Sewing With Nancy

Terry Grahl, founder of Enchanted Makeovers was a Nancy's Corner guest over two years ago. Terry told us the story of how volunteers gave women and children's shelters facelifts with fabric, paint, and elbow grease. Terry joins us via Skype to share the inspiring growth of this wonderful organization. Welcome back to Sewing with Nancy, Terry. Thank you, Nancy, for having me. Terry is joining us from Michigan. For those of you who didn't see our first interview Terry, give a little summary of what you do with Enchanted Makeovers, because this is great stuff. Well, with Enchanted Makeovers we're very passionate about handmade while we're doing our renovations. So we want our viewers and donors to really give with their talent. You went into a shelter and it looked like a prison. Here's a "before" picture that shows one of the rooms that you've done. That's pretty bleak. If you're in a women's shelter, this is not a comforting place to be. You really changed them. Tell us how you do that. Well, it really starts with a donor and how they can give of their time with handmade. From that process, you know, it could be with quilts. Through that, we decide on what color. We're passionate about mural artists. We have a lot of communities that make handmade curtains. Through all that talent, it just all comes together into these beautiful spaces that uplift and inspires women and children that they can move forward with their life. Yeah, it's pretty dramatic, what you have done. It's inspiring to see. But you're not just limited now to bedrooms. You've done children's rooms, too, of course, baby rooms. Yes, also nurseries. Of course, you know, we want the children also to know that they matter. It shows in all the work that you've done. How many rooms have you done, can you estimate that volunteers through Enchanted Makeovers have done over the last year since you started? It's a little over a hundred bedrooms that we've done. That doesn't include, obviously we do sewing rooms. It's thousands of lives that are being changed because as the women move through the program unfortunately, there are new women who go into that program so thousands of lives are being transformed. You briefly mentioned sewing rooms because in some shelters, you have created a sewing room. That's a great thing, tell us about that story. We have the sacred sewing room. We're passionate about sewing instructors coming in and really serving with your time and your talent from the basic, you know, making pillowcases to making dresses that are made out of pillowcases and the women giving back also in the program. We've had Rachel O'Neill from Little Dresses for Africa on. The women give back by making these little dresses. That's the whole circle thing that really gives me goose bumps. Yes, we all have to give back even the women that are in the shelter. It's just a great message that there's always someone less fortunate than us. So yes, we want to include that. When you started, you started in Michigan but it's expanded way beyond Michigan. Tell us about the far reaches of Enchanted Makeovers. We have several national sewing chapters. That chapter leader, really, she's responsible that when those pillowcases or dolls, or capes for kids come in that they're brought to their local shelter. But also, they have events so they can bring their community together and make pillowcases, and really unite in that way. We're always looking for other people. If your state is not on our website, contact us. We want you to be involved. This is a great way to get the word out, Terry. You now have a national headquarters, or soon will. That's an exciting story. Yes, we have been truly blessed by the mayor-- Let me say it over again, I said his name wrong. The mayor of our hometown, Taylor, Michigan Mayor Lamarand has donated the house. It has truly been a blessing. He really supports the organization. Not only that, I want to point out that Home Depot in our home town, the Taylor West Branch is donating all the supplies to renovate this home, inside and out. Exciting. Terry, what a great story. We hope to have you back in a couple years to tell more about how Enchanted Makeovers has grown. I thank you for being our guest. Thank you, Nancy. You're welcome. If you'd like to find out more about Enchanted Makeovers go to nancyzieman.com and click on Nancy's Corner. This wraps up our three-part series on "Sew Amazing Scarves." I hope you've enjoyed this series. Watch it again online, again at nancyzieman.com. Thanks for joining us. Bye for now.