Sew-a-thon for island kids

People are needed to take part in a sew-a-thon to turn old pillow cases into new dresses to clothe young children in a remote part of Vanuatu.

Living Well Church's senior pastor Andrew Parrington is heading back to the island of Tanna in August on an outreach programme for two weeks, so his wife Jane Parrington decided to run the sew-a-thon in support of families living there.

"They will go to where there are the extreme poor ... There was interest in a craft project resurrecting old pillow cases to make dresses," she said.

"The idea is to help those who are very isolated. They have very little and even if they weren't so isolated they still don't have the money ... a lot of the kids have hardly any clothing at all. They have nothing."

She was surprised by how much fabric you could get from one pillowcase. She even managed to make little accessories like rosettes for the front of the dresses.

"You'd be amazed."

They hope to take hundreds of little dresses with them to give away.

Already they have been given about 50 pillow cases but they need more clean and washed pillow cases to recycle into little girls' outfits.

Mrs Parrington said the craft night was open to people who could sew or anyone wanting to learn how to sew. "We would like to help people who have never sewn before as well. It's a good skill to have," she said.

Every Monday night throughout May between 7pm and 9pm Project Pillow Case will be at Living Well Church on Biak St.

If you can help or have any pillow cases to gift or need more information call Mrs Parrington on 022 088 2087 or email jvparrington@gmail.com.