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Hello and thanks for visiting my blog. I have been knitting on and off for 50 years and I recently learned to crochet. I love looking for wool bargains and making them into something useful. I mainly knit for charity. I occasionally knit for myself and family members if I find a really good pattern or if they ask nicely!!

Wednesday 18 December 2013

Clearing the decks....



I like to get everything tidied away before Christmas.  There was a little pile of sewing that I had pushed to the back of my mind until 2014.  But I found myself with some free time and decided to finish it off.  Here are 5 mama bags.  They are basically drawstring bags made to the same size as a pillow case.  These will go off to Greenfields Africa which is an organisation that distributes clothing, blankets and other items to new mothers and babies in Kenya and Uganda.  This is what their website says about the mama bags:

"a mama bag contains a cotton vest, a knitted cardigan, a beanie and bootees, a babygrow, and a blanket, plus locally bought soap, vaseline etc. To qualify for a mama bag, the mum is required to attend 3 ante-natal clinics during the pregnancy"

So they are an incentive for the mothers to attend ante-natal classes and they give them much needed supplies for the first few weeks of the babies' lives.

They cost me very little to make.  I bought the yellow gingham material for 49p per piece in a charity shop. The drawstrings are very long shoe laces and some thin braid that I have been saving for years.   The wine and grey material has sentimental value as it comes from a duvet which I placed my baby daughter on when she came home for the first time.  Eighteen years later this same "baby" managed to burn the duvet cover with her hair straighteners.  I rescued what was left of the material to make these bags.  Its great to know that it will be useful thousands of miles away.

What did I learn making these bags?:
  • how to make a drawstring bag!  I put only one drawstring into each bag and they close nicely.  The method of putting in 2 drawstrings works well in some bags, but caused a lot of bulk in these bigger bags.
  • how to sew French seams.  These bags will take a lot of punishment.  I always intended to sew a double seam and then found an article about French seams and how neat they are.  They hide the raw edges and I will definitely use this technique again.
  • gingham is not as simple to cut and sew as it should be.  I thought the straight lines would make cutting out and sewing straight bags very easy.  I was wrong. That was probably why someone else had donated the material to the charity shop!
I've said it before, but that is definitely the last sewing project of 2013.  (Famous last words?)

10 comments:

  1. Well it is such a lovely way to end 2013 ... Thinking and making for others . Happy Christmas Una x

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    1. ...and a happy Christmas to you too Linda. 2013 isn't over yet, I might still start something else!

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  2. Great stuff! I know the bags will be a boon to their eventual recipients! (and a nice touch about the origin of the wine and grey material and the baby 'link' there!)

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    1. Thanks, Sue. I'll be quite sad when I post off the parcel as I will never see that material again. So my photos and blog come in very useful as memories.

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  3. What a satisfying project to make. Well done to you Una. Jo. You have some great stuff on your blog. Jo x

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    1. Thanks, Jo. I enjoy making lots of different things and am looking forward to see what 2014 brings.

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  4. What a wonderful idea! I especially like how they have the moms pay visits to the clinic in order to get the bags. :-)

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    1. Clinics in the UK give "Bounty Bags" to pregnant women. They are quite useful....mainly wipes and creams etc, but also some sugary foods which I'm afraid I threw away.

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  5. Una just found your blog and absolutely love it - hope you don't mind but have put you as one of my favourites. I am going to enjoy having a really good read of your lovely posts. Thanks so much
    Big hugs
    Dorothy
    :-)xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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    1. You're very welcome. Of course I don't mind. The more followers the better. I've been reading your blog for a while. Isn't blogging wonderful!

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