As much as I complain that I am “always sewing for others” and not often enough sewing for myself, I think when I sit myself down and really examine my behavior and motives, I realize how little I actually give back to those outside my immediate sphere of influence.  Sewing offers us each a unique, useful, and easily translatable skill that can directly affect and help those far away from us–or right next door.  Call it STITCHIVISM: activism using the stitches of our needles to offer compassion, outreach, friendship, empathy, and community to those we see every day and to those we’ll never meet.

Below, find links to projects ongoing all over the Web and the world that are ready and waiting for your nimble fingers and willing heart to add to their efforts to help others in need.  Follow along on the blog for group activities and Whipstitch events to add to this list!

Charitable Causes to Sew For:

Craft Hope: Does different projects all aimed at specific needs, here and abroad.  Currently working for Haiti.

One Warm Coat:  Collects coats for those in need here in the US.  Who says you can’t make one to donate?

Project Linus:  Makes blankets for children and donates them to area shelters and hospitals.

Quilts for Kids: Provides handmade quilts for children in long-term hospital care

The Preemie Project: Booties, Beanies and Blankets for premature babies

Ugly Quilts for the Homeless:  Making sleeping bags for the homeless to use temporarily until they get the help they need–uses scraps and recycled materials.

Sew Much Comfort:  Making adaptive clothing for wounded vets that allows them to stay covered and keep their dignity as they heal.

Project Night Night:  Make quilts and handmade blankets to add to care packages for homeless children that include an age-appropriate book and a stuffed animal, giving them emotional shelter and continuity in a world that leaves them without so often.