A group of Lichfield Soroptimists were among many women stung by the Great British Sewing Bee broadcast in April this year but when one of them saw a poster for “Dress a Girl Around the World” they decided to “dust off” their sewing machines and sew.
Members of the club donated materials, clothes and bed linen for conversion into simple dresses. Meeting once a month the “Lichfield Sewing Bee” had an initial target of 100 dresses but this has already been increased! To date, they have made 95 dresses, 30 of which have already been taken to an orphanage in Kenya with a further 100 destined for Burkina Faso in February 2014.
Apart from recycling unwanted linens into practical dresses for girls around the world the sewing group is also proving to be quite therapeutic with members chatting along to the hum (or buzz) of their sewing machines. SI Lichfield have shipped the dresses through contacts within their organisation to ensure their safe arrival and the girls from Children of the Rising Sun are pleased to display them.