We’re still in the midst of the dog days of summer here in the northern hemisphere and it gets me in the mood to sew a girl’s sundress. I’ve been very busy lately sewing Popover Sundresses, fifty to be exact! This month I’ll be sending them all to Dress a Girl Around the World.
You can help Dress a Girl Around the World strive towards their vision of “every girl deserves at least one dress.” People from all over are forming groups and sewing pillowcase style dresses. To date they have delivered over 300,000 dresses to 81 countries! From their website: “People from all States, Canada, Uganda, the UK, Philippines, Australia, Sweden, Costa Rica, South Africa, Germany, Norway, Okinawa, Japan, and Hong Kong continue to make dresses. Together we really are dressing the girls around the world.”
The free Popover Sundress (available in sizes 2-8) is the perfect dress to sew and donate to Dress a Girl Around the World. When donating dresses to them, one very important thing is to make your dresses sturdy. These dresses need to last. Many of the dresses will be washed in rivers or on washboards using harsh homemade soap. The sides seams are a great opportunity to practice French seams. That way the seams are nice and strong. For all of the sewing, backstitching or lockstitching is a must!
For the bias ties at the shoulders you can use store bought bias tape or you can make your own. You’ll find some help here on the Oliver + S website:
Also consider adding a pocket or two, for some ideas on adding Oliver + S pockets, head this way. One last thought I had would be making matching Seashore Bloomers for sizes up to 4, wouldn’t that be adorable?
I know the online sewing community has a huge heart for service. I encourage you to sew a Popover Sundress to donate to this wonderful organization. It’s such a good thing. If you live in the United States, find out where to send your dresses here and outside of the United States check here. When they receive your dresses they attach their Dress a Girl label on the outside of each dress. Or if you’d like you can make labels or purchase labels and sew them on yourself.
Thanks so much for your consideration! I’ll be back later this week to offer you some inspiration for sewing Popover Sundresses. See you then!
Thank you for this information. I’d never heard of Dress A Girl. What a wonderful opportunity to do even this small thing for someone else! Looks like I’ll be stitching up a storm the rest of this week!
Having never added them anywhere, I don’t know the answer to this, but is this dress a good candidate for hem tucks?
Such wonderful idea! I can’t believe you sewn up so many so fast!
I love sundresses! It’s so simple, comfortable and just easy to wear all day. I guess that’s why they call them “Sundresses”, perfect for a sunny day.
What a coincidence! I just sent ten dresses off yesterday to the Dress A Girl organization. It’s such a great charity and giving a girl a dress gives them such dignity and a sense of pride. My sister and I had a sewing marathon this weekend and knocked out ten dresses. We used the website’s pattern but will try your pattern for our next marathon. Thanks for the pattern!
I love the idea of making a dress for a little girl in need.
I’m worried about this program, though! I dug around their website, and I noticed this page on how the program got started: http://www.dressagirlaroundtheworld.com/how-we-began. It says that the program started by teaching women in Africa to make pillowcase dresses so that they could learn tailoring. Does the program still do that? How is the market for the work produced by women in the tailoring program affected by the availability of free dresses? The textile and garment industries are pretty important parts of the economy of a number of African countries. Is there a program that pays women in Africa to make these items?
Thank you for sharing this information. Such a wonderful opportunity that I can’t miss it.
For any questions about the Dress a Girl Around the World organization, please contact the founder, Rachel Eggum Cinader at Rachel@h4wi.org
I think Dress a Girl is a wonderful concept and a part of Hope4Women. My Facebook group, Sew Classic for Children, just finished a Dress a Girl project. We made 368 Children’s Corner Janes. I is a peasant style dress. It was fun to see each person’s creations each day on Facebook. I hope this Oliver + S project is a great success!
Hello. Please give me the address of where the finished dresses should be mailed. Thank you!
If you are located in the USA, contact the closest person to you:
http://www.dressagirlaroundtheworld.com/u-s-ambassadors
If you are located outside the USA, look here:
http://www.dressagirlaroundtheworld.com/international-ambassadors
Check out the website for “Ambassadors” pick the one closest to you, e-mail them for address and your on your way. I’m the Ambassador for Iowa. I’d be happy to help.
I live in Washington state. I don’t see anyone from here or Oregon (close enough). I have fabric I can donate. I can make kits and I have a sewing studio. I’ve been sewing since forever. I can make a pile of dresses using any patterns. Any updates to an ambassador or contact in my seattle area?
Thanks!!
How do I get started, where do I send them, do you send then to churches or to some one,
Operation Christmas Child is also an excellent charity to give dresses . There is also Little Dresses for Africa that sends dresses to girls in Africa to help protect them from abuse and rape. Any of these is great.
Like to join in making these dress .
How do we get patterns ?
The download page for the Popover Dress is here.
hi I’m Mery I would like to know how to help I’ve got sewing machine and I can do dresses if you can send me the fabrics I can do the pillow dresses. I’m leaving in England let me know and thank you
I enjoy sewing, and would like to become a member of a chapter, here in Minnesota, Twin Cities area.
PHONE. 612 869 4990
Hi everyone. Here in Portugal que do ponto t on crochet and fabric.