Project Thrive: Days For Girls

While reading my copy of Bust magazine, I came upon an article about a project called Days For Girls. The basic premise is that Days For Girls provides reusable pads for women in developing countries so that they have something sanitary to use during their period in order to continue going to school, work and carrying on with their lives. Currently, women who have no other option generally either stay indoors during their period or use less than sanitary options, such as mattress padding, which can lead to infection.

After reading the article about this project, I was both infuriated and inspired. Infuriated because there is no reason that this problem should continue to exist, nor should these women have to suffer past simply having their period. However, the inspiration took over and I messaged some friends via facebook to get together and sew reusable pads for Days For Girls.

I won't detail the frantic last minute search for polyurethane lined fabric (PUL) or exactly how many sugar cookies we made, but I will outline what I learned:

• Make one pad first so that you have a model to learn from
• Ask for reusable diaper material at the fabric store to obtain your PUL
• Days For Girls will accept any type of reusable fabric pad, so if there's a pattern you love, use it! If not, the Days For Girls site has patterns that are free to download
• Days For Girls will apply the snaps to the reusable pads for you
• If you can't sew, Days For Girls also accepts donations of soap, washcloths, panties and sturdy one gallon bags

This is a highly rewarding project- I definitely encourage you to get together with friends for an afternoon of sewing and chatting, with your end product changing a woman's life for the better. For more information, go to Project Thrive and click on Days For Girls.

Also, a giant thanks goes out to Alexia of Autopilot Art for letting us take over her studio for a day and for her willingness to serge endlessly.