Wiggly Bags....

When Gina at Fan my Flame signed up for my Christmas Decoration Swap I saw on her blog that she makes Wiggly Bags for Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge. Being a regular visitor I know that many of you have made them and sent them to Gina. I though what a lovely little project for my Year 10 GCSE Textiles group to do. I also wanted to help Gina because I come from just outside Addenbrookes, I did some work experience there when I was about 18 and I have been a visitor on several occasions. Also several members of my own family have been treated, and in two cases sadly died of cancer, so I like to help any charity that helps this area of illness. The fact that the patients are so young makes it even more poignant too.

The students learnt about why we were making the bags which is to keep the Cancer patients IV lines clean and in line by wearing the wiggly bag on a piece of ribbon around their neck. They will be used by younger patients hence the fabric choice. They would also learn about marking out on fabric using tailor's chalk, when, where and why top stitching is used and finally how to apply Velcro to fabric. The fact that they would then be used by youngsters in Ward C2 was also of interest to them.

The girls understand how to use the machine and they were of a good standard just before they started the course ( I have taught some of them for three years already!) The issue of accuracy and steering the machine to keep everything straight is a bit of an on-going battle and needs more working on. So Gina they may not be to quite the same standard of some other wiggly bags but some of the girls had a go at making two (small class) and they are really chuffed that they are actually going to be sent to you and used in the hospital. It also gives them a chance to do something for someone else (citizenship) and for an end use that they may not usually have the chance to help with. Due to needing parental consent for pictures we just tried to take something artistic to show off what they had made.

We used some bright fun colours. I found some rainbow fabric in my stash and the baseball fabric I have had for ages, I do not know why I bought in the first place but is was ideal for this project. The dark blue one in the middle is an example one as I needed to show the girls what to do as well as using Gina's instructions that she kindly emailed.

Some of the wiggly bags have been opened up in this picture which gives you an idea on their size. It is roughly the size of A4 piece of paper. We enjoyed making these and thought about the serious side of what we were doing. I intend to make this a regular feature on my Textiles course from now on.

The Charity Knit for The Children's Society is being stitched together and you will need some sun glasses on when I post about it!

I have lots of other news and items to blog but I am trying to get a batch of marking done. So do keep popping back.

Take care.