Linda and her 'Mean" Machine

Linda called, all excited. She had just read in the Woman's Day magazine about a woman in Utah who after hearing about young girls in Zambia who were without clothing had decided to do something about it. She began to make dresses using a simple Tee shirt as the top and attaching a skirt in various styles. Soon after this story was publicized another group of women thought this was a great idea and formed a sewing club to make these simple dresses.

This is the power of word of mouth and this brings me back to Linda who was bursting at the seams, no pun intended as she related the story to me. Linda has introduced her game plan to her sewing group and word of this good deed has began to spread like wildfire in her neighborhood. Those whose fingers are not too nimble have donated tee shirts or a small token to purchase tee shirts. Others have made a few dresses once they had gotten the gist of this simple pattern.

I have seen the dresses and I am amazed at the beauty of these styles. Some of the dresses are made with pleats, some are gored. There are those for casual wear and others for a dressier occasion. She has pledged to make one hundred dresses for the Utah group and they will be responsible for shipping the goods to Zambia.

Opportunities to volunteer are everywhere. Linda bubbles over with excitement when she talks about the ease and pleasure she gets from cutting and stitching. This on top of all her other volunteer demands. She never seem to tire. I went shopping with Linda to pick up some more tee shirts from the discount store. Her "little dress shop" a back-room in her house, was neatly packed with tee shirts and scraps of materials that will turn this ordinary top into a thing of beauty.

She told me that her neighbor asked,"what about Haiti?" and without missing a beat she made a promise to sew for them too. The sewing machine will be working overtime but Linda will whip up these dresses at the bat of an eye. The group who started this has invited Linda to their big charity celebration in the upcoming year but she is too humble to participate in such activities. My friend told me she would pay her to make a dress for her grandaughter and I told her that this request is on the house. Linda is my mother and she does not charge for her kindness.

All is well!