Sewing Ideas for Honduras

I would like to share a little of what Lorraine and I were able to do during the mission trip to Honduras. With limited strength abilities, we were not able to do the construction of the walls, painting the clinic, throwing rocks down the hill, or digging out the ditch, but we were able to share our gift of sewing with several of the ladies. His Eyes for Honduras mission receives large amounts of clothing from the USA to be used in many ways to further the mission. Unfortunately, "gringo guilt" sets in and we Americans send clothing that is too large (4X), winter coats, sweaters, etc. The mission has all these bags of clothing that is not usable as is. Our goal was to teach the ladies how to alter, reconstruct, create something new, and save buttons, zippers, belts, ribbing, and straps for later use. I showed the ladies how to make purses and tote bags from jeans and bib overalls, braided rugs from strips of torn blue jeans, a skirt from jeans, drawstring backpack from two legs of jeans, decorative pillowcase from pajama shirt, and a small purse from the leg of dress slacks with a man's tie for a handle. Lorraine showed them how to make a smaller sized tee shirt by cutting XL shirt, reusing ribbing from other shirts, and constructing the new one. The ladies were so thrilled to be able to do this. They were able to make the shirts with one easy lesson and the language barrier. The mounds of clothing will yield them many new shirts in the correct sizes. We were able to teach alterations of hems, sleeves, darts, and removing turtleneck collars. The ladies were quick learners and were able to whip out items so easily. One of the ladies came back the next day with a drawstring purse she had made out of a decorated woman's shirt. Such talent!! We were asked if we could just stay in Honduras to teach more sewing. When the answer was no, they asked us to come back soon. The Lord willing, I think that can be arranged.