Theater class sews "Little Dresses" for African children

Students in a Costume Construction class are making dresses for children in Africa.

Little Dresses for Africa was started in 2008 with the goal of providing relief to children throughout Africa. The dresses are created by individuals throughout the world with a simple design in mind. Once finished, they are shipped to villages throughout the continent with the ultimate goal of not only reaching the children’s need for clothing but also to bring clean water, sanitation and promote good health. Their motto is: “We’re not just sending dresses, we’re sending hope!”

Kaylee Vice knows the “Little Dresses” she’s sewing for children in Africa are more than just a class project.

“Not only is it really fun, but it’s good to know it’s not just for a two-week span and then go back into the closet,” says Vice, a senior in theatre, who has completed one dress and is working on another. “Children are going to get a lot of use out of it.”

Seeing the students gain confidence and experience the happiness after completing the items is one of the joys for Chalise Ludlow, who is teaching the Costume Construction course in which the dresses are being made. Once completed, the dresses are given to Little Dresses for Africa, an international organization that sends the garments to villages all over the continent.

“It’s really exciting to see how excited they are to see the progress of the garment,” Ludlow says, “and then to know it’s going to be given to cute little kids.”

An associate professor of theatre at UTC, Ludlow is leading the class through the entire process of making the dresses, from creating to building to sewing. The finished dresses are designed for children of all ages and will be given to Little Dresses for Africa.

Ludlow says the idea to participate in Little Dresses was originally intended as an afterschool project, “but then we quickly discovered we could add this to the curriculum.”

In the Costume Construction course, students study everything from the basics of using a sewing machine to building a corset. Such sewing skills are somewhat out of style, so to speak, Ludlow says. “It’s important to get anyone and everyone behind a sewing machine to learn what they can create,” she adds.

“People don’t know how to even sew buttons or hem things,” she says. “I just thought everyone knew how to do that, but we just don’t teach that anymore because it’s not part of the curriculum.”

Hannah Davis, a junior in theatre, calls Little Dresses “a great project.”

“We sew stuff all the time,” she says. “Might as well learn something that can go to good use.”