Teens and ‘Tweens (Sizes 10-14)
- Pretty Mama (Mama/Plus sizes)
Be sure to check out the CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD album, too! I have taken photos of nearly every Christmas dress you have made (as I have had time!) and compiled them in this album. Your dresses have been stunningly beautiful and creative. THANK YOU!!! The first 50 Christmas dresses we collected have been sent to the team going to Thailand next month (along with 50 “every day” dresses). The remaining Christmas dresses will be given to charities in our very own community in October and November. Wasn't this a fun project?
In an on-going effort to being the best ambassador I can be, I will be traveling to Arizona October 8-11 for the DRESS A GIRL AROUND THE WORLD Convention. I will be taking good news of your dedicated service with me and hope to be bringing back some fresh ideas and interesting bits of information for you. Please pray for my safe-keeping and for the preparations before I go.
Love and appreciation,
Barbara Taylor, Area Ambassador
Dress a Girl Around the World Santa Cruz CA Area
www.dressagirlaroundtheworld.com
www.facebook.com/dressagirlaroundtheworldsantacruzcaarea
“We believe every girl deserves at least one new dress…..”