Tag Archives: DfGI

DfGI, latest from Elfcroft sewing room

31 Aug
Shields with pockets and wings (2 per) GO WITH tri-fold flannel pads (8 per) to complete kits supporting menstral hygiene around the world. Design and Quality Control of DfGI chapters around the world make kits that last 3 years and longer.

https://www.daysforgirls.org

Last month I received a donation of “vintage” cotton print fabric from an estate. It appears the “stash” was approximately 20 years old. (upper left) Great opportunity for a great cause.

The finished shields showcase the prints that met DfGI guidelines for color, pattern and durability.

My goal is to maximize the number of colors and patterns of fabrics (meeting DfGI criteria) in each kit.

Why not maximize interest and joy? It makes sewing interesting and joyful, hopefully the recipient feels the same.

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DfGI or Days for Girls International

29 Apr

Founded in 2008, DfGI is a global network connecting teams and chapters of volunteer sewists to provide feminine hygiene kits to women and girls around the world. I support the Avon IN team with reversible pads and liners. The photos below show part of the contents for 30 kits.

https://www.daysforgirls.org

Lively colors and patterns for both sides of the pad.
Two liners with pockets and wings (with snap) are paired with eight of the pads (shown above) in a drawing string bag which include panties, soap, washcloth, etc.

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Days for Girls International

11 Feb

https://www.daysforgirls.org

2021 is my eighth year sewing for DfGI. I cannot think of another person or group I would rather sew for. Choosing the colors and patterns (within cultural guidelines) I work with keeps my interest.

Eight flannel pads per kit. I usually support 30 kits with each lot I sew. This photo shows 30 stacks of 8 tri-fold flannel pads.
Two shields with pockets and wings for each kit. Snaps on wings added during kit assembly by the local team. (Polyurethane laminate puts protection in the shield.) These 60 shields pair with the 240 pads above to support 30 kits for this months delivery.

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Out for Local Delivery…again

6 Oct

Liners ready for snap
Tri-fold pads (six layers of flannel)

This is my 7th year sewing for Days for Girls International.  What a special year 2020 has been…with months of “Stay at Home” orders to slow the spread of Covid-19 virus.  The opportunity for me has been more time to sew!  As of this post showing 240 tri-fold flannel pads and 60 liners with pockets and wings due for installation of snaps…drum roll…

My total count since 2014 = 7,000 items _____ 5,600 pads plus 1,400 liners, which support 700 kits

Each kit which includes 2 pairs of panties, wash cloth, etc in a drawstring bag with instructions provided by our Avon, IN DfGI Team.  For more information:

https://www.daysforgirls.org

Kits are designed to last three years.  They have been delivered to girls in over 140 countries.

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Stay at Home—Encore

3 Jun

Another three bags full for Days for Girls International

60 liners with snap, pockets and wings

240 tri-fold, reversible, serged, flannel pads

https://www.daysforgirls.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Three bags full…times TWO

24 Apr

Days for Girls International mission is to provide reusable feminine hygiene products to underserved women and girls around the world since 2008.

https://www.daysforgirls.org

Unexpected opportunity to provide above Elfcroft’s normal capacity making trip-fold flannel pads and liners with PUL, pockets and wings….drum roll!  staying home during the coronavirus!  Made possible by JoAnn’s Fabrics staying open.  I did need to restock fabric, thread and PUL.

April 2020

Each of the 3 bags supports 10 kits with 8 flannel pads and 2 liners for 80 pads and 20 liners.

March 2020

What we are looking at here totals 480 pads and 120 liners supporting 60 kits.  The Avon DfGI Chapter completes the kit drawstring bag, panties, wash cloth, etc.

 

 

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Global and Local missions: Sewing

30 Jan

A New Year to sew for Days for Girls International feminine hygiene kits and shower caddies for the residents of Indianapolis’s Wheeler Mission for Women and Children.

DfGI was launched in 2008 and have delivered kits to 140 countries.  Two of the sewn items for the DfGI kit (shown above) are shields (2/kit) and flannel tri-fold pads (8/kit).  Add panties, wash cloth, soap, bag for soiled plus instructions.  The Avon Chapter is preparing 70 kits for the Dominican Republic.  Enterprise zones are organized in-country around the world to produce kits for their own use.  Check out the official information:

https://www.daysforgirls.org

A local group of friends and colleagues deliver functional gift bags @ Christmas to WM for 72 women.  Shower caddies are made of outdoor fabric with four exterior pockets.  The bags are filled with socks, gloves, nail polish, note pads, calendar, marker and many more small gifts.  Here we go again in 2020!

Shower caddies

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Oh! Brother

27 Sep

Thanks to the expertise of Clifford Blodget, I successfully chose Brother 1034D Serger Sewing Machine to support Days for Girls International with the “serged” alternative to “Turn and Topstitch” reversible, tri-fold flannel pads.

The Serged flannel pad is a significant design change with the same size/proportions as “Turn and Topstitch” as well as six flannel layers for absorption.

 

Clifford is excellent simplifying and illustrating the serger sewing machine with 4 needles (2 upper and 2 lower).  I also appreciated the statement “Sergers DO NOT have REVERSE” and the discussion about the knife edge that trims the fabric as it moves toward the needles.  It is not intuitive that trimming is required for success.  The trimming function makes the edge very neat and flat.

This machine has 95% of the threading instructions exactly where you need them… on the machine!  Tweezers are required for the 4th spool feeding the 4th and lower needle.

The compact size fits well on sturdy folding table.

DfGI serged tri-fold flannel pads

Here I “sew” again…supporting Days for Girls International.

https://www.daysforgirls.org

PS  My Brother ADS-1500W portable scanner has served me well— saving 1000s of pages of former paper files.  🙂  I’m a fan!

 

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*500*

26 May

Indianapolis has hosted the 500 mile Indy Car Race on Memorial Day weekend for over 100 years!

https://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/events/indy500

Just as predictable as Race Day…are peonies in bloom on Race Day

I’m thinking of 500 for another reason….as I near completion of 5,000 items for Days for Girls International.

Each Days for Girls kit has 11 sewn items made by volunteers around the world.  Days for Girls delivers feminine hygiene kits globally.

I have volunteered since 2014.  After some months, I chose to concentrate on making the reversible trifold flannel pads and the top stitched shields with pockets, wings and PUL (polyurethane laminate).  (The drawstring bags, seen in most DfGI photos, make the 11th sewn item for each kit.)  Volunteer’s choice!

In my case, focusing on pads and shields…

4,000 pads (8/kit) and 1,000 shields (2/kit) means that I have supported 500 kits with 91% of the sewn content.

(Purchased items include panties, wash cloth, soap, ziplock freezer bags.)

Sewing includes purchasing your materials (some donated).

4,000 pads:  I get 10/yard.  Drum roll…400 yards of flannel

1,000 shields:  6.5/yard (front, back and 2 pockets)…150 yards of cotton print

1,000 shields also require lining (60″w)…40 yards of PUL

I have 54 empty spools that had 500 yds ea …27,000 yards of thread

It is a pleasure to support DfGI’s mission to support every girl PERIOD.

https://www.daysforgirls.org

Celebrate the variety of fabric colors and patterns

 

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“Mura”

21 Mar

Over the past 5 years I posted about sewing for Days for Girls International 28 times.  What’s new?  Last year I had the opportunity to change my shipments/deliveries to a new local team led by a long time friend.  My work flow shifted as best described in Wikipedia  as:

Lean manufacturing or lean production, often simply “lean“, is a systematic method for waste minimization (“Muda“) within a manufacturing system without sacrificing productivity, which can cause problems. Lean also takes into account waste created through overburden (“Muri“) and waste created through unevenness in work loads (“Mura“).

There is a second approach to lean manufacturing, which is promoted by Toyota, called The Toyota Way, in which the focus is upon improving the “flow” or smoothness of work, thereby steadily eliminating mura (“unevenness”) through the system and not upon ‘waste reduction’ per se. Techniques to improve flow include production leveling, “pull” production (by means of kanban) and the Heijunka box.

My emphasis has been on “improving workflow” in my attic sewing room.

My usual shipments to Iowa supported 40 kits with 10 items for each kit (Total=400).

With local delivery, I shifted to supporting 10 kits at a time (10 items for each kit/Total=100).

Although I still buy flannel 32 yards at time, 8 different colors/patterns 4 yards each…(this facilitates washing/drying impacting shrinkage)…which I cut into one yard lengths, which makes 10 flannel pads, which is very manageable and are placed in freezer gallon ziplock bags, which makes for easy counting and the ziplock bags are then provided in the finished DfGI kits.

I sew 80 flannel pads with 8 different colors/patterns combined into 10 ziplock bags.  Then I make 20 liners with PUL, pockets and wings in 2 different color/pattern combinations (10 each in ziplock bags), which are delivered LOCALLY to be completed as 10 Days for Girls International Kits.

https://www.daysforgirls.org

Local chapters pack sewn pads and liners with panties, wash cloth, soap, instructions in a sewn drawstring bag with the DfGI logo for delivery around the world.  It is not just about sewing!  Local chapters are encouraged to make deliveries.  Our chapter delivered 50 DfGI kits to Haiti December 2018!

 

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