Sewing projects T
hank you for joining me today, I’d love your help with some sewing projects and I’ll also offer you ideas for days out. As it’s winter and the time of giving is well underway, let me introduce you to the Linus Project. The Linus Project is a non profit organisation of people who sew blankets for children with need. After bring inspired by a photograph and article in Parade Magazine about a 3 year old’s attachment to her blankie during aggressive cancer treatments, the first Project Linus chapter was formed in 1995, by Kathy Loucks, in the Denver, Colorado. “the project mission is to provide a sense of security, love and comfort to local children who are undergoing illness, crisis or other needs” by means of supplying a handmade blanket to children born prematurely to young adults up to the age of 19 years old. This is a project that will encourage blankets to be distributed to our own local hospitals and homes. Stockport and Greater Manchester has many donors of these wonderful handmade blankets, most of which are patchworked and designed using scraps of cotton fabric left over from other sewing projects. The organisation requests blankets of either of the two following sizes, 90cm x 105cm and 100cm x 120cm (36” x 42” and 40 x 48”) Polyester wadding is acceptable and if you choose to use fleece on the back or cotton backing, that would be amazing. Binding strips of 6cm (2 1/2 “) is best, whichever suits your cloth availability is great. Watch me on YouTube where I will demonstrate making an easy and much needed blanket. Now despite there being many sewers I’m the South Manchester areas, there are surprisingly, no volunteers to co-ordinate sewing groups and collections for the organisation. This is vital to ensuring that the quilts donated are distributed
36 | SKBramhall & Woodford - November/December 2022
locally, and will be assessed carefully for safety. So if you, or anyone you know has some time to help, please do get in touch, with me, or Heather, UK Director of Project Linus on 01952 404565. You don’t need to be a sewer, just your kind spirited self would be perfect. Now for me, sewing is a wonderful therapy as it is for so many; and knowing that we are in the heart of the cottonpolis of the uk, we have so many weaving mills in the northwest, with some of the best and most powerful looms and water wheels in Europe, we have a great opportunity to have some fabulous learning days out. Quarry Bank Mill a wonderful place to visit, it may just be the only complete working cotton mill museum in the UK. Visit this Regency period (late 1700 to early 1800’s) site and you’ll learn how raw cotton, once picked by slaves, was cleaned and spun to make thread. Not only that, the mill actually weaves the thread into fabric. You can watch demonstrations of how cotton was spun and woven by hand which I find absolutely fascinating. On top of that, you’ll appreciate how the industrial revolution came about. The fancy clothes the dandies would wear, we’re handwoven by innovative new machines which well know inventors such as Kay, Paul and Hargreaves brought about to set the world off into a spin. I wish you all a wonderful and cosy winter as 2022 draws to a close and I look forward to returning in 2023. Keep smiling, keep inspiring and keep sewing. Happy sewing Abi x https://www.facebook.com/AbisSewingDen/ @Abis.Den Machine Services www.Abisden.Com YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/AbisDen http://abisden.blogspot.co.uk
