Are you looking at some old clothes that are too worn out to be given away? You can still make something great out of them. For example: teddy bears.
Meet Judy Craig. He is the owner of Bernina Stretch & Sew Fabrics on River Road. As you can guess, her shop is dedicated to sewing.
Last week she launched the store’s RARE Bear campaign, the Keizertimes reports. The campaign will continue over the next few months and it’s dedicated to teach and donate.
Visitors to the shop will be able to spend a few hours with Craig. She will teach them how to sew. The end result? Making a teddy bear which will be donated to a sick child.
The visitor will learn new skills and will be able to make his or hers own teddy bear at home. The made in the shop teddy bear will bring some comfort to a child who is suffering from a rare disease.
“Each bear gets it’s own tag that’s sewn in with a serial number that is assigned to the maker. When that bear is given out, they’ll send a picture of the child with the bear to the person who made it,” Craig said.
She hopes to be able to make at least 35 teddy bears by the end of June. After the first two sessions, she got 4 ready teddy bears.
The workshops take place in a single, five-hour day with a break for lunch and cost $10. The fabric is pre-cut and provided free to participants who get to take home the pattern.
RARE Bear workshops at Bernina are scheduled on the following dates from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.: April 19 and 21, May 1 and 13, and June 13. Space is limited to five-per-class. Call 503-393-0132 to register.
The program is a partnership of RARE Science, which focuses on accelerating identification of more immediate therapeutic solutions for kids with rare diseases and lowering the barriers to rare disease medical research, and Switzerland-based Bernina.
