Friday, November 9, 2012

Sewing Solace - A handmade holiday crafts drive for victims of Sandy

House destroyed by Hurricane Sandy
In the aftermath of Sandy, I have been doing a lot of thinking about ways I can help. Not just giving money, which we dont have much of to give, nor canned goods, because we dont have much of that either. But specifically what I can do with my particular skill set. Unfortunately I can't get to the most devastated areas right now, so volunteering my time might be hard. I have looked into the Occupy Astoria group because I have heard that the Occupiers have really been doing an amazing job organizing people to help, and that might be an avenue I peruse.

However, yesterday an amazing little article popped up in my Google alerts. The following article from the Huffington Post turned out to be an inspiration...


Although I am an avid animal lover, and as I write this my little puppy Pepper is sleeping on my feet, I feel that maybe the children and families affected by the storm are more in need of my needle and thread. I don't propose to sew them clothes or blankets, because those can be purchased fairly cheaply for donation. I was thinking more along the lines of holiday heirlooms. It is so close to the holiday's and along with the destruction of their homes, people lost precious family treasures, stockings made by long gone great grandmothers, tree ornaments from baby's first Christmas, nativity scenes brought over from the home country. I know it seams like a very little thing now, but on Christmas eve, it might be really important to have a little something made with love, even if it is from a stranger.

This stocking is from a tutorial on Cluck Cluck Sew
My conclusion? A handmade holiday crafts drive for victims of Sandy!

The details are still in work, but I think that any handmade, holiday (Chanukah, Christmas and any other seasonal holiday) items are appropriate for this drive. And, if all goes well, maybe we can also add little gifts? I am going to try and figure out how these items can be distributed to people in need, but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Have any of you ever done anything like this before?

In the meantime, start thinking about what scraps are laying around that can be transformed into something festive. I am going to start making Christmas Stockings with some scraps of satin and some fabulous pink fur! I will post more as it develops, along with some Christmas craft tutorials. 

Do you like this idea? Seriously, any suggestions would be a real help!


1 comment:

  1. Keep is posted as you figure out all the logistics. I'll be happy to help. Count me in.

    ReplyDelete