Sewing for Others

A couple rectangles of donated upholstery fabric, 44 inches of nylon webbing and about half an hour of sewing time, give or take.  Multiply that by a room full of volunteer sewists age 9 to a lot older, and you have a very productive sewing day!

The stack of finished bags, about halfway through the day.

Today I joined a group of 4-H members, moms and leaders to make simple tote bags for local food pantries and shelters.  A large amount of heavy fabric had been donated to one of our County leaders.  She put out a call for help to get it made into bags.  The food pantries in our area are trying to encourage food recipients to bring reusable bags, to cut down on the cost of providing plastic bags.  This fabric will make a sturdy bag that will last a LONG time!

Unfortunately, neither of my 4-Hers was able to go.  They were both off doing what they love best - karate for one, show choir practice for the other.  Spending a day sewing, chatting and helping kids learn to sew sounded good to me, though, so I went without them!

The bags sewed up quick!  It was so nice to zip through straight seams and a simple boxed off bottom.  Very little pinning and no seams to match!  Finishing four of them  (with time in between spent helping others as needed) felt GREAT, since I'm so accustomed to projects lingering on forever!

I got a little fancy on this one, using a decorative stitch on the top edge.
Putting the handles on was, by far, the most time consuming part.

We finished about 30 bags today and another 20 or so were taken home by volunteers to be completed.  I brought 4 so my girls can sew them up.

I'm so glad I went!  Simple sewing for a good reason and a little pleasant conversation thrown in the mix was just what I needed!