URGENT – SfP is looking for Finishers

Due to other commitments our present “Finisher” Jean is stepping down from her post. She has been doing a wonderful job for us for quite a few years now, and we will be very sorry to see her go. Jean will be staying with the group, but no longer be able to do the finishing job.

On this occasion, we have decided to restructure the Finisher’s post to better suit our needs, which have evolved over the last years, too. We are now looking for TWO to THREE people to share the different parts of this job.

1. Mounting
This will be the bulk of the finishing for stitched projects. The majority of pieces will have to be made into cards, with the odd piece of mounting into frames, coasters, fridge magnets etc. Due to the fact that we very rarely get donations of three-panel cards that simply require sticking the stitched piece inside and closing, the card finishing needs to be a bit on the creative side. Cards will have to be cut and folded from card stock; stitching fringed to be mounted as a topper on or amongst layers/items of decoration. A considerable stash of cardstock, glue tape, backing papers, ribbons, stickers, sequins, jewels and other items will have to be held by the Mounting Finisher, and she will have to use her creative sense and a bit of extra time to make pleasing interesting cards from the stitched pieces. A sheet of examples can be made available.

2. Hand Sewing
There are certain things that need hand-sewing to finish, particularly bookmarks (of which we would like to see more) and lavender sachets, and occasionally other items such as stuffed Christmas tree decorations. There is a limited but steady supply of all these things. A reasonably big box of finishing items such as felt and other materials, padding, ribbons and laces will have to be held by the hand sewing finisher.

3. Machine Sewing
We could really do with a third person to handle our needs for larger sewing pieces. This includes regularly sewing Care Cloths (instructions provided); finishing off our one or two round robins per year, which are usually cushion pads or wall hangings; and if possible occasionally sewing a variety of items such as drawstring bags, spectacle cases, toiletry bags etc, to be sent to the hand sewing finisher for adding stitched patches and borders onto them. A box of fabrics will be provided and flannels for the care cloths will come in occasionally (these should be attended to fairly quickly). A sewing machine can possibly be provided to somebody with machine sewing experience (if the logistics can be solved).

IMPORTANT

All Finishers commit to using the stash provided exclusively for SfP items and to handle the incoming projects in a timely manner, especially where seasonal occasions are concerned (Christmas items should largely be with Petra by October, all other occasions preferably 6 weeks beforehand to facilitate sales).

If you feel that you could take on one or more of these jobs for a reasonably long period of time, please contact me via comments or on my email and we can discuss the ins and outs.

SfP Ongoing Appeals

IF YOU HAVE ANY OF THESE TO DONATE TO SFP WE WOULD BE MOST APPRECIATIVE

1. Care Cloths for the Thames Homeless Project
We need a constant supply of good-sized flannels to make the covers, and of all sorts of fillings.
Flannels: if you choose to buy flannels for us, would you consider sewing them, too? It is easy sewing (straight lines only), although best done with a sewing machine to save time. Apart from the flannel and thread you need approx 25” of ribbon or elastic per cloth. You can ask for instructions from Karen.
Fillings: each care cloth should contain – a toothbrush and toothpaste (preferably small tubes); a plastic comb; a small packet of shampoo; a small cake of soap; plus a razor for men and some body lotion or hand cream for women. Other items such as small packets of conditioner, shower gel, after-shave etc are welcome, too, as extras. Please make sure that all bottles are closed properly when sending!
Please send all Care Cloth items to Petra.

2. Recycling Cards
Sandra has been doing a wonderful job in making lots of recycling cards for us, which we can sell as a cheaper option alongside the more expensive stitched and elaborately crafted cards. While she is donating all the card stock, glue and extra items used, she needs a constant supply of old greeting cards to cut toppers from. These can be for any occasion from Christmas and birthday to weddings, sympathy, christening etc… Remember that she only needs the front with the picture, so to save on postage, do cut off the part with the writing. Also please remember that for Christmas, we only have an audience for religious and traditional type motifs.
Please send your recycling cards to Sandra.

3. Framing and Crafts Materials for Finishing
Any bits and bobs from cards and envelopes to haberdashery items, stickers etc and framing items like coasters, small frames, fridge magnets etc that you won’t use up yourself can find a happy home and good use with SfP.
Please send finishing and decorative items to the Finisher.

4. Needlecrafts Materials
If you have leftover or unwanted needlecrafts items, please do share them with SfP – we can use kits, threads and materials for every kind of needlecraft. Bigger project kits that have not been started can be sold complete for the benefit of our charities; started projects that you are fed up with can be finished; and leftover materials and threads can be used up by our regular members in small projects.
Please send stash items to Sarah and sales items to Petra.

5. Finished Items
Please read the “Rules & Regs” post if you are unsure what topics or particular designs to choose for your crafts. Note that following our recent findings of what sells and doesn’t sell we have decided to stay with small items – that is card-size. Cards of any type of craft do by far constitute the largest part of our needs! If you are finishing stitching yourself, consider making them into cards, preferably with a greeting and a little embellishment aside the stitching. Bookmarks, fridge magnets and Christmas tree ornaments also do well.
Please send your finished items to Petra; stitched items that need finishing to the Finisher.

6. Knitting and Crochet
We also collect throughout the year for a big parcel to Romania (via FARA) and a smaller one to Martin House with Christmas presents. Ages catered for are baby to grown-up teenager! Shawls, hats, gloves, socks and sweaters in all sizes; baby wear and cot blankets; as well as stuffed toys and finger puppets are very welcome (or anything else suitable for presents to the a.m. age group).
Please send these items to Petra.

Some Rules & Regs

SOME RULES AND REGS REGARDING YOUR DONATIONS AND STITCHED WORK – ALWAYS WORTH REMEMBERING!!!

The Post…
Please, please, please, take your parcels to the Post Office to make sure you put the correct postage on. And most definitely put a return address on the outside of the parcel, and get a certificate of posting!!! Here is a little example from Karen, our secretary, on why this is so important: “Over the last month, the office where I work has been getting mail returned “address incomplete”, “address not known” etc in abundance. The addresses have been checked with Royal Mail itself, and we have been advised that there is nothing wrong with the addresses.” So if there was no return address… Bye-bye to all of your lovely hard work, as undeliverable mail gets incinerated!!! At least, if you have a Certificate of Posting we can claim for compensation, which then benefits our charities… So, please be VERY careful and apply these rules diligently!!!

For Regular members
Please return the CHARTS TOGETHER with the PICTURE so that we can use them again!

For Independent members
It’s great that you use your own materials, but we have LOTS of charts… Feel free to ask Sarah for some, then you can be certain that you are stitching what we need without having to look around…

Seasonal Crafts

Please remember that Christmas sales start in October, and that sales for other seasonal occasions need to begin about 6 weeks beforehand. If you are not finishing yourself, consider the extra time needed for the double mailing (to the Finisher, then to Petra) and for the fact that the Finisher may not be able to attend to incoming pieces on the spot…

Super Quick Review of designs and projects needed

Things that sell:
1) at least 2x2" size with enough detail to make them easily recognisable
2) whole scenes rather than bits and bobs i.e. a whole cricketer rather than just a "bat and ball"
3) eye-catching designs use metallic threads, beads, wiggle eyes, sequins, buttons etc within the stitching or when finishing the cards
4) cards with writing - greetings stitched beside the motif or sayings, poems etc as main feature
5) cards for more unusual occasions - Sympathy, Christening, New Home, round birthdays, anniversaries etc, as well as the usual special occasions like wedding and new baby.
6) bookmarks of any description, but particularly with religious context; also “cross in a pocket” items.

Things that don’t sell:
1) motifs that are hard to distinguish what they are, usually whole stitch designs, often without backstitch
2) mini motifs, depending on the above
3) dressed up animals and teddies of general description (special critters like Disney, Peter Rabbit etc are okay)

Some people are not happy with doing more complex stitches than whole cross stitches, and so may be a little put off by our request for less of those types. If that is the case, have you tried simple geometric patters, which can be used for bookmarks, or blackwork, which isn’t as boring and colourless as it may sound? If you’d like to try things like that, but don’t have any patterns, please get in touch – we can always find a few for you to try!

Welcome to the SfP blog!!!

I hope you'll enjoy our little forum here and that it will work better than the Yahoo group. Do feel free to look around a bit and try out all the links on the right side. You can get to the "official SfP website" (although I have to admit that it hasn't been updated for a long time) and to my personal blog (which is just as new as this one - in fact it had it's first entry today, too...). You can also get to the websites or newsletters of all the charities we are currently working with except the Oliver Tarry Trust which is so small and local that they don't even have a website. So, these links will give you a very good idea of what happens to the goodies and donations you send in, or the money we make selling them...

I shall try and post here as often as I can - our little news and greetings and whatever, to give us a more regular contact than the big newsletters which take a long time to produce. However, over the next days I'll simply post some general matters about how we work - the bits that you can usually find in the newsletters, too. They will eventually be moved into the archive section (the blogspot server does that automatically every month), so they will always be available for you under "November" (see link on the right) - so if ever you need to look anything up, feel free to go there (this is with exception of the full names and addresses of our team - you'll need to keep them somewhere safe for yourself...).

After this "basic work" the entries will get more interesting and I hope that you'll come back often to have a look at the messages and feel free to use the comments feature to leave your own thoughts and reactions on any of them (just click the link underneath the message and type away). I would also much appreciate if anybody reading this first message could comment on it, either here on the blog or via the usual email and let me know what you think about it and what you hope/expect to see on here in the future.

Thanks for your continued support!!!
Petra