Sewing With Nancy

When I asked today's Nancy's Corner guest how many fleece hats have been made by her organization she calmly said, "Oh, 26,000." She's one of a dedicated group of people who sew hats for causes and for those in need. Please welcome Nancy Daly, the coordinator and one of the enthusiastic hat ladies. Thank you, Nancy. Welcome. This is a charming story. It had a small beginning, and now it's flourished. Tell us how it began. Well, it started about 15 years ago just when my children were both quite young. I just started sewing hats. I sewed hats for my own children but ended up sewing for their sports teams, soccer teams and sewed for children in their classes at school. It really just grew since then. I'd be invited to sew for the entire class and then pretty soon, more children in the school. They're fleece hats. They are. They're all made out of polar fleece and clearly, multi-colored. The more colors the better in the hats. But sewing for a sports team is one thing. Now, what these hats are used for-- the wearers are a little bit different group. Right, we started, actually I think it was 2002, I had an opportunity. I was invited to sew for a Head Start class. I went in, there was just 17 children. I went in and I sewed hats for all 17 children. Then as I left, standing out in the parking lot with all the fleece and my sewing machine and I thought this was an ah-ha moment. I just thought that was something that really made me feel good. The children felt good and I realized it's a lot bigger than just a hat. It's bigger than a hat because they get something warm to wear-- We both live in a cold climate. But then, also they get introduced to sewing. And for many of the children we sew for now this is one of their first pieces of brand-new clothing that belongs just to them. Every single hat has their own nametag inside of it so each child is really reminded that this is their hat. It has their name, and there's no mistake about that. They write their name on this hat so they know. Tell our viewers how the hat ladies and there's a hat guy, too. We have a hat gentleman. You go into a classroom and you do the sewing. The children work with you. Yes, we set up our schedule in September of each year. We really spend the whole year cutting fleece out as you can imagine. There are some sample pieces here a sample band. A number of years ago, my son made a template of the two hat pieces that we use the triangles on the top and the band piece. When Nancy turns them around, you'll notice they're just made out of old no-parking signs. Easy to trace. Right, easy to trace, easy to duplicate. We cut out masses of fleece, hundreds of yards of fleece, continually, all year round. We have some hat ladies who do nothing but cut for us. Then we have a plan. We have about 45-50 hat gigs each season from the end of September into February. These will include every Head Start child in our community. We go to every single program and actually sew with the children. They don't do the sewing, but they watch. That's correct. They don't actually do it but they really are full participants. We say that they spend longer choosing the colors that they want than we spend sewing the hat. The fun combinations. I mean, they may not be exactly what we would choose but wow, they're fun. There's no doubt that kids have played a part in choosing the colors! Some of the hats, they take one band, six triangles, and three tassels on top. And sometimes children will pick 10 different colors so we'll get a little of everything. You notice, we do have some of them are patterned pieces and some of them are solid. Sometimes we will have ten different patterned pieces in there, too. And it's okay. It looks like a patchwork quilt. I say the point is to stay warm. Sometimes you make cute little ones to match, for dolls. Yes, and we are also able to size these hats. That's one of the beauties of the pattern. So if you have, you know, a larger child or an adult or if we have a very small baby or toddler we can also size the pattern to match the recipient. You say you just take it in or add more. It's not an exact science. It's not complicated at all. Fleece is a very forgiving fabric to work with so you can really adjust it on the spot. We also have a mirror at every table when we're sewing with children so that at the end of their hat they can hold up the mirror and admire what they have. You've introduced them to sewing. You've give them something new. You've kept them warm. If our viewers would like to know how to work with this you can go to nancyzieman.com. At nancyzieman.com, you can click under the "Hat Lady." We'll give instructions on how to make the hat and they can do that in their area as well. Nancy, thank you for being with us. Thank you. Thank you for being with us on Sewing with Nancy for this two-part series on "Serger Boutique." We'd like to thank our guest during the sewing segments, Barbara Goldkorn for sharing with us those great ideas. I thank Nancy Daly for being with us for this great idea of hats for those in need. And thank you for watching. Bye for now.