"Sweatshop" for Iraq

A couple of weeks ago our church embarked on a little service project to create MCC school kits for Iraq. About 17 of us met on a Saturday morning, after much publicity from the committee. There were several stations, and a very efficient method. Here's the first step after cutting: pressing all edges under 1/4".

Hannah was the youngest participant, using my old sewing machine while I used my new one. There were 6 sewers all together: the job Hannah and I had was to sew all around the bags to hold the 1/4" down and finish all the raw edges.

A broader shot of the "sweatshop" process. You can see the people ironing on the left, then Hannah and I on the right. More ironing going on way at the back of the room, and the two tables in the centre were for pinning the edges together. Other sewers stitched the casings for the drawstrings, and sewed up the sides to finish the bags.

The final step: cutting the drawstrings and threading them through the bags.