Sewing Center hosts workshop for blanket collection

The business began collecting handmade blankets last fall, when store employees wanted to lend a hand to victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Store manager Linda Peebles estimates the store collected about 30 blankets for the cause.

Since then, the sewing center has been spreading the word around town that more handmade blankets are needed for children up to age 18.

The collection campaign will come to a peak Saturday, which is Project Linus National Make a Blanket Day. The project will collect blankets from Janome America sewing machine dealers, including Springfield Sewing Center, for children in need.

Peebles said the store already has received about 70 blankets and will continue collecting them even after the deadline passes.

“We have a lot of ladies that love to make blankets,” she said. “It won't just stop after tomorrow - they will continue to bring them in.”

Also tomorrow, the store will host a daylong sewing workshop beginning at 10 a.m. Sewers are encouraged to bring their own machines, but some machines are available for use in-store, and other services, such as pressing and cutting, will be done. Each blanket donor will receive a raffle ticket for a Janome computerized sewing machine, to be given out tomorrow.

All blankets donated locally will be given to local children, Peebles said, even though it's a national project. Last year, the store gave about 90 blankets to St. John's Pediatrics.

Project Linus is a nonprofit organization that has distributed more than 1.4 million blankets since its 1995 inception.