Sew a dress and give hope to a child in Africa



Photo by Little Dresses of Africa



Whether you sew, knit, crochet, or weave; as crafters we have the ability to touch people with our talents.  When I heard that there was a way to help children in Africa by just sewing small dresses, I thought I needed to get involved.

As you can about imagine, there are many children in Africa who live in rural areas.  With so much poverty there—many are in need of clothing.

In 2007, Rachel O’Neill of Michigan started Little Dresses for Africa along with her church.  Since then she has been on a mission to help the children of Africa—one dress at a time.

Rachel O'Neill in Africa

I happened to learn about it as I was browsing Nancy’s Notion’s website.  They have teamed up with the nonprofit organization to sew and package dresses and shorts for the boys and girls in Africa.

According to the organizations website:

• They have received dresses from all 50 states in the U.S.
• As of today, they have gotten more than 175,000 dresses.
• The dresses were distributed in 26 countries in Africa.
• Dresses have also gone to countries in crisis: Honduras, Haiti, and Guatemala, Mexico.

How To Get Involved

There are different ways to get involved in this project:

• Host a sewing party to make dresses.
• Donate money for shipping costs (boxes, tape, and postage.)

Free Pattern For Dresses

Photo: First Congregational Church
Sagina, MI

Nancy’s Notion’s is offering a free dress pattern that you can dowload.  Check out their website. 

 Little Dresses for Africa also provides measurements you can use to make the dresses and even instructions on how to make a dress out of a pillowcase.

The nonprofit is also collecting shorts for the boys.  You can use the pattern of your choice to make a simple pair of shorts.

Who doesn’t have extra fabric at home?

How about a few hours to sew?

Just think, one dress...one pair of shorts will give these children hope and let them know that even strangers on the other side of the world really do care for them.