A donation that turned into 2 donations!

A gal near by heard of my collecting efforts and told me she would bring her gown by.  She ended up bringing two!! She had told a friend about the cause and her friend wanted to donate too.
I started on the first dress and I am working on it now.  The dress is gorgeous and had lots of beading and a lot of cut outs.  I could tell already that this dress would be best used for more feminine angel gowns.  I would need to be clever and try to do some pouches to be used by either tiny boys or girls.  I am almost finished working with this dress.  I actually made the angel gowns in the largest size to best use the beautiful cut out and beading designs.  I will post pictures soon.

February 25 the hand off was at Joanns fabric store parking lot

This was such a great gown to work with.  The tiny flowers were perfectly proportion for angel gowns.  I used the tunic pattern to make small gowns.  Such a beautiful donation.
  

Working with a beautiful gold cotton dress- Feb 7

Hi Connie,

I found your email address on the Facebook page for angel dresses.  I live in Linden, Va.  I am wondering if you would be interested in receiving my wedding dress to create an angel dress.  

I was so happy to get this email.  I think I am getting addicted to this kind of sweet offering.  This gal sent her dress registered mail.  I knew that was because she loved her dress so much.  This dress was a little different as it was cotton with gold threads in creating the print.  It was beautiful.  Here it is and the little angel gowns that came from it.  I also made a few small buntings and wraps for little ones too tiny for the gowns.

I am always so honored when others trust me with something so special.

Early February- a nurse donates her dress

In search of more sources of wedding dresses, I put an add on KSL classified ads under Charity- Soon I got a text message from someone wanting to donate.   She is a home health nurse, a profession I consider completely angelic.  When she came by she mentioned she used to work in NICU and as we talked she said American Fork Hospital was not a high level of care hospital for deliveries. They would send any suspected problems to another hospital. The bottom line being that American Fork Hospital probably would not need 10 angel gowns a month.  (She also mentioned that generally little boy gowns are more needed over girl gowns, which is tricky since wedding gowns are mostly feminine)
  That made me think maybe I need to know of more places I could donate the angel gowns. Here is the gown from my friend the home health nurse and a few of the tiny gowns that are ready to donate.

The anonymous donor

In January I was still looking for organizations to partner with to donate my sewn gowns to.  I contacted a group that I found on FaceBook Utah Angel Gowns.  They are in Tooele Utah, but helped me set up a wedding gown drop off event at my home.  During the three day drop off, only one dress came in. It was left at my door step and I don't know who brought it.  It was very kind and I wish I could show the donating person what became of her dresses.  Here are some of the pictures from that gown.
  

     

Two Sisters donation and a little bit more

In December my mentor told me she wanted to simplify her operation, and asked me to choose a hospital to donate to and wing it on my own.  She said she had plenty of donated wedding dresses for me to use, but I figured it was time to start finding my own donations.  I found a few nation wide angel gown organizations, and asked if I could be part of their Utah team.  That means I would be on their list as a place to mail wedding dresses to.  I was able to get my information on a few of the web sites.  The dresses started to trickle in.  The first one was from Northern Utah.  Then I got a dress from a gal north of Salt Lake.  I made her gowns, with a promise to send her pictures of the creations.  After the tiny gowns were made, I sent her the pictures and the next day I got an email from her sister.  They had worn the same gown to be married in and she was happy that the gown had been used for angel gowns, but asked if there were any remnants I could mail back to her.  She wanted to make a little something for her daughter and niece from that fabric.  I said I did and that I would be happy to sew the remnants into anything she would like.   She asked for two small drawstring bags.  Here's the response I got after I had mailed them to her--

Connie,

There are not enough words to say how I am feeling. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. The bags are absolutely beautiful. They are exactly what I envisioned, and more. Your work is breathtaking. I understand that you aren't particularly comfortable with being paid for your work, but these are just too incredible to not compensate you in some way. N and I will come up with something that we see fitting. Unless, of course, you have decided to accept cash. Ü I would like your permission to post photos of these keepsakes on my social media. I would put that we commissioned you for the project, as I wouldn't want people who donate to expect such items. Would that work for you? I will happily tag you and sing/type your praises. 

I will take Ns over to her tonight, with both of our kids present. That way, we can pick the right one for each of us. I am ecstatic. This is such a wonderful way to share a part of our wedding dress with our children. Thank you is just not enough, but I will say it over and over. 

I will follow up with my friends about donating their dresses. In addition, I am wondering if you take donations of other types of dresses (bridesmaids, prom, etc.)? There may be friends that have these types of donations too. 

My heart is super full today. I am so grateful for you. You do amazing things, Connie. You are blessing many people's lives by being you. 

Much love,

B

OH MY GOODNESS!!! could that be any better??    Here are the pictures 

    We commissioned Connie to use our wedding dress remnants to make something for K and E. Sweet Connie outdid herself yet again. Not only did she make a beautiful jewelry bag for each of our daughters, but she also made one for each of us. Such remarkable skill. My heart overflows with emotion; decades of love and hope tied into 4 little satchels. Who knew there was so much love stored in this flowing fabric? —

December- my first donation- mailed to me!- turned into angel gowns

Working with my Mentor

For about 3 months I worked with the gal in Springville.  She asked that I bring back 10 gowns every month made from the dresses she provided me.  She asked that use felt to make the little boy gowns a bit more boyish...  So I followed her simple pattern and very much enjoyed the process.

a few of the first donations

 

I made this weighted little doll for gown size perspective

My first creations Sep 2015

The Balm of Giving

On May 2, over 20 years ago I found out I had miscarried our little tiny baby. That was certainly heartbreaking physically and emotionally. I never saw our baby. I never knew if it was a girl or a boy. I just knew my little happiness and joy of that coming fall was suddenly gone.

Time went on, we all began to heal and then more babies came.  But I've never forgotten that little one. I hope I will know and love that little one in the next life.

Since then, there have been several more unforeseen difficult events in my life. Some extremely painful to the point of heartbreak.

I learned somewhere along the way, that the best way heal was to turn away from my hurt and give of myself to others. That's a tricky thing for a mom to do- pretty much all we do is for others. I figured out it has to be something extra- something I felt passionate about, something I could loose myself in.
In the fall of 2015 I read something about wedding dresses being donated to make small burial clothing for miscarried and stillborn babies.   I wanted to be a part of this. I love sewing, motherhood, the sanctity of life and compassion. That's how it all started. I found a knowledgeable, experienced, and kind woman that helped me get started.

I've been sewing for this purpose for several months.

I started this blog so I can keep a record of my sewing and my donations, and all the pictures too.