Tag: charity sewing

October Charity Sewalong

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Melbourne Basket Brigade (AU)

Melbourne-Basket-Brigaude.jpgThe Melbourne Basket Brigade is a small but dedicated force of local volunteers who want to make a difference to those in need. Last year they packed and delivered over 235 baskets, which fed approximately 2,500 people across Victoria.

They are asking for our help to create strong, sturdy, Christmas themed bags. These bags will hold toys, groceries and other personal items for those in need, making their Christmas one to remember.

Thanks to Lindee Goodall, you can also decorate these bags with a Christmas Tree embroidery design from her Tis the Season embroidery design pack.

Foster Hope (NZ)

This month you can also support a New Zealand based charity. Foster Hope bring hope to the more than 5,000 children in foster care through their foster packs and other activities. The packs are filled with comforting and practical items and given to foster children to let them know someone cares and to symbolise community support.

SEWALONG BRIEF

  1. Download the free Craftsy Drawstring Bag Pattern
    • Cut out your bag to be 80cm (h) x 50cm (w). Please use thick fabric for the bag such as canvas, linen, cloth or denim. If using lighter fabric, please line the inside.
    • There is also the option to decorate your bag in Christmas themed fabric or with a Christmas themed embroidery design.

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September Charity Sewalong

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Sunshine Coast University Hospital Queensland

Sunshine-Coast-HospitalThis month’s Sewalong is for Sunshine Coast University Hospital Queensland, who offer a range of free public healthcare services, supported by highly trained and specialised staff.

They are seeking our help to create a hospital gown kit for children and teenagers who have to go into theatre for a range of different medical procedures and scans. At present these children are wearing adult gowns that are far too large for them. With hospital visits already being a very daunting and scary process, the hospital thought it would be beneficial for the kids to have colourful, personalised gowns to wear at these appointments, which they can then take home for future appointments and scans.

Plus, thanks to Lindee Goodall, you can embroider a very special seahorse embroidery design onto your drawstring bag or gown.

SEWALONG BRIEF

Create this hospital gown kit for children and teens.Hospital-Gown-Sewing Continue reading →

Embroidering on Problematic Fabrics

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by Leanne Church

Coat-Jacket-2

Project Description

This project involves creating the Echidna Sewalong Dog Jacket and then applying the Lindee Goodall and Animal Welfare League embroidery designs onto it. As the material used was fur and heavily patterned, I have created an instructional tutorial to show you how to create a background for your embroidery design to make things a little easier.

The project itself was very easy and recommended for beginner sewers. The embroidery designs by Lindee Goodall were also easy to follow with clear, step-by-step instructions.

How I Created This Project

I have used fur for the fabric and a stretch lining, which can be a very problematic combination. Therefore, I wanted to share with you some tips and tricks that I discovered along the way to deal with this type of fabric and pattern choice.

To start with, I marked out the pattern on the fur fabric on the right side with a sharpie pen. I wouldn’t normally do this on a garment but for this occasion it was much easier to see and since it was a pet project, I figured I could get away with it.

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July Charity Sewalong

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Animal Welfare League Australia

Dog-PhotoAnimal Welfare League are a national non-profit organisation caring for companion animals across Australia. They formed in 2007, when the Animal Welfare Leagues of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland united to become Animal Welfare League Australia. Dogs Homes of Tasmania joined AWLA in 2010 and SAFE Inc joined in 2014. Together they have more than 300 years of combined experience in caring for animals in need.

AWL work with local councils, state government, rescue groups and the community to
improve the outcomes of stray and surrendered pets, and they are nationally recognised for their unique and innovative programs, initiatives and re-homing strategies.

This Sewalong involves creating a number of coats for the animals housed in these shelters nationwide. They are desperate for large sized coats to keep dogs warm this winter, and thanks to Lindee Goodall who has once again sponsored our Sewalong, you can download a free “Adopt Me” embroidery design to decorate your dog coat.

Sewalong Brief

  1. March Sewalong will run from 1st July – 31st July, 2017
  2. Sewing – Sew a pet coat using your own pattern or use the free pattern below.
    Embroidery – Embroider a ready-made pet coat or one you have created with the “Adopt Me” embroidery design and the Animal Welfare League (individual state) logo.

Sew Your Own Pet Coat!

Dog-Coat

This is a great beginner project if you’re interested in learning how to sew. Use one of your own dog coat patterns or you can download the free dog coat pattern, created by Martyn Smith.

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May Charity Sewalong

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Royal Flying Doctors Service

Royal-Flying-Doctor-Service.jpgThe Royal Flying Doctor Service is one of the largest and most comprehensive aeromedical organisations in the world, providing extensive primary health care and 24-hour emergency service to people over an area of 7.3 million square kilometres.

Delivered by a dedicated team of professionals, using the latest in aviation, medical and communications technology, and supported by a vast number of volunteers and supporters, the RFDS is vital for those that live, work and travel in rural and remote Australia.

This sewalong we are creating aviation themed circle quilts, square quilts, mug rugs and table runners which can be used by the Royal Flying Doctor Service for its patients or at events to be auctioned off for fundraising efforts.

SEWLONG BRIEF

  • This sewalong will run from 1st May – 31st May 2017
  • Create an aviation themed circle/square quilt, mug rug or table runner.

PROJECT IDEAS

ED-P-700x700Planes by Echidna – Free Download!

This collection consists of 10 designs suitable for 100 mm x 100 mm or larger embroidery hoop.

This project will be free to download during the month of May to collaborate with this aviation themed sewalong.

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April Charity Sewalong

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RSPCA

The RSPCA is a community based charity that works to prevent cruelty to animals by actively promoting their care and protection.

The RSPCA runs 40 shelters and employs around 1,000 staff, which helps to improve the lives of Australian animals. This month’s Sewalong is dedicated to helping each state’s RSPCA animal shelter by providing items that they desperately need to help care and rehabilitate each animal to get them into loving homes.

You can choose to donate directly to your state’s shelter or ship the donation off to a different state based on what they need.

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February – Charity Sewalong

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Koala Kids

Let’s help make Happy Help by sewing for Koala Kids

koala-kids

Our February sewalong is dedicated to Koala Kids Foundation, an organization which provides the small things that bring happiness to children and young people (3 – 24 years) undergoing cancer treatment.

We can brighten their day by sewing special keepsakes to include in their very own Happy Bags, which are full of comforting and practical items for them and their families to use during hospital stays.

They promise that each and every item created will find its way to children and young people undergoing cancer treatment.

Sewalong Brief

  • February Sewalong will run from 1st –  28th February, 2017
  • We are asking you to provide an item of your choice, which can be folded to fit inside a Happy Bag with the other items (Bag is 300mm deep x 250mm wide)
  • Items may include a pillow case (silk, one side not embroidered), a cotton hand towel or face washer, a cotton drawstring bag (plastic lined for toiletries), a small zip purse, a larger, flat toy or Lego bag, a pencil case etc.

Please see more ideas for children’s sewing on our Kid’s Sewing Pinterest page.

Add a little Embroidery!

The fun part is embroidering the Koala Kids orange ‘smiley nose’ into your design.
There are a few ways you can use these embroidery designs to compliment your project.

Embroider one or a few full colour smiley noses onto your project for the children to find.

Or download the outline embroidery design to stitch on suitable fabrics for the children or family members to colour in.

Both embroidery designs will fit in a 4″ x 4″ (10cm x 10cm) hoop.

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Sewing For Charity – January Sewalong

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julie-ann-6Aussie Heroes

Our first Echidna sew along is for Aussie Hero Quilts – A blog dedicated to encouraging people to make quilts and laundry bags for Aussie service men and women currently serving overseas and to express our gratitude for their service.

“We care about the people – not the politics or the mission. Our quilts are not works of art, but works of the heart.”

Sew Along Brief

  • January Sewalong will run from Jan 1st – Jan 31st.
  • We are asking you to create a laundry bag (download the pattern & instructions)
  • The colours, material and design will need to be themed appropriately for MEN only. (This is due to Aussie Heroes currently running low in men’s themed laundry bags)
  • These bags need to be unique so the service men can quickly find and locate their laundry bags. Therefore we ask you decorate them appropriately by sewing, quilting, embroidering, applique or with Flex/Flock transfers using your ScanNCut machine.

Things to remember

These sewalongs are a great way to get inspired by what everyone creates, while giving to a worthy cause. If you’re new to sewing or embroidering then don’t despair. This is a  great chance for you to get involved and have fun not matter what the outcome.

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