Little Dresses for Africa - Do you know the basics of sewing?

[Scuba]

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http://www.littledressesforafrica.org/blog/

"We're not just sending dresses. We're sending hope."

This organization is help see that that African women and children have basic clothing. You can help even if you're not a seamstress.

My wife's pretty handy with a sewing machine; she can finish a dress in 90 minutes. She also double-stitches where single stitching is called for and uses a more durable elastic to provide staying power. She's done about 40 dresses so far.

Please help if you can.


edited for carelessness

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[peace13]

2. Very sweet.

I am bookmarking this so that when I get some free time I can make these dresses. As sad as it sounds I will make one pile for the little ones in Africa and another for the little ones in America. Unfortunately the need is here as well. Thanks for this. These are such cheerful little frocks!

Edited to add a big thank you to your wife. 40 dresses is amazing. Hugs to her!

[LeftyMom]

3. I read an article about this sort of thing the other day. The concern is that

textile donations in particular devastate indigenous clothing industries. So while sending a dress (or a few million t shirts with the superbowl logo of the team that wound up losing, or TOMS shoes) might feel good, in the long run it's actually harming the local economy and erasing local culture as expressed through clothes.

There's actually a term for this sort of well-meaning but harmful donation: SWEDOW. It stands for "stuff we don't want."

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/10/11/haiti_doesnt_need_your_old_tshirt

[Scuba]

4. When there's a little girl standing naked, clothing industries that she can't afford to buy from...

... are not high on my list of considerations. But I understand your point. Thanks.

[LeftyMom]

5. I don't think you do.

Maybe her family grows cotton or flax, or her mother weaves? Destroying a local industry furthers lasting systemic poverty.

edit: From the linked article: "Garth Frazer of the University of Toronto estimates that increased used-clothing imports accounted for about half of the decline in apparel industry employment in Africa between 1981 and 2000." Donated clothing puts families INTO poverty. It doesn't lift them out.

Besides, your apparent idea that your wife is sending dresses(!) to make proper little ladies out of naked (really?!?) little girls? It's appallingly Victorian.

[Scuba]

7. I'm much more in tune with your economics argument than your ....

... one regarding making "proper little ladies". Have you never been cold? Do you walk around naked in public?

[Hell Hath No Fury]

14. They address the local industry issue --

in their FAQ section. They give out dresses primarily through orphanages and churches who couldn't afford to cloth the chldren/buy local. It is a Christian group who sends these dresses out, and I agree with you that "clothing" a people who have spent centuries perfectly happy mostly unclothed is a very Western/Christian thing. :)

[Sirveri]

22. Wouldn't it be better for me to simply send them money then?

Then they can buy locally produced goods and employ local workers. Either path I'm spending money, money to run the machine, money for fabric, money for thread, and my labor is certainly worth money. Instead of spending money here, wouldn't it make more sense to simply spend the money over there?

[Warpy]

9. Well, this stuff is basic and the style kind of screams

that they're too poor to afford anything that costs. Most will switch to the indigenous stuff as soon as they can. I would hope this sort of thing is sent to areas devastated by war and/or famine. The donations that go to stable areas are SWEDOW.

There are also cottage industries there where women (mostly) take donated clothing like ugly bridesmaids dresses, take them apart, and remake them into party dresses, so all donated clothing is not created or recreated alike.

[msanthrope]

15. Lighten up, Francis. nt

[peace13]

18. No trouble because by next spring there will be plenty of little girls in the US that can use them.

We don't have any textile industry to interrupt.

[SoCalDem]

19. yep solar generators & sewing machines could "save" a family

Moms & older girls could sew & sell & make some money..

Sometimes charity backfires:(

I donate livestock through Heifer Intl..

It's what we "gave" our son & D-i-l for a recent anniversary...goats , geese & rabbits:)

[sinkingfeeling]

6. I'm not so sure of this. Since when (the arrival of missionaries) did African children need to

cover up? It's kind of like what happened to native Americans, who dressed in their own cultural garb, until the 'white man' said to put on more clothes.

[Posteritatis]

17. Kinda boggled that people are still failtastic enough to talk in such monolithic terms. (nt)

[SoCalDem]

20. like it or not, modernity has arrived, and naked girls (or boys)

seems to be a pretty bad idea..

[riderinthestorm]

8. I'll go even further and touch the gender stereotyping. Why not pants for girls?

Why does it have to be dresses (which aren't that great in rough country)? Pants protect better against insect bites and cold weather. They're also more "universal" (can be given to both boys and girls), and they don't gender stereotype.

These are just a few of my initial thoughts.

And then there's the even more important aspect of erasing their native dress (or lack thereof, which is also perfectly fine). Erasure of native culture is a particularly heinous byproduct of well meaning efforts like this.

[redqueen]

10. +1

[drmeow]

13. Dresses are easier to make

and don't need to be fitted.

But I agree with your points.

[in_cog_ni_to]

11. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't when it comes to damn near EVERYTHING

on DU.

Thank your wife for me for her efforts and don't tell her what you read in this thread. Let her feel good about her charity work.

Sorry your thread received this response.

Have a nice day.

shit.

[Scuba]

12. No sweat. Part of why I love DU. I'll pass along the thanks to my wife. n/t

[eilen]

16. I think our sewing guild did this last month for

their service component.

I think these dresses are welcome in refugee camps where access to markets (and income producing opportunities) can be a problem.

[pitohui]

21. are you sending hope or destroying the african fabric market?

it's my understanding that in kenya at least (won't speak to the rest of east africa much less AFRICA a really big place) that americans sending in their fabric for nothing has DECIMATED the industry for kenyan women

i won't work for free to steal the opportunity of someone who would have been able to make some money sewing the dress

i know how to sew but if i want to sew and give my labor away i need to give it to myself or to friends or to family or to local places where i KNOW i'm not taking away a job from someone who needs a job

no one can compete with free/slave labor...don't be the free/slave/scab laborer

[Scuba]

23. Please check their website. They address this in the FAQs.