Did you know it takes just 2 meters of fabric and 2 meters of lining to make 12 hospital gowns for premature babies? I didn't. It's something I learned yesterday as I was looking for a local charity to do some quilting work for.
I found Miracle Babies Foundation in Australia which accepts sewn hospital gowns, knit and crochet beanies and memorial quilts to help families in an otherwise horrible situation. Hopefully these six gowns can bring a bit of sunshine to a NICU in Australia. These just need press studs and they'll be all set They are quite quick to make, so I'm hoping to pull a few more together before I send them off. Patterns are available on their website, if you'd like to help out too.
Do you do any charity sewing? Can you suggest other groups and hospitals that could use a helpful hand?
Oh, they are so tiny it's heartbreaking! They're very sweet and cheerful and will hopefully bring some sunshine into a really terrible situation... I have no idea about any charity sewing orgs in Australia, sorry. I've just started looking for some here in Canada but if I hear about anything closer to you, I'll send the info along.
ReplyDeleteOh Amy they're so gorgeous. We raised money for Miracle Babies at our first Stash & Treasure. They're a mega deserving group that do amazing work especially as how the founders have all been there. You're a sweetheart ;)
ReplyDeleteThey will be well received Amy
ReplyDeleteThat's a fantastic idea, the gowns. Canberra Quilters organise premmie quilts for the little ones who don't make it at the Canberra Hospital - a full size cuddle quilt, and a smaller "memory" quilt for if the parents want to use the quilt in the coffin. It's so beautiful to see these quilts when they are shown at guild meetings.
ReplyDeleteI know some hospitals also ask for handmade surgery drainage bags (usually for breast cancer patients). I had the use of one last year to keep all my drainage bags in (and off the hospital floor) and it was such a godsend I always swore I'd make a few. Probably should get onto that.
As a mom of 110-day NICU graduate, this brings a smile to my face.
ReplyDeleteI've donated quilts through Project Linus here in the U.S. http://www.projectlinus.org/ The individual chapters give to lots of different organizations. The one I was involved with gave quilts to low income new moms via the visiting nurse program of a local health department. It's a great way to be involved in the community!
ReplyDeleteRobin is doing a SAL for mastectomy aprons for breast cancer patients. You can find her tutorial at http://cooksewsmile.blogspot.com/2012/04/leslies-lap-buddy-sew-along.html This one touched me because I have a friend, just 30 years old, recovering from a double mastectomy, and she said the drains were the most miserable part for her.
ReplyDeleteSo great of you to use your sewing skills to help your community.
oh my gosh, these are SO cute and tiny! Wonderful project :)
ReplyDeleteAmy these are beautiful! My daughter was in special care not long after she was born. Although she was not premature, we were so blessed for her to have a beautiful hand made butterfly quilt for her crib. I need to make some of these.
ReplyDeleteThey are so pretty - I'm sure they'll bring a little bit of cheer to someone having a dark day.
ReplyDeleteI sew for Threads of Love here. We send blankets, little vests, booties, hats and lovie dolls for preemie babies. Now we are also making little bags for ladies in the hospital.
ReplyDeleteI'm catching up on my reading tonight and look what I see - evidence of just what you mentioned today. They're lovely and such a great choice. Thanks for encouraging the community to think about these things!
ReplyDeleteSmocking Arts Guild of NSW makes these hospital gowns as well. We also do beautiful smocked gowns for stillborn and premmie babies for many Sydney hospitals. We make tiny quilts, caps, bootees and rugs too. We meet at Dence Park, Stanley Road at Epping on the first Thursday of each month. 10am and 7pm. Come along sometime as we need more hands to continue our vital work.
ReplyDeleteAs a mom of three NICU babies and one tiny angel, I say thank you. My three NICU boys each have darling little hats that they wore while in the NICU, and my tiny angel was given a beautiful hand crocheted blanket that we treasure.
ReplyDeleteI stumbled across this post from a link on pintrest and would love to make some of these tiny gowns to donate to our NICU. We took 250 little crocheted caps up for donation on the twins' 10th birthday. We have one year until their 15th, maybe we can donate 250 little gowns =0)
I quilt for animals in shelters! I make small quilts (called Table Scraps) that are custom made to the sizes of the cages at my local (80%kill rate) animal shelter. It keeps them off the metal cages and off the concrete floors, it's great for scraps, great for experimenting with new patterns, techiniques
ReplyDeleteMy first grandson was 13 weeks early. I spent 2 months at Vanderbilt with him and my daughter. We got lucky with her second child and he was born only 4 weeks early and healthy. Unfortunately, we'll be heading back to Vandy probably later today for her to deliver my granddaughter, 7 weeks early.
ReplyDeleteRemember that the hats and blankets are most useful
Until baby is of certain size they wear only a diaper and hat because the incubator must keep the body temperature stabilized.