Sewing Changes Lives in Afghanistan

Image source here.

This post on Modern Twist is so inspiring! She discusses efforts to help Afghan women, especially widows are among the most economically disadvantaged, learn to support themselves through sewing. Global Giving's Afghan Institute of Learning runs six-month sewing classes where women learn to sew, allowing them to make clothes for their families and/or open small businesses as tailors or sewing teachers. Other groups here in the US are collecting fabric, sewing supplies, and old-fashioned treadle sewing machines to send to Afghanistan so that the women have materials to sew with, since those are hard to come by locally.

A donation of as little as $10 to Global Giving will provide tools and supplies for one woman to take a six-month sewing course. Talk about a big impact!

I was interested, although not entirely surprised, to read this story, about a sewing-shop owner who's collected fabric, notions, and machines to send to Afghanistan but is having trouble finding a way to get the donated items delivered. Apparently, getting the items donated was the easy part- shipping through the military requires an extensive review process that will take too much time, and shipping through a commercial carrier will cost upwards of $5,000. I suspect it's not an uncommon problem for charities, especially those that accept donated items as opposed to cash donations. Collecting items to donate is the easy part, because it's fun and exciting for people to do. Funding and setting up a way to distribute those items is much harder- aren't the logistics always the hard part?

This is such a great idea, and it seems like it's really having a positive impact on the lives of Afghan Women. I'm planning to donate, and I've added a widget to my blog so you can, too.

A nice ending to a not-so-nice day

This past Friday was a no good, very bad day. I had what you might call a "New York first" - I got mugged in the subway! Yep, in 6.5 years of living here (13.5 for my husband- that's 20 years between us), I had never been a victim of street crime (neither has he) up until my second-to-last week living here. Several of our friends have experienced it, but so far we had been very lucky in that regard. The story is pretty simple, a thief reached over my shoulder, grabbed my iPhone out of my hands, and ran off. Fortunately, they only took my phone and I am unharmed, if somewhat shaken up. Of course, this being an iPhone, it's a little like having a wallet stolen, because I had so many apps with personal information. The hassle of changing all those passwords, filing a police report, and dealing with AT&T (they are worse than the MTA! seriously!) has probably been the worst part. I do miss my phone, especially since I'm not going to be replacing it immediately, and now I'm on an old-school flip phone with no email. It's been a bit of a shock to realize just how dependent I was on it, and how accustomed I had gotten to being constantly connected. So in a way, it's refreshing to be cut off from all of that, and I think that if/when I do get another smartphone I'll be a bit more judicious in my use of it (and in the information I store on it, gah!).

Needless to say I was not in a good mood when I came home that afternoon. Two things cheered me up, though. One was coming home to this face- he never fails to make me smile (except when he wakes me up at 3am...).

The other was finding, and successfully completing, this crochet collar pattern from the Ongoing Project. It was my first time following a real pattern and it went pretty well although I may have messed up on a couple of the steps. Also, the pattern called for a fine, cotton yarn, but all I had was the Cascade 220 worsted I'm using for my afghan. It turned out OK, but I'd like to get some finer yarn and try again, maybe with a pale ivory so I can embellish a cardigan à la Anthropologie. As it is, I think this collar will look cute worn over a plain cardigan.

In action, on a very wrinkled J.Crew sweater....

I may need to try blocking it out again- my first attempt definitely made a difference, but it still looks a bit uneven- and small. Not too surprising, since I forgot to use pins the first time I blocked. Whoops!

Getting (re)Started

This past Christmas, I did something that was, for me, pretty rare: I stopped talking about doing something, and did it. I bought a sewing machine.

I come from a family of seamstresses and crafters. My maternal grandmother sewed, crocheted, and made mixed-media wall art and murals. My mom carried on the tradition by sewing clothing for herself during her teens and twenties, and later Halloween costumes and play dresses for me. My paternal grandmother also sewed, and used to make gorgeous hand-smocked dresses for me when I was little. Her daughters, my aunts, sew and quilt in addition to making dolls and jewelry.

In this photo from 2005 (not my best hair era), I'm wearing a dress one of my aunts made

in the 1970s from 1940s fabric and a bakelite belt buckle.

Given all that, it's not surprising that I've got the crafting bug, too. I used to make jewelry, and I've dabbled in knitting and crocheting. About six summers ago, I took a sewing class through Santa Monica College's fashion program. During that class, I learned all the basics of operating a machine, reading a pattern, and constructing a garment. Then... I went back East to college and barely sewed at all for years. Between dorm rooms and NYC apartments, there was no space to even keep a machine, let alone spread out and work on a project. Still, I missed sewing, especially when paying exorbitant tailoring bills for the simplest alterations.

This year, I finally decided that I would make space somehow and bought a sewing machine. Sadly, I've forgotten most of what I learned about sewing. With the help of the internet, though, I'm sure I can make do. I'm hoping to tailor my own clothes, as well as make clothing and home items- and I'll record my progress here!