How Sew Happy To Help is Changing Lives One Stitch at a Time
Darlington-based Sew Happy To Help supports local hospitals, charities, social enterprises and community groups by making useful items for those in need
Sewing enthusiast and community advocate Donna has four decades of experience in sewing. She previously worked as a tailor, then transitioned into dress making, alteration, soft furnishings and upholstery and has made outfits for dolls that shipped all over the world. In 2019, after lots of requests, Donna started offering one-to-one sewing lessons to share her knowledge and skills.
An end-of-life nurse was having sewing lessons and asked Donna if she could help her make a catheter bag cover. ‘I asked her to bring one in so I could make a pattern and made a few for her to take back to the hospice,’ Donna explains. ‘I said we’d do a “sew-a-long” (which I’d done before) where a student comes along and we cut and sew as many of the items as we can, and I do that for free. After this, I was asked about other projects such as wheat heat bags and I designed a morphine driver bag with the head nurse at the cancer hospice. The messenger bag I designed means people can still use their two hands, and go out and about with their morphine driver.’
Sew Happy To Help was established in May last year to provide local organisations with free handcrafted items for their patients. These items include handmade microwavable wheat heat bags (which come in a variety of sizes with an aim of relieving stress and anxiety and easing tense and aching muscles), Egyptian cotton fabric and fleece snuggle bags, and catheter bag covers.
‘Because I previously made clothes for dolls I got used to working on small, intricate pieces and a few times I had made outfits for little ones who had passed away,’ says Donna. ‘A friend of mine runs a charity within Darlington Memorial Hospital and she took some of the snuggle bags I made into the unit and the midwives thought they were brilliant, so it became a bit of a mission to make one every morning to donate. I’ve donated them to several hospitals now, but Darlington is the main one. I try to create snuggle bags for Darlington every month.’
As demand began to grow, Donna decided to put a call out for volunteers who now support her in making other items for Sew Happy To Help. ‘When you start doing something like this you want to give as much as you can, so having volunteers means there’s more made to be donated so they’ll go further,’ she explains. ‘For the catheter bags, people began donating bedding to help. It was recycling which is fantastic too. A lady contacted me from The Big Little Duvet Company and asked if I’d like her remnants. Another company supply me with the wheat for the microwave bags. I’ve also been teaching disabled adults how to sew in the hope that they can also help me make the catheter bag covers so they can give back to the community too.’
Now Donna is building a community of like-minded individuals who, like her, are passionate about making a difference to people’s lives. Sew Happy To Help relies on the generosity of supporters and Donna is currently raising money via donations on a GoFundMe page.
