Candice Wagener
Oakwood staff adapted some sewing patterns to make the garment creation easier on aging eyes and hands.
The community room at Oakwood Village is buzzing with the sound of sewing machines, conversation and African music. Almost a dozen women, a mix of residents and staff, are making dresses for Oakwood’s recent partnership with the Little Dresses for Africa program.
What began in 2008 with a mission of sewing 1,000 for one African village in Malawi has expanded to a project that involves more than 80 countries, throughout Africa and other regions in need like Honduras, Guatemala and Haiti. Villages are given simple lessons on nutrition, clean water and sanitation in addition to the handmade clothing.
Oakwood became involved this winter and held three work days. Volunteers create sundresses, using either simple patterns or even starting with a pillowcase as a dress base. Why pillowcases? They’re already partially sewn, and make sewing a dress a project even a novice can take on. Oakwood has also adapted some of the patterns to aid aging eyes and hands. Donations of fabric have been provided by several area business, most notably Driftless Studio at 214 State St. Residents either completed projects during the designated work days or on their own time.
Jovita Peña, a 73-year-old Oakwood resident, learned to sew at age 11, when her older sister threaded the machine, handed her some cloth, and told her to have at it in making a dress. She eventually honed her skills and used sewing throughout her life, including as part of mission work in Guatemala and Cambodia, where she came to appreciate the value clothing has for children in these villages.
Peña recalls the monthly deliveries of second-hand castoffs in Guatemala. The clothes
Candice Wagener
Jovita Peña has already sewn nearly 120 dresses for donation.
would come bound up in a roll, and when the bindings were cut to release the clothes onto a huge tarp, villagers would literally dive into the pile to find something “new.”
Peña, who was still recovering from a bout of pneumonia this winter, was motivated to help the Little Dresses for Africa project. When we spoke in early March, she had completed 60 dresses — bumping up her original goal of making 50 to 100. To date, Peña has completed almost 120. Oakwood, in total, is set to deliver 200.
Peña says she likes “being able to give something that I made to somebody that would bring them joy and happiness, somebody who has no way of ever having a new dress or even being able to sew.” She recalls how she was encouraged by people she never met: “I was thankful for them and so I felt like I was going to pay it forward.”
The Oakwood-made dresses will be on display April 17, 1-4 p.m., for a special open house before they are sent to Africa. Visitors can check in at the reception area at the Heritage Oaks Building, 6205 Mineral Point Road. Parking is in the surface lot.
