Thursday, March 27, 2008

August Deadline??!!!!

I talked to my Mom and Dad this week about The Hundred Skirts Project. I wanted to get some sizes from my Mom and ask my Dad about customs and shipping. Dad said that he was planning a trip back to the Guatemalan orphanage in August. I guess they are getting some pressure from the Guatemalan government to accommodate more orphans. The need there is urgent. So there are plans for more building and a medical clinic. Dad will be going in August with a construction contractor to address this need and make plans for more growth. He says that he will be happy to hand-deliver The 100 Skirts Project for us.

But this means moving up my self-imposed deadline from the end of the year to August! I also would like to expand the project to allow for the new orphans that will be coming in. So I'm aiming for more like 150 Skirts by August. I did the math and I will need to make about 1.8 skirts a day. This sounds overwhelming, but really it's entirely do-able. With my serger, I can make a skirt in about 30 minutes, not counting the embellishment. So I plan to spend about an hour each morning making two skirt blanks and then when I sit in the evening to watch a movie or TV DVD episode with DH, I will do the hand-embellishing. I will need to be diligent to stay on track, but it's nothing overly taxing.

In early April I have a group of about 8 teenaged girls and 4 women who will be getting together for a one-day sewing marathon. We should be able to knock out about a dozen skirts.

And Lindsay has a skirt on the way already! I will post her skirt and blog link when it arrives. I'm anxious to see it!

Paula is making SEVEN skirts in Sizes 3T for me. I will, of course, share hers as well.

Peggy L has made three skirts in connection with Pattern Review's Charity Sewing Contest. They are in honor of her daughters and DIl.

And I have had a variety of emails from other gals who will be participating as well. So I'm completely confident that we'll reach goal in time!

That said...I didn't get much sewing done today. I have a ballet print skirt almost done. It just needs the embellishment and then I will share it. It will be the last of the 5T sizes!

Charity

5 comments:

Keely said...

This is such a great idea and you're so generous to be doing so much!

Paula Gardner said...

Charity, I will work towards shipping the skirts to you before July 15. Are you increasing the number of skirts in each size? I will complete however many size 3T skirts you need. I'll be starting the skirts next week.

Unknown said...

Paula - My Dad is sending a formal letter of introduction (by email) to the top administrator of the orphanage. I will then follow up that contact with an introduction of our project and a request for detailed sizes. My Mom has been helping me as she and Dad have worked there a couple of times, but Mom couldn't give me as much info as I need. So I should know exact information soon and will pass it on.

Meg said...

Have you thought about taking this to PatternReview? I haven't been a member long enough to know if there are rules about charitable projects, but I'd have to think there are members who'd be eager to help out.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I'm SO glad your dad can hand-deliver the skirts. That will make things so much easier!