Tag Archives: feminine hygiene

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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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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*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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Out for Local Delivery, Prepared for Next Batch

4 May
Reversible tri-fold flannel pad and shields with PUL, pockets and wings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_for_Girls

40 shields plus 160 flannel pads delivered to local chapter of Days for Girls International to be kitted in a fabric drawstring bag with panties, washcloth, soap, ziplock freezer bags and instructions.

Flannel cut in one yard lengths make 10 pads each.  Bolt of PUL (Polyurethane Laminate) used in shields for leak protection.  Cotton fabric is used for the outer layer of shield as well as pockets.

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Priority: Days for Girls International

30 Jan

Eve helps me prepare Elfcroft’s eleventh shipment of

feminine hygiene pads and shields for Days for Girls International kits.

https://www.daysforgirls.org

January begins year five of our support.

We ship to chapters based in DesMoines Iowa for assembly and distribution globally.

Eight different colors and patterns for reversible trifold pads that fill each kit.

80 shields with pockets, wings and PUL lining will support 40 kits.

 

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International Day of the Girl Child (United Nations)

11 Oct

October 11, 2016:  International Day of the Girl Child

Let girls be girls!  United Nations Women’s website identifies child marriage as a global problem thrwarting women’s development mentally (education is suspended), physically (bear children too early) and spiritually (vulnerable to violence).

http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/girl-child

Every day is a day for girl power @ Days for Girls International.

http://www.daysforgirls.org/day-of-the-girl

Days for Girls International developed reusable feminine hygiene kits (in bright colors and bold patterns) produced and delivered via crowdsourcing.  Check out DfGI 2015’s annual report…the photos are amazing:

days-for-girls-annual-report-2015

Elfcroft has shipped components supporting 195 kits since 2014.  Plus, we have a head start on a 2017 shipment.  Check out a sample of the work:

My favorite color/pattern combos
30 more liners
30 liners
Reversible, tri-fold flannel pads. Enough for 8 pads to go into 24 kits.
Selection of reversible, tri-fold flannel pads
The deck of reversible tri-fold pads

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No fooling…that’s a LOT of love

1 Apr
Shipping 80 liners and 320 flannel pads to Days for Girls International

Shipping 80 liners and 320 flannel pads to Days for Girls International

Enough to complete 40 kits!  Liners have wings with snaps, reinforced pockets and PUL (polyurethane laminate) middle.  Flannel pads are reversible, tri-fold with top-stitching.  The design intent is for three years use.

My favorite color/pattern combos

My favorite color/pattern combos from this shipment

Back side of liners

Back side of liners

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Volunteers provide their materials (often).  For me, the joy of sewing comes from playing with the colors and patterns…..the bolder and brighter the better.

It's awesome how many gazillion graphic designs there are for butterflies.

It’s awesome how many gazillion graphic designs there are for butterflies.

http://www.daysforgirls.org

 

 

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I spy butterflies!

7 Mar

Guidelines for proper selection of fabric for Days for Girls International Kits:

Some prints are offensive or illegal in some communities.

Prints with people, animals, faces and figures cannot be sent to Muslim communities.

NO camouflage fabrics as these are illegal in many countries.

Fabrics with food, bugs, reptiles, guns, knives, culture-specific themes as well as girly-glam should be avoided.

Bugs, reptiles and animals are predators in some areas; fabrics including these are uncomfortable for the girls to wear and use.

Butterflies are OK. 
Rev May 23, 2015

Nine beautiful butterfly designs on flannel!  Enough fabric to supply liners for 40 kits in next shipment.  🙂

 

daysforgirls.org

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Many colors

12 Jan

Many kits of many colors….I remember a song…about Many Colors….a “Coat of Many Colors” recorded in 1971 by Dolly Parton.

And oh I couldn’t understand it, for I felt I was rich
And I told them of the love my momma sewed in every stitch
And I told ’em all the story momma told me while she sewed
And how my coat of many colors was worth more than all their clothes

Reversible, tri-fold flannel pads. Enough for 8 pads to go into 24 kits.

Reversible, tri-fold flannel pads. Enough for 8 pads to go into 24 kits.

The song concludes with Dolly Parton singing the moral of her story:

But they didn’t understand it, and I tried to make them see
One is only poor, only if they choose to be
Now I know we had no money, but I was rich as I could be
In my coat of many colors my momma made for me

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_Many_Colors_(song)

Volunteers for Days for Girls International are like mothers to girls all around the world needing dignity every day of the month by making menstrual hygiene kits with bold, bright colors.

These kits are made with love by thousands of volunteers around the world or by local women filling the need for their own community. Quality matters because women and girls depend on this product, and kits have to endure frequent washing in harsh conditions.

Q: Does it really matter how they look?
A: Yes, because she not only will count on it, she will often have it with her. No, it doesn’t have to be beautiful to be functional, but she notices and appreciates when the kit is beautiful and that helps break shame and stigma.
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From: Days for Girls International  http://www.daysforgirls.org/#!whats-in-a-kit/c623

As I pack my finished liners (made with PUL, pockets, wings and snaps) with 8 reversible, tri-fold, topstitched flannel pads…my goal is to have 12 different color and/or patterned fabrics bundled for each kit…three different fabrics used making each liner, eight different fabrics for the pads plus the twelfth fabric for the bag the kit is packed in.

Dolly Parton said and sang it best…that is RICH!

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