If there is anything more gratifying than making something beautiful with your own hands, it is making something beautiful for someone in need. If you enjoy sewing and want to spend time doing for others, look into the large variety of charities that are eager to receive your handmade items.
Hospitals, homeless shelters, nursing homes, and children’s charities all have needs that can be met by those of us knitting, crocheting, sewing, and crafting at home. I have listed a handful of organizations and linked to their websites below. Please investigate any charitable organization personally prior to sending money or goods as donations.
Newborns in Need provides purchased and handmade items to families of ill, premature, and stillborn babies. They try to help ease the stress for families and provide items that are hard to find like clothes to fit very small preemies. They also provide heirloom Christening gowns and wraps for stillborn babies. Made up of volunteers from across the U.S., they are dedicated to helping moms feel supported in the early moments of their babies’ lives.
Little Dresses for Africa has a very simple pillowcase dress pattern using ribbons for shoulder straps to help you quickly and easily make dresses for little girls in African countries who are living in poverty. You can also donate any dress following a simple pattern keeping in mind they do not easily have a way to replace buttons, snaps, hooks, and zippers.
Project Linus provides handmade blankets to children in need. Blankets can be quilted, sewn, knitted or crocheted. You can even provide no-sew blankets made of fleece. You can help by making a blanket and donating it to your local Project Linus chapter, or by making fabric or monetary donations. This is a great option for kids or those with limited sewing experience.
The Pink Slipper Project provides handmade slippers to women and children living in shelters, many of whom have had to quickly leave their homes with few if any, possessions. The slippers don’t have to be pink. They provide patterns for sewn, knitted, and crocheted slippers. They have also begun to participate in other projects as the requests come in.
Wrap them in Love collects handmade quilts and distributes them to needy children around the world. They have been in operation for several years and offer galleries of photos of the quilts contributed each year. They accept quilts, quilt squares, or fabric donations. Check out the Wrap Them in Love Blog to see the latest Wrap’em news.
Warm Up America is an industry charity of the Craft Yarn Council of America. They collect hand crocheted and knitted afghans, hats, scarves, and gloves to distribute to those in need. There are organized events and free patterns available for download. Make a difference by offering a financial donation to help support and build the charity network or volunteer your time to knit or crochet pieces or entire blankets and accessories. You can also help by sharing the good things that Wake Up America is doing.
Since 2005 Soldiers’ Angels have provided First Response Backpacks to the military hospitals that treat injured soldiers, both abroad and at home. They have provided more than 25,000 backpacks with a change of clothes, a warm sweatshirt, toiletries, and a phone calling card. Also included in each pack is a handmade Blanket of Hope. Soldiers’ Angels provide aid, comfort, and resources to the military, veterans, and their families.
The Sleeping Bag Project offers a pattern for making sleeping bags from fabrics recycled from clothing, scraps, and other fabrics. It has a beautiful story behind the project and offers suggestions for providing these sleeping bags to those in need in your own community. You can get involved and make your own sleeping bags to donate by watching the videos on their site and/or by reading the simple instructions to guide you through the process.
The Snuggles Project provides handmade blankets to animal shelters to help ease the stress
of incoming animals making it easier for them to be handled. Their goal is to make shelters a more welcoming environment for the animals and for their prospective forever-families. For 20 years millions of snuggles have been donated to local animal shelters.
The mission of the Quilts of Valor Foundation is to cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing “Quilts of Valor.” Started in 2003 with a dream to help and as a way to protect our servicemen who have come back wounded, whether emotionally, physically or both from the rages of war. It’s a way to wrap them in arms of love and say “Thank you for your service.”
These are just a small number of organizations found on the web. You can check your local community if you want to be involved in something closer to home. There is always a need whether you want to help babies, the homeless, wounded veterans, or traumatized animals.
If your desire to help is greater than the time you have to give, just set aside a little bit of time each week. Most of these organizations will accept what you have when you have it. Every contribution counts.
If the cost of fabric and yarn is a bit much for your pocketbook, check garage sales, thrift stores, Amazon, Etsy, and eBay. You will be surprised what you can find. You can also check with local shops that carry fabric. They might offer a special price if the organization you are sewing for is a registered charity.
Please let us know if you already sew for an organization you would like for us to mention here and you don’t see it linked above. We would love to hear about your experiences and help promote your cause.
Product ideas that might help you along the way:
Rotary Cutter – I don’t know what I would do without my rotary cutter. This is not an expensive tool and is worth every penny, especially if you do a lot of cutting and have arthritis as I do. I was diagnosed at age 30 with Rheumatoid Arthritis and have difficulty using heavy sewing shears to cut fabric. My rotary cutter is a lifesaver and has seen me through many sewing projects.
Rotary Cutting Mat – This is an essential tool to use with your rotary cutter. It is great for use with other craft knives as well. This specially designed mat not only saves counters and tabletops from damage but helps protect your rotary and knife blades as well.
If you need a sewing machine to help you help others:
If you are new to buying a sewing machine, please check out our guide on buying sewing machines for those just starting out. If you have already bought that first sewing machine and are more interested in a specialty machine for home quilting, we have a buyer’s guide for you as well.
If you have a sewing machine you are no longer using consider a donation:
The Sewing Machine Project was founded for the purpose of collecting donations of sewing 
machines and distributing them to both adults and youths of communities that are impoverished or have been distressed by natural disasters. This way individuals can use or add to their sewing skills and create business opportunities that offer value and help to rebuild their communities.
