Sunday 13 October 2013

A day for 'Days'


As I mentioned in my post back here, Days for Girls were staging sew-a-thon's around the globe as part of the Day of the girl - a day when we can all get together and do something to break the poverty cycle by helping girls stay in school longer.

Things to consider are that in some countries girls are not able to attend school when they have their period and so they lose days of education.
Enough of these days add up to put them behind in their studies and cause them to either become disheartened with education or their parents to pull them out as they are not getting good enough results.

The poverty cycle can be broken when girls stay in school!!

Wendy and I decided to 'host' an event together...
So we gathered together in the little smARTys studio for the smart-sew-in.

We cut...

Cutting strips for flannelette liners
We trimmed and ironed...

Robyn (my mum) made up over 160 small shield pockets.
We cut some more...

The lovely Wendy - looking like an arty teacher!
and we cut some more!!

Mel was amazing - coming along both days and working tirelessly, once she had coffee!!
Then we sewed, young...

Amelia put her school sewing skills to fabulous use and basted like an expert...
and even younger...

Our youngest sewing lady in action - she was unstoppable.
we made long flannelette strips... 

Liners doubled and ready for cutting

that were cut into numerous liners and then overlocked...

Finished liners in colourful piles.
and the threads were then tied off to make them secure and long lasting.

Our champion thread tying team of Nicola and Rachel.
and we ended up with 330 liners and 90 shields that will soon be packed into bags (that we are still working on) and sent to girls who need them...
for dignity...
for confidence...
for the power to learn...

Items ready to pack.

Thank you so much to the wonderful group of women (and one man!) who gathered together in friendship and community to work through the day and night on this very worthwhile task.

The spirit of friendship and camaraderie was amazing - we shared stories, a meal and our skills for many wonderful hours.

Through this project we are making a very tangible difference and aside from empowering girls - it empowered out community - to stand together and act in defence of those who need a voice.

You may be hearing more of this project as we think it might just become a semi-regular event...

In the meantime have a look at the Days for Girls website and see if you can help in some small way.
Have a look at Wendy's post for more detail on the kit contents.

7 comments:

Mel N said...

Haha I also stopped for dinner and butter cake! James' arrival thwarted my plan for a second slice of that butter cake on Sat! :)

Great cause, and going by the comments on FB, you and Wendy might just need a hall for next year! :)

Jane said...

That's brilliant. What great work - such a practical way to help!

ARTwendy ... said...

Thankyou my friend for grabbing onto the idea beside me & going for it!

Jenny from Ohjoh said...

You guys are awesome! What a wonderful thing to do - well done!

The Creative Beast said...

What a wonderful and worthy project to sew on! Thanks for sharing this project and the link for participating =-)

Celesteam said...

Wow! I was literally brought to tears as I read this. Because it makes such a difference and seeing your group in action is proof of the waves of momentum we are all building together around the globe. Many lives will be touched by what you have done. Thank you! Great photos too. That's a whole lot of soft and colorful dignity you have stacked there... AND a beautiful team. Well done. Thank you from Celeste and the Days for Girls International Team. Together we are going to reach every girl, everywhere. Period.

Austysmum said...

What did you use for drawstrings for the bags? I am finding this to be a bit of a expensive venture since each pack needs so much in it, so am trying to cut costs with the strings. Draw cord costs $1.50/m so that's about $3 per bag without worrying about thread, fabric or anything else. So far I have just made two packs up, and it seems like a tiny contribution. Any advice for saving money? I am using scraps up for the shields.