Angels Among Us - Dressmakers
Updated: November 8, 2012
URBANA -- These Angels Among Us are making dresses for orphans half way around the world. You would never know it by watching her work, but Ruth Atteberry does not like sewing. So why would this 76-year old sit in this tiny room working the machine almost every day for two years? It's for these smiles.
"They're happy and I'm happy," Ruth said. "That's what's important."
The girls in the pictures are orphans in Africa. Ruth heard about them at church. The girls needed clothes. Ruth thought she would just donate fabric. Then something happened.
"About halfway through bible study, I could not tell you what the lesson was, all I know is something told me to make those little dresses," Ruth remembered. "And I'm sitting there saying, "I don't like to sew. I don't care. You make those little dresses."
Ruth went home and made her first dress.
"I was so proud of myself. I made the pockets and the bias and the dress all out of the same material. And Mary came over and I said, 'Honey, look what I did.' She looked at me and said...."
"Very nice mom but really you need some contrast in here."
Enter the other half of the dress-making team. Daughter Mary Atteberry Rogers is on design patrol. She's in charge picking fabrics, making trim and placing buttons.
Mary said, "She's come a long way. She even let me put stripes and plaids and polka dots. 'You're putting what together? Really?"
Mary is here once a week. They can churn out a dress in an hour and half.
"Seven hundred some dresses later believe me, we've got it down pat."
You heard right. 780 to be exact. But it's not a rush job. These are made to last and be loved.
Ruth said, "We don't want them to say, 'who sent me this piece of junk?' We want them to be happy to have a new dress and to think that that dress was made special for them and made with love. Because that's all there is."
You can feel that love in the room. The work has brought this mother-daughter duo closer than ever.
"That's an absolute bonus. That's the best," the women said. "We laugh together. We cry together. And sometimes we just sit and work."
Usually Ruth has to buy the material to make the dresses but that can get expensive. Sometimes they hit the jackpot. A ton of material was donated from an estate sale. It's enough to make a thousand more dresses. Sometimes she has to take Tylenol to keep going. But she's not stopping. As long as she has Mary at her side and these kids in her heart. Dresses will be made.
If you are interested in learning more about the organization that delivers the dresses, it's the Rafiki Foundation.
"They're happy and I'm happy," Ruth said. "That's what's important."
The girls in the pictures are orphans in Africa. Ruth heard about them at church. The girls needed clothes. Ruth thought she would just donate fabric. Then something happened.
"About halfway through bible study, I could not tell you what the lesson was, all I know is something told me to make those little dresses," Ruth remembered. "And I'm sitting there saying, "I don't like to sew. I don't care. You make those little dresses."
Ruth went home and made her first dress.
"I was so proud of myself. I made the pockets and the bias and the dress all out of the same material. And Mary came over and I said, 'Honey, look what I did.' She looked at me and said...."
"Very nice mom but really you need some contrast in here."
Enter the other half of the dress-making team. Daughter Mary Atteberry Rogers is on design patrol. She's in charge picking fabrics, making trim and placing buttons.
Mary said, "She's come a long way. She even let me put stripes and plaids and polka dots. 'You're putting what together? Really?"
Mary is here once a week. They can churn out a dress in an hour and half.
"Seven hundred some dresses later believe me, we've got it down pat."
You heard right. 780 to be exact. But it's not a rush job. These are made to last and be loved.
Ruth said, "We don't want them to say, 'who sent me this piece of junk?' We want them to be happy to have a new dress and to think that that dress was made special for them and made with love. Because that's all there is."
You can feel that love in the room. The work has brought this mother-daughter duo closer than ever.
"That's an absolute bonus. That's the best," the women said. "We laugh together. We cry together. And sometimes we just sit and work."
Usually Ruth has to buy the material to make the dresses but that can get expensive. Sometimes they hit the jackpot. A ton of material was donated from an estate sale. It's enough to make a thousand more dresses. Sometimes she has to take Tylenol to keep going. But she's not stopping. As long as she has Mary at her side and these kids in her heart. Dresses will be made.
If you are interested in learning more about the organization that delivers the dresses, it's the Rafiki Foundation.
