All it took was fabric and thread, a bit of handiwork -- and a lot of talk and laughter -- for a group of friends to make more than 200 dresses to send to needy girls in Cambodia.
The friends, most of them retired teachers who worked at McDermott Elementary School in Little Rock, presented the colorful dresses to missionaries Bill and Marie-Claire McDonough on Monday. The McDonoughs will distribute the dresses through their Partners in Progress ministry, which serves those in need in Cambodia, Burma, Madagascar and other areas around the world.
Anita Mounger, the organizer of the group of friends, had read articles about church groups and individuals making simple dresses from pillowcases and thought it would be a good project to keep her busy during the cold winter months.
"Sewing has always been a creative outlet for me," Mounger said.
She researched the idea online and discovered that buying fabric could be a cheaper and more versatile approach than using pillowcases. So she opted for a pattern using fabric and tried it out.
"You use a yard of fabric, cut it into two equal pieces and sew up the sides, leaving arms holes. Sew across the top ... and hem it," she said. "It is so simple. It's all straight lines, no hand sewing except the buttons."
The neckline is gathered with a ribbon and bows are tied on the shoulders to create a sleeveless dress.
She recruited her friends and without exception they all agreed to join in. They started sewing in January.
"They brought their sewing machines and we set up on the dining room table," she said.
Four of the friends sewed the dresses together, while the others cut and pressed the fabric and sewed on buttons. The test run was successful and the women went their separate ways for two weeks to sew at home. When they regrouped, they had a pile of finished dresses.
"Once we began and everyone saw how easy it was, it was just a matter of having the fabric already cut," she said.
Mounger has known Bill McDonough for years, so when the women contemplated to whom to give the dresses, she contacted his ministry to see if there was a need for the clothing in Cambodia. He said yes, so the group set out to make as many dresses as possible.
By late February the women had made more than 100 dresses. Mounger knew that McDonough would be back in North Little Rock -- home base for his ministry is at WindSong Church of Christ -- for his annual trip home in the spring, so they kept sewing to see how many they could make before he was set to fly back to Cambodia this summer.
They ended up with 201 dresses, as well as 65 cloth shoulder bags and dozens of hair bows made from snippets of ribbon.
The dresses are all unique, made of fabric of various colors and prints.
"Since we're retired elementary school teachers who are always artsy, we added pockets to our dresses and buttons," Mounger said. "It was a real outlet for all of us. We've just had the best time with it."
The retired teachers belong to a variety of congregations, including Church of Christ, United Methodist and nondenominational churches.
"We're all in our early to mid-60s, one is 75 and one won't tell us how old she is," Mounger said with a laugh.
What they have in common is friendship and a desire to help others.
"We all taught at many different schools but for the last many years we were at McDermott Elementary. We were co-workers and then became friends and have supported each other through family sicknesses, births, deaths, weddings and so much," Mounger said.
Mounger said she's up for making dresses again for a missionary project, probably in the late fall and winter when the weather turns cold and she can't work in her flower beds.
"The others, we talked about this, but they didn't commit, but I wouldn't be surprised if they would do it again," she said.
Janice Botner said she would definitely do the project again.
"I like to sew and look at fabric," she said, adding that she made dresses with fabric donated by her family and friends, as well as some from curtain materials. Her daughter, who hadn't sewn anything since junior high school, also made five dresses.
"They are simple, simple, simple," she said. "And we had such a lot of fun. We laughed and talked."
Botner said a cousin from Dallas heard about their project and decided to make dresses, too, to send to children in India.
"That's what we were hoping, that we would inspire other groups to do similar things," she said.
A future project for Partners in Progress will probably be making shorts for boys, Botner said.
Religion on 06/28/2014