CHANGES

THE PLASTICS PROBLEM

We're all increasingly aware of the problem plastic has become in our world.  It's so frustrating to be unable to buy many things in the supermarket without them being encased in some form of plastic.  

I was delighted to see this news about the European countries today.

We were impressed when Kenya decided to put some teeth into their single-use plastics ban, and consequently, Days for Girls created a substitute for the two Ziplocs we include in kits.  They called it a Transport Bag, and it was made of PUL with a grosgrain ribbon.  

The design was announced less than two weeks before we were sending off 250 kits to Kenya.  Our volunteers and the generous leaders of two other chapters put in long hours getting enough transport bags made for that distribution. It was not a fun task.  PUL is slippery stuff, and who had ever heard of faux backstitching on a serger?

We got our bags made in time, and since then DFG sewing gurus have been tweaking and redesigning the transport bag.  With no pending requests to countries with bans on single-use plastic bags, I chose not to make any of the new designs, figuring they'd change some more.  I'm glad I waited.

Days for Girls International made a BIG announcement in August.  While Kenya (and now a handful of maybe 6 other countries) have a plastic ban, for the others we're still sending two freezer-weight gallon Ziplocs in each kit.  But, starting in March, every kit will contain only the Transport Bag made of PUL.  Ziplocs will be a thing of the past.

Happily, the latest revision of the Transport Bag seems to be a great improvement.  It's a combination of sewing, serging, and most important, pressing to fuse the edges together.  This pressing is the trickiest step, and each person will have to determine the setting and length of time that works best on their particular iron.    

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I've made 4 of the new transport bags.  They're fast and easy.  But for now, that's all we'll make, as there are already rumblings about tweaking the measurements.  The bag on the left has the flap closed. On the right, the flap is flipped to the back and I inserted a shield with liner.

 

I appreciate the fact that Days for Girls listens to the people who construct the components as well as the girls and women who receive them.  The changes in design reflect that.  This transport bag is iteration number 29 of our kits. 

To imagine this new design, think of the little plastic sandwich bags you can buy with the fold-over flap at the top.  




These two photos show 2 complete kits:  Drawstring bag, transport bag, 2 shields, 8 liners, 2 pairs of undies, a washcloth, and the information card.






Of course, there are always complications.  This time it's the PUL.  Polyurethane laminate (PUL) is best known to sewers for its use as a moisture barrier in washable diaper covers.  JoAnn's typically carries two prints that don't have faces.  Most other sources online are much more expensive than what we can obtain at JoAnn's with a coupon.  Oh, and JoAnn employees say they're going to stop carrying PUL.  I predict that eventually our headquarters will coordinate PUL sourcing and get the best deals on delightful PUL prints for our teams and chapters worldwide.  But for now, we're wondering where we'll find the best prices.  If you happen to know somebody who has a diaper-making business and would like to go in on a wholesale order with us, please let me know.

BARRIERS

Please read this article from the Global Partnership for Education.    And then think of the thousands of girls who have received a kit you contributed to and/or worked on.  I often touch on some of these statistics when I speak to a group.  We have changed so many lives.

AND CLOSER TO HOME

It breaks my heart, even with so many of us putting so much of our lives into making sure that girls and women have a reasonable way to deal with their periods, that in the inhumane concentration camps our OWN government is running, they often have nothing to use in those barbaric conditions.   Add that to all the other cruelties.

Please read this article from Newsweek.

It is heartbreaking to realize what this administration has done to our country.  Please vote.

BREAKING THE STIGMA SURROUNDING MENSTRUATION

This is a great article!

PUPPET

We have many dedicated volunteers.  Some are gifted sewers, some are aces on their sergers.  Some wield the snap press or know how to get the most use out of fabric on the Accuquilt. Some don't have those skills/interests, but believe in our cause, and volunteer regularly to handle many other tasks.  It's really a wonderful team effort.

Take our flannel liners, for example.  I count 13 separate tasks from beginning to end:

1. buying the fabric
2. washing and drying
3. pressing
4. cutting into wide and narrow strips
5. serging the narrow strips
6. pairing up narrow and wide strips
7. pinning them
8. straight sewing them together
9. cutting them into squares
10. serging around the perimeter
11. finishing off the thread ends
12. quality checking
13. folding and mixing up colors

At our September 7 workday, as we were getting close to packing up for the day, Sally was doing her normal remarkable job of serging the perimeters (step 10).  She found one liner on which somebody had missed half of step 8--only one side of the hot spot had been sewn down.  She brought it over to me, with her hand slipped in between the two layers of flannel, and said, "Look, I found a menstrual puppet!"

QUALITY CONTROL ON SERGING

If you mostly only see the liners you serge, you may not realize the range of finishes we get.  As I mentioned in the reminder email I sent out September 6, we're getting lots turned in that show tension and other issues.

Threads cut.  Some loops off fabric

Loops off fabric

Nice.  Loops hug corner curve.  Good tension

Gold standard serging, but questionable thread color choice.
We DO have various shades of blue and turquoise thread available!

Serging looks good on the turquoise one.
The red one has tension issues and the stitches are too far apart.   12-15 stitches per inch is good.

I've included a ruler in the photos, so you can visualize the stitch width and length.

Other tips:  

Days for Girls requires that our serging on liners be done with a 4-thread machine.  

Please start and stop on the end with two layers of fabric.  This part of the liner will receive less wear and tear, so that's a safer place to have thread ends.

As you finish serging around the perimeter, overlap 1 to 2 inches.  I'm getting some that have the serging overlapped a scant 1/2 inch.  DFG's minimum is one inch.  On some machines, you have to disengage the knife while you overlap.  On Saturday, Sally showed me how to do that on her Brother.

Make sure you're using matching polyester serging thread.  We have dozens of cones of thread for that purpose.

Leave a tail of at least 1/2" when you're done.  If you cut the tail to 1/2" and gently rub/separate those 4 threads, the 2 looper threads will be longer.  Gently pull on those until they form a knot at the fabric (too much pulling makes a pucker) and then trim off all 4 threads.  AND, we have somebody who enjoys this step, so it's ok to leave them with tails ready for her.

With the availability of videos online, you can get some tutoring on whichever step(s) you need.  Try googling "serging curves" or "disengage serger knife," etc.  As mentioned before, different brands and models of sergers have their special features, so all you see/read may not apply to yours.  You might add your serger's brand name to the search terms you use.  And then, there's always your manual.  Especially if what you need to tweak is your tension.

SHIELD-MAKING TIPS AND REMINDERS

Sometimes I'll give you front and back fabrics that don't match.  The lighter one should always be on the back (non-pocket) side of the shield, which gets fewer stains.  We're told that the pockets are the areas that get the most stains, so those should always be busy darker prints.  Also think of this if one side of a pocket's print is more stain-hiding than the other--have the darker/busier facing out.

Fabric with metallic in the design is fine for bags, but we don't use that for shields.

Carefully check your work to make sure those tiny seam allowances are holding all layers. And that you backstitched the pocket edges when topstitching.

You should always check the inside width of the pockets after topstitching.  It must be at least 3.25".  I have little hard-plastic pocket testers if you need one.

I also have some cardboard pressing aids that you can slip inside the shield after you've turned it and are pressing before you deal with closing the ends.  They save your fingers from burns.  If you are one of our shield makers and I haven't given you one, let me know.

SEPTEMBER WORKDAY

We had a productive crowd, including some newbies, and accomplished so much!  Thanks to all who came, and my apologies for not taking more pictures.  Usually I set my alarm to go off periodically to remind me to photograph the crew, but forgot to this time and I only remembered on my own once.

NEXT TIME

See you October 5th, same time, same place.