Girls in poverty in the developing world will benefit from a project carried out by creative students from Kirk Hallam Community Academy.
Thirteen Textiles students in the Sixth Form were asked by teacher Keilly Goddard to design dresses for girls in Africa for the Dress A Girl Around the World initiative.
Dress A Girl Around the World is a not-for-profit organisation that asks people to make dresses out of new pillowcases for girls living in poverty in Africa.
Miss Goddard, Textiles teacher, said she was thrilled with the standard of the dresses that the students had made.
She said: “I had heard of the project and I thought it was a really nice way of getting the girls back into being creative after the summer holidays. The idea is that every little girl around the world should have at least one dress. We got the pillowcases from Dunelm in Ilkeston. The basic pillowcases were out of stock so they let us have the more expensive ones at no extra charge.
“The girls had to make the dresses and decorate them. They all came up with different ideas such as patchwork and appliqué and one girl made a rabbit to put in the pocket of her dress.
“They had two weeks to do it and it’s been such a success that we are thinking of expanding it out to other year groups and the sixth formers could mentor them. We would be really grateful if anyone could donate new pillowcases or any haberdashery that we could use to decorate the dresses.”
The dresses will be sent to the Dress A Girl Around the World organisation and they will then be given to girls in Africa.
Miss Goddard said: “We are going to make some labels and the students can write a little tribute on them before they are sewn into the dresses. Hopefully we may even get to see some photos of the girls in their dresses.”
Student Molly Riley said she felt privileged to take part in the project.
She said: “This project was an incredible experience to be a part of. The fact that we are changing lives with something as simple as a pillowcase truly inspires me.”
Student Grace Wookey said it was great to be able to give something back.
She said: “I enjoyed being part of this project and being able to transform a bright pillowcase into a dress that someone will love, and it’s all for a good cause.”
Anyone who is interested in donating new pillowcases or haberdashery for the project can contact Miss Goddard on kgoddard@kirkhallam.derbyshire.sch.uk