Sewing Group Bands Together for Australia Wildfire Relief

Checklist of needed supplies for the Animal Rescue Collective Crafters’ Guild from January 4, 2020.

Sewing groups aren’t just a way to make friends, but can also be a way to make a difference in the local community. Now with the rise of social media, the world is more interconnected than ever. In the wake of tragedy small groups can make a difference not just locally, but all across the globe. 

Since September 2019, devastating wildfires have ravaged Australia, destroying homes and decimating ecosystems across the country. According to ecologist Chris Dickman, over a billion animals have died since these fires have started. If you’ve been active on any social media platform these last four months, you’ve likely seen many images of injured animals rescued from the devastation. Being so far away from such a large environmental disaster, it can feel like Americans can’t make a difference in a tangible way.

While the situation is dire, folks around the world are coming together not only raise money, but to create and donate resources. Rescue centers in Australia are in urgent need of bat wraps, joey pouches, and blankets to help those animals who were able to make it out of the fires. The Animal Rescue Collective Craft Guild, located in Australia, is working with wildlife groups and crafters around the world to get these desperately needed supplies.

Australian rescues desperately need joey pouches for rescued animals. As the name suggests, these pouches can fit joeys, or baby kangaroos. They mimic kangaroo pouches where young joeys rest until they’re old enough to fend for themselves. According to the Animal Rescue Collective Craft Guild, will help not just those baby kangaroos, but also sugar gliders, possums, koalas, and wallabies. The patterns for the pouches were shared on various social media platforms and can be scaled up or down to create different sizes for different animals.


One member of a local sewing group, who met in our Baton Rouge location, creates joey pouches to be sent directly to Australia.

One such group came together this Thursday at our Baton Rouge location to help with relief efforts. This sewing group in particular met in our Baton Rouge location in 2013. Now, almost 7 years later, the group is still getting together and sewing regularly. A local wildlife organization has been reaching out to businesses in the Baton Rouge area to ask for any help in sending resources almost 10,000 miles away to Australia. One customer got wind of the need for help and assembled her sewing group to help. Thursday the group came together to make joey pouches of all shapes and sizes to send directly to local rescues in Australia. The ladies worked on several pouches on our Brother Dream Machines in our sew studio.

These ladies donated supplies and so can you! Patterns for these pouches are available here, so please pass the patterns on or make your own pouches! In a time of serious environmental disaster you can make a difference like these customers did.

Transform a T-shirt in 60-minutes or less!

Guest blog by Joanne Banko

Hello to all my Allbrands friends!

It was great to be back in Baton Rouge for the recent Allbrands Embroidery Garden Party event with Reen Wilcoxson and Angela Wolf! I got to see friends from previous trips to Louisiana and I had the opportunity to make many new friends too!!!

If you’ve had the chance to attend one of these amazing ALLBRANDS events you know that on day one each attendee receives a commemorative T-Shirt. On day two many of us don our shirts and have fun with photo ops and selfies posted to the ALLBRANDS Facebook page.

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By now I’ve got quite a collection of these shirts. These shirts are colorful and fun to wear. Each one brings back special memories of time spent with fellow sewing and embroidery enthusiasts. However, I am fond of customizing my T-shirts so I took a tiny bit of time to transform the pretty pink Tee from our Sulphur LA party with a minor makeover before packing it for the trip. When I wore it on day two in Baton Rouge it created quite a buzz of curiosity! Many attendees wanted to repeat my embellishment techniques. Thus, the Transform Your T-shirt Tutorial was hatched! You can CLICK HERE to read my recent blog post about T-shirt re-styling. At the end of the post you’ll find a link with instructions for taking a standard crew neck T-shirt and turning it into a top with added flair and a few feminine details.

 

Enjoy!

P.S. The next ALLBRANDS Embroidery Garden event is scheduled for September in San Antonio Texas. CLICK HERE for more details!

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Joanne Banko is a freelance sewing educator and a self-proclaimed sewing cheerleader. You can see Joanne’s online teaching segments broadcast on the popular PBS TV show, It’s Sew Easy, and online at www.itsseweasytv.com. She is a frequent contributor to Designs in Machine Embroidery magazine and author of the book Wrapped in Embroidery. The book is available at AllBrands.com. Visit Joanne at her Sewing and Embroidery website, www.letsgosew.com.

 

 

A Message From Joanne Banko!

Hello Sewing Friends! Joanne Banko here to tell you about an inspiring and informational sewing show you can watch for FREE this week. I know that many Allbrands subscribers watch It’s Sew Easy TV on local PBS television stations, but did you know you can view some of these educational episodes online too?
I would like to invite all of my Allbrands friends to view episode 702 titled START SMALL. Tune in by simply visiting the website at It’s Sew Easy. Watch this FREE program and you’ll learn how to piece and quilt a colorful Pinwheel Patchwork Tote. Get some great tips on using machine accessories for piecing and patchwork on most any machine. You’ll learn about fabric selection, needles, threads, and more when you watch this show. Brother Sewing machine fans will be especially interested in seeing me demonstrate the featured Brother digital dual feed foot, also know as the Muvit™ foot.

This show begins airing on the site at noon on October 3rd and continues until noon on October 10. Want step-by-step instructions for making your own tote? Join the website and access the entire archive of free project downloads from It’s Sew Easy TV.
On this show will also see Paula Reid, quilter extraordinaire, demonstrate easy techniques for managing all that “fluff” when you are machine quilting. And, last but not least learn how It’s Sew Easy TV’s awesome sewing and embroidery expert, Angel Wolf, quilts faux leather and pairs it with fashionable fleece. Angela has a tremendous knack for making ordinary fabrics look sensational!

Speaking of my friend Angela, I hope you are making plans to come to our Big Bash in Baton Rouge November 14th and 15th, 2014. Angela and I are teaming up to teach sewing enthusiasts a multitude of our favorite sewing and embroidery tips and techniques. Spend two delightful days stitching something you can keep for yourself or proudly give as a custom crafted gift. Please join us at the Baton Rouge River Center this fall. CLICK HERE for more information.
I hope to see you there! Happy sewing from your sewing friend,

 

JoanneBanko

 

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About the author: Joanne Banko is a freelance sewing educator and a self proclaimed sewing cheerleader. You can see Joanne’s online teaching segments broadcast on the popular PBS TV show, It’s Sew Easy, and online at www.itsseweasytv.com. She is a frequent contributor to Designs in Machine Embroidery magazine and author of the book Wrapped in Embroidery. The book is available at AllBrands.com. CLICK HERE for a preview. Visit Joanne at http://www.letsgosew.com/.

Our 6 Retail Locations Get LED Displays

Greetings Everyone. We thought we’d let you know that in each of our 6 retail locations we’ve installed these new LED Displays. They provide an interactive experience for our customers allowing them to stay updated with all the happenings with Allbrands.com. From classes, to events, to just information about us, these TV’s provide an awesome outlet to stay connected with us. Visit your local Allbrands retail and check it out. Who knows? You might just see yourself on TV

Great Customer Service Feedback

Hello Everyone check out this awesome feedback we received from a customer this week!

Betsy writes:

“I recently contacted AllBrands to order an insert for a new sewing cabinet that I had recently purchased. The customer service person who assisted me explained that since it would be custom made to fit my sewing machine and sewing cabinet, it would probably take a few weeks. That was on a Tuesday morning. Imagine my ecstatic surprise when I arrived home Friday, just three days later, and my new insert was there! I quickly went down to put it on my cabinet to see how it fit, and it was perfect!

Everything about my experience was awesome. The customer service person who assisted me was incredibly helpful, the insert was received quickly and fit perfectly. I was thoroughly impressed, it was the ultimate customer experience. THANK YOU!” – Betsy H.

For her amazing story we sent her $10 to use how she wanted with us. We really appreciate and value our customers. Thank you all for your support!

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