7 January 2020

We need sewers who can sew straight

One of my nephews, Charles, is a volunteer wildlife rescuer and he spends a lot of his spare time in the Blue Mountains bush rescuing native animals. We all know our precious native wildlife has been decimated in the ongoing bush fires and injured and scared animals are now coming into local properties and homes looking for water and food. In the coming days, these are the animals Charles will be helping.  When the NSW RFS give the all-clear for people to return to the burnt bushland, Charles will set off looking for injured animals.  These animals will be carefully handled and taken to either a vet for diagnosis and treatment or a wildlife carer for longer term care. To do this work, Charles supplies his own equipment but there is a chance that he won't have enough wraps and pouches to transport the animals he finds.

I suggested to him that we - you, me and the rest of the gang here - could help him by quickly making a selection of what he needs.  I wonder if you'll join in with this.  The main need is for bat wraps and he needs 60 of them, he also needs some hanging joey pouches. Bat wraps and pouches are vital to help calm animals during transportation. Both these items are essential to Charles' work.

We're happy to accept whatever you can send - one, two, six or 20. They will help in a significant number of rescues. So who is up for this?  The patterns are simple straight sewing and the links are below for you to click on and look at.  Please be guided by the suggested fabrics - most are cotton, cotton flannelette, calico or wool. No buttons or Velcro are used. All the finished wraps and pouches need to be sent to Charles in the Blue Mountains, please contact me by email: rhondahetzel@gmail.com and I'll give you his postal address.


I wonder if there is a vet who reads my blog. I'd like to introduce you to Charles so he can speak to someone about rehydrating animals and general burns first aid. At the moment, he needs some burns cream, syringes and Vet Wraps.  If you can email me, I'll give you Charles' phone number so you can talk to him directly. Thank you.

I'll be making this part of our Instagram Sewing Bee so when you finish your sewing, please send me a photo of what you made, along with your IG name, so we can link to you from the Bee.

Thank you all. I know we'll get this started quickly so we can help Charles in his important work.
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23 comments

  1. Count me in, Rhonda. I am just trying to round up fabric from friends so I can get started, as since our own fire in 2016 I don't have a spare sheet, blanket or anything else!

    Madeleine

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    1. Thanks Madelaine. Email me when you have your supplies so I can put you on the list. xx

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  2. Count me in too, I will have a look through my fabric stash and my old bedding to see what I use to make up as many as possible. They will take a little longer to get through as they are coming from the UK but I hope they will still be in good time to be used.

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    1. Thank you. Email me when you know what you can make and I'll put you on the list. I appreciate your effort from so far away. xx

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  3. Count me in Rhonda. I have made 20 pouches of mixed sizes the last two days. I was just hunting for an address to send them to. I was looking at southern states but if Charles could use them locally then I would be more than happy to send them to him.

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    1. Thanks Jane. I've just sent an email to Charles asking if he would use them. I'll let you know when he replies. xx

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  4. What a wonderful idea and way to help your nephew in such important work. I'm in too!
    Meg:)

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  5. I am making these items now so count me in too.

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  6. I'm in ... I'll start sewing today. I'll email you for the postal address as soon as I have a decent pile.

    Thank-you so much for doing this Rhonda, I have been wanting to help in a meaningful way but I'm in Perth so couldn't really do very much.

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    1. Hi Lola, thanks for joining in. Together we'll get these wraps and pouches sewn. xx

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  7. Your nephew, and everyone who gets involved in some way, are wonderful. I will be helping a friend here in Canberra on Saturday to create a variety of kits for joeys and bats - though not being brilliant at straight lines I may be designated tea lady. It is such a desperate time, it lifts the spirits to see so many people coming together to help.

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    1. I agree, Paula. Thanks for getting involved in Canberra. I hope the smoke is clearing. xx

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  8. Hi Rhonda,
    I live in Victoria and have previously been involved in wildlife fostering. The scale of this devastation and suffering is enormous and very distressing. Our local Wildlife organisation has enough joey pouches, but I'd love to sew some for your nephew, if he still needs them.I'm also able to make bat wraps as well, if needed. Want to count me in, too? Thank for all you're doing to spread the word, kind regards, Janelle

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    1. Thanks Janelle. Please sew either item, he still needs both. xx

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  9. I’ve been making Joey pouches I’ve got eight done with three inners each
    I’m hoping to have an even dozen made and I’ll drop them off tomorrow

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    1. How wonderful, Angela! Thank you for your generosity and the work you've done. xx

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  10. There is a group on Facebook which has grown to over 100,000 members in the last week called the Animal Rescue Craft Guild - this group of crafters has sewn/knitted/crocheted thousands of pouches, wraps, mittens, bags for the animals. If he needs this stuff urgently, I would suggest he gets in touch on Facebook and I'm sure that they can sort something out. It's a great group to join as well. Hope this helps, Cheers Jennifer

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    1. Hello Jennifer. Thanks for passing on that info. I'll let Charles know. I think we'll meet our target but I think there's a lot of work for Charles to do so he'll need extras. XX

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  11. Rhonda,

    I’d love to make these to help, but the shipping from the US is quite high ($50)!! Soooooo, what is the best choice for donations? My $50 would better serve when added to their cash donations than paying a for profit carrier.... hoping I’m not sounding snarky... matty

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    1. You're not sounding snarky at all, Matty. I suggest either WIRES Emergency Fund for Wildlife or Red Cross. Either way will help. Thank you for your generosity. xx

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  12. Rhonda,

    I've donated to the red cross instead because the shipping costs are too high from the Netherlands. Its not much but I hope it helps. What a horrible situation, it hurts to see it in the news week after week. I cannot imagine the horror of losing (almost) everything. We pray for rain...
    Grethe

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  13. There is a Facebook groups who currently had an over supply of bat wraps and koala mittens. They also have free patterns for the different sizes of Joey pouches, possum nest etc
    It called the Animal Rescue Craft Guild and have been coordinating drop off points and distribution to registered animal carers.
    https://www.facebook.com/arfsncrafts/

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