Getting started on some orphan dresses

So I got this fabric about a month ago. I’d ordered from Strawberry Patches, three yards of it to make a wrap dress with. Well, I thought I ordered the red version of Darlene Zimmerman‘s Betty Dear fabric. This pink is what showed up. I emailed Suzanne at the shop and she took care of everything asap, sending me what was left in the red. (Not as much as I had hoped for, but enough to make this Joel Dewberry pattern!)

I wasn’t sure what to do with this pink version. Three yards of a fabric I would never wear. And then I realized, I can use it for the orphans! Duh.

The pattern I used is a downloadable pattern from Oliver + S, scaled from size 2 to 8 in one pattern piece. You just print it out, tape the pages together and -bam- super simple sundress!

I was able to cut out five dresses in three sizes, included bias strips for the ties and I still have plenty of fabric to make something for the caretakers at the orphanage. Nice. Super happy to put it to a better use than as stash.

The dresses are tucked into gallon-sized bags in hopes that it will keep me organized. Now I just need to make a box to keep them in…

It’s World Humanitarian Day tomorrow, so I’m gonna be working on those and hoping to finish them to the point of hand-stitching by the time evening rolls around. Fingers crossed!

And I just wanted to give a shout-out to everyone who’s stepped up to help out.

• The Portland Modern Quilt Guild let me present at their meeting
• Laurie Wisbrun is making shorts already.
• Yi Farn from Japanese Sewing Books has volunteered all the way from Singapore and Hannah Jones from the UK, as well as several local sewists.
• Sew Sweetness and Figgy’s Patterns are helping me spread the word on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks, or as we struggle to pronounce correctly in Viet Nam: Cám ơn!

For more info on the charity sewing project, read this blog post or visit or Indiegogo page to read about the whole big memoir/cookbook/food project.