PUBLISHED OCT. 20, 2016
Sew ’N Sews members makes their stitches count
By LOIS KINDLE
The ladies of the Sun City Center Sew ’N Sews are always doing projects that benefit other people. You could say it’s a part of the club’s DNA.
Their latest enterprise is working on brightly colored, whimsical pillowcases to comfort hospitalized children suffering from debilitating illnesses like cancer. It’s part of Ryan’s Case for Smiles, a nationwide project known for “helping children feel better to heal better.”
“This is the second year we’ve done this,” said Mary Lou Bogden, club president. “We started around Labor Day with a goal of beating last year’s total of 102. On Oct. 21 we will deliver 170 cases to Quilts on Plum Lane in Dade City, the shop that distributes them to the national organization.
“They will go to young patients to brighten their rooms and give them something happy to look at,” she continued. “It’s a good feeling knowing that. And when the children are released, they get to take their cases home with them.”
Bogden and longtime Sew ’N Sews member Jan Ring provided instruction to other members volunteering to help.
“The national organization wants the pillowcases made a certain way so that the edges don’t fray when they’re laundered,” Ring said, adding they’re made “pretty much from donated fabrics and occasional purchases because a lot of what is donated isn’t for kids.”
This year’s project began with an 18-member sew-in and progressed to include others taking member-made kits of bodies, cuffs and trims home.
“The kits made it easy for more members to participate,” Ring said.
The Sun City Center Sew ’N Sews club currently has 191 members, many of whom are snowbirds and still up north.
In addition to Ryan’s Case for Smiles, some of the ladies’ other charitable projects have included or will include lap quilts for disabled American veterans; lap quilts for patients at Shriners Hospitals for Children; beds stuffed with scraps for canines at Southeast Guide Dogs; dresses for the Sun City Center Campaign Against Human Trafficking for human trafficking victims; more than 100 dresses for African children; items for A Kid’s Place in Brandon; and neonatal quilts.
Area residents who like to sew but don’t necessarily want to join the club are welcome to participate in Sew ’N Sew projects, Bogden said. They can get a project’s specifications and donate what they make. For information, call Bogden at 813-633-9166.
Whenever a monitor is available, club members can use the Sew ’N Sews’ large workroom at the Arts and Crafts Building on Cherry Hills Drive seven days per week.
They often meet there for quilting, to work on sewing projects or to make things for the club to sell. Five surging machines, eight sewing machines and one embroidery machine are at their disposal.
Some members have been with the club since the 1970s. But new ones join every year.
Madeline Hughes became a member two years ago after she met Ring at a Tillers and Toilers group meeting. Ring suggested she check out the Sew ’N Sews.
“I like to sew and enjoy the charitable projects we do,” she said. “It’s nice to socialize, get new ideas and learn techniques like surging and embroidering. And I especially enjoy the ‘shop hops’ we make to buy fabrics.”
Annual dues are $10. For more information on the club or classes in beginning sewing and quilting to be offered in January, call Linda Nolder, vice president, at 813-390-2377.