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  • Southside Baptist Church Sewing and Quilting Mission members Peggy Bailey (left) and Jo Ann Morris piece together quilts with their respective sewing machines during a recent workshop. The group, which has been meeting since May of 2010, has made 243 pillow case dresses, 78 T-shirt dresses, 191 crib quilts and 36 sets of pajamas that are distributed locally and around to world to underprivileged children. MARY RAINWATER

    SBC Quilting Ladies Sewing

  • Southside Baptist Church Sewing and Quilting Mission group member Carol Armstrong pins a crib quilt for finishing during a recent workshop. MARY RAINWATER

    SBC Quilt Lady pinning

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April 29, 2012

Southside Baptist women use sewing as mission work

By MARY RAINWATER Palestine Herald-Press

PALESTINE — Just after 8 a.m. on the first Tuesday of the month, the first of a small group of women at Southside Baptist Church begin trickling in to Classroom 109 with sewing machines, scissors and fabric in tow.

By 9:30 a.m., the room used on Sundays to share stories of mission work and sacrifice has been transformed into a sewing and quilting workshop, with as many as 15 women on a mission of their own — to bless others both near and far with the work of their hands.

Some are cutting fabric for blankets, while others hum to the rhythm of their own sewing machines to put together those blankets as well as pillowcase dresses and T-shirt dresses to be shared with children in Palestine and all over the world.

Since they began meeting in May of 2010, members of the Southside Sewing and Quilting Mission group have crafted 243 pillow case dresses, 78 T-shirt dresses, 191 crib quilts and 36 sets of pajamas or nightgowns.

All of those items have been distributed to Palestine’s Crisis Center and Rainbow Room, Tyler’s CPS Camp and an Appalachian Ministry as well as overseas to the Philippines, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Jordan, Uganda, Romania and Russia.

“Anyone who is going on a mission trip and would like to take the items with them may do so,” member Carol Armstrong said. “We always look for places where we can ship (or transport) the items at no cost.”

Not all of the work is done on site. There is a faction of women who are given the quilts to add the finishing knots at home. Other members like Mattie Roe, who has made over 260 pillowcase dresses, prefers to do her work at home and deliver her completed work to the group on meeting day.

“I love to sew, and the idea of what I make going to children who have nothing makes it so worthwhile,” Roe said. “I was told one of the little girls said she felt like ‘God’s queen’ in her dress... I want God to get the praise for all of it.”

Member Peggy Bailey agreed with her fellow seamstress.

“I love to be able to help underprivileged children and to know that a dress (or quilt) may help them get some joy out of life,” she said. “This is all done for God.”

Much of the fabric for the projects is donated, with batting being one of the only items purchased by the church’s missions committee for that purpose.

“The Lord just blesses us with what we need,” member Jo Ann Morris said. “A lady recently moved away and donated her fabric to us.”

The group is not exclusive to church members, they said, but is open to anyone who wishes to help. Participants don’t even have to have a sewing machine, just be a willing, able bodied soul.

“We want to invite all churches to do this with us,” member Mae Jordan said. “It is such a neat experience, and all you have to do is be willing to do the work.”

The Southside Baptist Church’s Sewing and Quilting Missions group meets from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Tuesday (the first Tuesday of each month) in room 109 at Southside Baptist Church.  The meeting is come and go or participants may bring a sack lunch and spend the day.

For more information about the group, call Jordan at 903-729-4822 or the church office at 903-729-6064. The church is located at 1500 Crockett Rd. in Palestine.



Mary Rainwater may be reached via e-mail at mrainwater@palestineherald.com

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