The Girls Only Project

This project is now closed. Please read the amazing totals here!

I'm calling in all my favors right now.

If you can type, repost a link, sew, or donate a small amount, I need you!


When a young girl starts blossoming into womanhood, it's a scary, awkward, exciting, embarrasing time.

Remembering those years, I can't fathom going through them as an orphan.

I have been praying about what to bring with us to donate to the orphanages in Uganda on our trip in the next couple of months. I spoke with an American friend of mine who is living there and working with an orphanage. I asked what the greatest need was at this orphanage. Her answer shocked me, but made perfect sense.

Panties
Bras
Ibuprofen
Maxi pads

25 young ladies in this orphanage are in need of these basic things every girl should have. I've heard stories of girls missing school, using scraps of cloth or even trash while on their periods.

No girl should have to do such things.

I thought of the girls at the remand centers where Sixty Feet works. I knew without even asking that they needed these things, too. I talked to Shelly who said YES, that this was definitely a need there. About 30 girls at the remand centers currently go without these same basic hygeine supplies.

It is my heart's desire to get a kit into the hands of each girl containing at least one bra, three pairs of panties, and 5 cloth maxi pads.

Disposable maxis are not a practical choice, being that a suitcase full of them would be gone in a month. But cloth ones can be washed and reused in the same way as cloth diapers.

I did some research on purchasing cloth pads, and manufactured ones would cost close to $40 per girl. Yikes!

Then a remembered a little cloth diapering trick. When in a pinch, a microfiber cleaning cloth can work as a cloth diaper insert. They are soft and highly absorbent. Flannel fabrics can be used to cover the microfiber insert to make the pads comfortable.

And after making this prototype, I happen to think they're pretty cute -

One of these costs about $1.60 to make. I found some nice camisole-style bras and 3 pairs of panties for about $7, combined. That means for $15, we can provide a girl with these essential things.

Soooo, now we just need to stitch up 275 microfiber cloths and come up with  165 pairs of panties and 55 bras!

And that's where you come in. If you feel led to pitch in with this endeavor, here are some of the ways you can help :

1. Share this post on your blog, Facebook, or Twitter.

2. Donate. For $15, we can supply one girl with three pairs of panties, one bra, and 5 cloth maxi pads. *As of Saturday, Paypal donations have closed. We do still need people to sew pads and collect undergarments to meet our goal.*

3. Collect new cotton panties (mostly women's sizes small and medium) or gently- used bras (training bras and cup sizes A-C , 32-36 band sizes.) E-mail me for directions if you would like to mail in a donation.

4. Sew cloth pads. Don't be intimidated; I've put together a mediocre fantastic little photo-tutorial below. (If you can sew a square, you can make these pads.) For even more fun, invite some friends over for a "pad party!" If you want to sew pads to donate, please email me so we can make arrangements for shipping and quantities.

I will be hosting a BIG cutting, sewing, bag-stuffing party locally to divvy up all of the donated items. Whatever kits aren't donated will get whipped up by me and all of my closest friends, using monetary donations to purchase supplies.

Oh, and one more thing. I don't have an exact date of departure, but we're sort of "on-call" anytime from early August on to pack up and jump on a plane. I know this makes a project of this magnitude a little challenging. Let's just assume I need all panties, bras, and pads by August 5. Three weeks isn't long, I know, but I want to make sure I have time to put the kits together before leaving.

That's it!

The need is there. What can you do to help these precious girls?

Cloth Maxi Pad Tutorial

 If you have a pattern of your own you want to use, that's fine! This is just what I did.

 If you have a serger, you won't need to turn the pad rightsides in to stitch it.

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