Milestones...

... of one sort or another.

Made4aid cash donated!

I discovered we'd passed this milestone while doing a routine finance update - details of donations have been updated here and on the website, where you'll find more detail.

Made4aid - donors and shop members

We also have more donated items in the shop than ever before, which is another fantastic milestone.  In 2020 we had a total of 8 people donating their lovely items to made4aid, more than ever before. 

So far in 2021, we have had donations from 14 people in the made4aid shop, including 7 new people - which is amazing!

If you're interested in donating some of your work - or if you have vintage art or craft work to donate (at least 20 years old), or art/craft supplies - there is more information here.  And you can contact me at made4aid@yahoo.co.uk, via our facebook page, or on Instagram @made4aid.

Thank you for reading this blog post and thank you if you support made4aid in any way through donating, buying our items, or sharing on Insta, facebook or elsewhere.

Welcome to our new shop members!

We have some more new shop members - that is, people who are donating items to made4aid, to be sold in our Etsy shop, raising money for Médecins sans Frontières / Doctors without Borders.

Which is FANTASTIC!

Welcome (in no particular order) to: Anne Marie, Thandie, Gabrielle, Cathy, and Becky, also Claire and Gordon who hope to be donating soon.  Thank you so much for wanting to contribute and for donating some of your work.

This means we have some new things in the shop - and some new 'types' of items too - more variety and choice of gifts or things for you or your home, which is wonderful.

And we also have things in the shop at the moment donated by Linda Ann, Lilian, Breezy Bobbins, Joan, Linda Foley, Sue, Tanya, Sophia, another Sue and Amelia, as well as some of my work.

The made4aid Etsy shop is here, for you to browse and shop.

And if you're interested in donating items for the shop, do please look at this guidance, which includes a guidance download.

There is more information about made4aid on our website.

New items and donations!

The made4aid shop has never been so busy!

Its packed with gift items, prices from £2.50 for some great stocking fillers up to more substantial gifts - and also haberdashery and craft supplies.  Its been fantastic to have some new creative people getting in touch and contributing - some lovely donations of textile art, sewing and embroidery, knitting and crochet, and greeting cards.

Thank you so much to our recent contributors:

* Linda Ann who keeps making lovely Christmas stockings (and now and then a bag or cushion cover) which keep selling out

* Megan who is donating beautiful handsewn applique and embroidery pieces and hand made greeting cards  

* Linda Foley who is also donating fabulous textile art pieces, and some bags as well

* Lillian who has donated some supersoft super fluffy scarves

* Sophia who has donated one of her needle felted creatures

* Sue who has made some wonderful little dresses in vintage fabrics

* Kim Porter who donated some vintage patchwork samples and pieces.  

We also have quite a lot of jewellery and accessories handmade in polymer clay by Amelia Allden, some accessories donated by Sue R and also by Tanya, and I hope I've not missed anyone!    

Having set up made4aid in order to have and share a good reason to make things, I've loved having more time recently myself, as well, to make things.

So if you're still after a gift or two, or some little stocking fillers or gifts for teachers - do pop into the made4aid shop!

There is still just about time pre-Christmas delivery to most areas - please check listings for details and note that some shipping services may be affected by Covid, as well as by Christmas workloads.  Currently all deliveries seem to be arriving in very good time though.

If you're interested in donating some of your work - or craft supplies - there is further information here about how that works.

Haberdashery and craft supplies from made4aid

We have some lush haberdashery and other great craft supplies in the made4aid shop at the moment.

Amongst our craft supplies there is some wonderful vintage haberdashery - much of it donated by Joy, from South London, quite a few years ago.  Some of Joy's donation has sold over the years, and now I have much more time, I am listing the rest of it.  We have fabulous vintage applique patches - little lace roses, silver and white and organza appliques; we have some gorgeous broderie anglais (selling quite fast) and some beautiful lace and other trims.

I have also been working with small offcuts of fabric, and little tiny scraps too, and using them to make buttons, pin cushions and needlecases. 

Our other craft supplies include some rubber printing stamps - another donation, and we have a lot of these on offer at a bargain price. If you could use a quantity of these, please contact me for a good deal!

And we have a stack of old - and very old - sheet music. This is a fantastic resource for decoupage, scrapbooking, digital wallpapers and other design work, altered art, paper sculpture work.....   Also at a bargain price!

Do pop into the made4aid Etsy shop and have a look!

Since re-opening the shop in June, I've been working hard at making and organizing, and its been so good to have more time for made4aid, and to have a positive focus for activity in the midst of Covid.  We have some new craft donations and donors contributing to made4aid - another post coming soon about that!

You can keep up to date with made4aid on Instagram (@made4aid)  and/or facebook (posts there much more often than on here...).    

The made4aid website has more information, including information about ways to get involved and how to donate items.  And you can contact me directly via email : made4aid@yahoo.co.uk.

Shop re-opened!

The made4aid shop is now open again, with some new items listed - and a lot more new items to come!

                    

We have had some lovely donations and increased our range to include some sweet handmade toddler/baby tunic dresses, and a range of vintage haberdashery.  And there is more haberdashery to come over the coming weeks.

We also have a new website - please check it out, and do please let us know if you spot any broken links, or any information that isn't clear.

I'm continuing to sew scrubs for key workers in south London and its been fantastic to be able to use some time and sewing skills and sewing skills to help others - which is exactly what made4aid is about. All proceeds from made4aid sales are donated to Médecins sans Frontières / Doctors without Borders.

Covid-19 : supporting medical emergency relief work

Made4aid supports Médecins sans Frontières / Doctors without Borders, who are on the front lines fighting Covid-19 and helping some of the thousands affected by it.


I hope you and your loved ones are keeping safe and well in this global emergency situation and deep sympathy to those suffering.

For the time being, the made4aid shop on Etsy is closed. I am fine, and can still post things, but want to avoid going into the post office, adding to traffic there and adding non-essential pressure to the postal service.  However - in the meantime, and with so much time at home - I will be continuing to make things myself and prepare donations for listing once we are back in action:

Sneak preview:  lots more donations from lovely Amelia, of her homemade jewellery waiting to be photographed and listed.

I also have some lovely vintage items and craft supplies to list.....

I will update here when the shop re-opens.

Profits from made4aid go to Médecins sans Frontières / Doctors without Borders, international heroes who are working in a number of countries in response to Covid-19, as well as continuing their other medical emergency work.

I will be updating the info. on the side bar soon, which has total donations so far from made4aid.

Crafting for charity

Crafting for charity, copyright and trademarks.

What kinds of patterns, materials and designs can we use?

1. Copyrighted or Trademarked images or materials

• cannot accept any items with depictions of characters or objects - real or fictitious - who may have copyright or Trademarks associated with their image.  This includes items made with fabric (or other materials) with such depictions.

        For example : Harry Potter, Marvel or other superhero characters, anything Disney, the star         ship Enterprise, actors or other famous people, reindeers with red noses. 

        If you have a query about this, do please contact me. 

2. Copyrighted patterns and designs, e.g. for sewing or knitting.

We love to hear from people who are interested in donating their work to made4aid. Sometimes people ask us to suggest sources for designs or patterns they could use, particularly for textile items - knitting, sewing, crochet - and it is important to recognise that there may be copyright that prevents us from selling work made with someone else's pattern. 

*  Some designer patterns or pattern books will specify that the patterns should only be used for personal use - ie. things for you, family, friends - not for sale.  This is to protect the designer from their patterns being used commercially, without permission, for other people to gain income.

*  Some designers and websites provide their patterns copyright free, or say that they permit use of the patterns either for charity purposes or for selling.  (e.g. knitted designs by Jean Greenhowe and Alan Dart).  

This is often in the 'About' section, or FAQs, on a website.  Some will give permission if you contact them.  

*  There are many 'generic' types of design (eg. for a baby cardigan), and vintage designs, which may be slightly different versions of a standard pattern which is in the public domain, and not a unique and copyrighted design.   There are also lots of websites that provide patterns free of copyright, or which can be sold for charity fund-raising.  

If you are making items to donate to made4aid, and you are using a designer pattern, do please check the small print for any copyright statements, and check that the copyright does not prohibit use for selling purposes.

Below there is a list of links for knitting patterns that are copy-right free, or free to use for charity. Many individual designers (eg. on Ravelry) will also give permission on their profile, or if asked via email. 

Do please let us know if you have other sources we could add to this list:

Stitch and unwind, knitting charity projects
Windy city knitting guild, free charity patterns
Bug in a rug blog, knitting patterns
Alan Dart Open use of Alan's patterns for charity, but note that this excludes patterns for licensed characters (eg. Disney or similar). Free and/or low-cost patterns.
Jean Greenhowe's website invites people to use her patterns to make things to raise money for charity. The website includes some free patterns.
Fawn Pea's knitting patterns - permission given to use these for charity.  She is also on Ravelry, with some free patterns available there
Knits to Share and Care, by Gerard Allt, D&C Press 1980. 25 copyright free patterns for charity use
Bag patterns (sewing) for sale, Juberry Designs (also on facebook)

Crazy little projects (sewing) Various bag patterns

Norfolk knitters https://www.norfolkknitters.org.uk

Knit for peace uk. https://knitforpeace.org.uk/patterns/

I also have specific patterns for a range of items where designers have given permission to use for charity selling, please contact me for more information.

There is more information here about donating to made4aid - we welcome lots of different kinds of items, not only textile items like those above. Do get in touch if you want to get involved or if you have any questions: made4aid@yahoo.co.uk