EmBe's Dress for Success helps women thrive in workforce - KSFY |
- EmBe's Dress for Success helps women thrive in workforce - KSFY
- Loveland group sews with a mission to help kids - Loveland Reporter-Herald
- Modern Bride: Today's bride wants comfort and attention to detail - The Union Leader
| EmBe's Dress for Success helps women thrive in workforce - KSFY Posted: 16 Jan 2020 02:05 PM PST SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - EmBe's annual "In Her Shoes" event is February 6th at the Sioux Falls Convention Center. The breakfast benefits the Dress for Success program in Sioux Falls, which aims to empower women. Regina Stough has been involved in a couple of programs within Dress for Success since 2015.  "It was my saving grace," Stough said. She's referring to the "Women to the Workforce" program, which is the first one she got involved in. It gives you a variety of skills needed to land a job like mock interviews and resume writing. "Your education, your work history, what you think may not be special about your abilities; they will remind you that yes they are," she said. Volunteers help you make a good first impression with what's called a suiting. You're fitted for an interviewing outfit. "When you walk out and you've got this outfit on, it's just that much more empowering because you feel better," Stough said. She was about nine months away from graduating at Southeast Tech when her friend suggested she get into this program. "I actually was able to reach down inside myself and find that person that I had been in the past," she said. "It gave me that extra boost of confidence to go out, sell myself, get the job I wanted." "In Her Shoes" helps raise money to keep these programs available for women. This year's keynote speaker at the breakfast is Nicole J. Phillips. She plans to spread a message of kindness to inspire people to push through the tough times. You can find more information on tickets here.  |
| Loveland group sews with a mission to help kids - Loveland Reporter-Herald Posted: 18 Jan 2020 06:05 PM PST St. Lucy's Sewing Group meets every week in a church basement to make thousands of dresses and pairs of shorts to send off with missionaries. "We say we're making high-class dresses because no one else in the world has them," said Patti Estergard of Loveland, coordinator of the sewing group, which meets Monday afternoons at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Parish in Loveland. The dresses are made out of pillowcases and donated material, thread and notions and are designed to have pockets to hold a stuffed bear or doll and a pair of new underwear. The pillowcase dresses are lightweight and sleeveless and look like a sundress. The group also makes other types of dresses that have cap sleeves to meet the requirements of some countries for girls to have their shoulders covered. A few dresses consist of T-shirts in long or short sleeves with a handmade skirt sewed on — those dresses are for cooler climates and, again, areas where shoulders cannot be shown. For boys, shorts are sewn out of donated material and have pockets with a Matchbox car placed inside. "It gives me a good feeling. … These children, they send us pictures. Their little mouths are like this," Estergard said, using her fingers to physically lift her mouth into a smile. "They are so happy to get them." Irma Finnegan of Loveland, a member of the group, likes being able to give to those who need it, she said. "It's a ministry we enjoy, helping others, knowing that we are giving our effort to the less fortunate," Finnegan said.  Sending off the dressesThe dresses and shorts can be rolled up and packed in a box or suitcase, which the group purchases from a thrift store. Missionaries, mainly coming from Colorado, deliver the handmade items to Third World countries, including Ecuador, Nepal, Nicaragua, Peru, Thailand and Uganda. The group also donates the items locally to places like the House of Neighborly Service, a Loveland-based nonprofit that has a clothing boutique alongside its food program and other assistance services, plus to Native American reservations, mainly in Arizona, Nebraska and South Dakota. The scraps are put to use, too, and are assembled into quilts and lap robes. "All together in all of our service, we've probably sent them to 10 to 12 countries," Estergard said. Shannon Perry, a missionary who lives in Loveland and Phoenix, Ariz., regularly travels to Nigeria and has asked to take some of the dresses there and to other places. "I have taken some of them to places I have traveled," said Perry, who met Estergard when she attended a meeting of the National Council of Catholic Women at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church. "The first time that I took dresses and shorts was to a small school in Ecuador. I had taken about 20 dresses and 15 pairs of shorts, which I discovered weren't enough," she said. "Recently, Patti gave me 150 dresses and about 100 pairs of shorts to take to Nigeria. The children (and parents) are grateful for such practical gifts."  Meeting to cut, gather materialSt. Lucy's started with three members and now has 16 and consists of women, though men are invited to join. For about three hours each week, the group meets in space donated by the church — the church also provides a monthly stipend to cover gaps in donations. The members show up to collect material, cut different parts of the dresses and, on occasion, do some sewing using the church's three sewing machines. Most prefer working at home, and they use the same patterns for their creations. "They're never all the same. … It's her own personality that comes out," Estergard said about the different colors and looks of the dresses and shorts. "One lady always puts bows on. One puts butterflies. We know that she made them." The group makes as many as 2,000 dresses a year and 1,000 pairs of shorts, Estergard estimates. She makes hundreds of donations a year, though she doesn't have an exact count, she said. "Those pillowcase dresses aren't hard at all. You can zip one of those together in a couple of hours," Estergard said, adding that dresses with sleeves and zippers take longer. Cathy Hill of Loveland has been a part of the group for four years and joined because she likes to sew. "It's nice to know what you do goes to people in need," Hill said. "Since we make everything with donated fabric, we find things that either match or have to be creative. We mix and match colors and patterns, having that little bit of creativity."  Starting with Dress a GirlEstergard originally made the dresses through Dress a Girl Around the World, a campaign under Hope 4 Women International, a nonprofit based in Forest City, Iowa. Dress a Girl Around the World, which was founded in 2006, aims to make sure every girl worldwide has at least one new dress and since then has delivered more than 1 million dresses to 81 countries. Estergard, who sewed clothing for her two daughters, learned how to make the dresses from a Dress a Girl representative. With the help of two other women, she made the dresses at St. John's, but then two to three years later, the women wanted to branch out to provide the dresses for local requests. Missionaries and others had heard about their work and started approaching them about getting the dresses, so the participants formed their own sewing group, she said.  "People started calling us, and I couldn't turn them down if we had them," Estergard said. The group has gotten requests for other things, like 40 quilted blankets for a nonprofit organizing a youth camping trip — the trip was last year, and the group will make more blankets this year. The group also made blankets for students at St. John's to give at a children's hospital, plus flannel pajamas to distribute through HNS and missionaries headed to colder climates. "The kids really love it when they get this," Estergard said. "They know that somebody really still loves them and still wants them to be around. If it's our way of helping, that's what we have." Estergard and her group don't sell any of the dresses, she said. "They're donated material and lace and whatever, and we're giving them from our hearts, so we don't sell them."  |
| Modern Bride: Today's bride wants comfort and attention to detail - The Union Leader Posted: 19 Jan 2020 02:00 AM PST  RENEE FORTIN led the way to one of the 400 wedding gowns hanging in her Bedford showroom. "This is just beautiful," she said, noting the dove-gray dress, intricately beaded, with tiny covered buttons running down the back. "Isn't it great? I hope to put it on someone soon." Fortin has seen it all — the homespun weddings of the '70s, the big hair and big shoulders of the '80s. As co-owner of Modern Bride and Formal in Bedford, she's poised to help yet another generation of young women find the perfect gown for their "forever day." Modern Bride predates Fortin, her current crop of brides and even their mothers, opening in Manchester back in the late 1940s. Fortin and a partner bought the business 34 years ago, from founder Kay Vanasse, and moved the operation to Bedford in 2007. New materialsBrides in 2020 continue the trend of being slightly older, established in careers, and knowing what they want. What many want, Fortin said, is comfort. "The manufacturers are coming up with new materials," Fortin said, relaxing at her desk in the middle of Modern's lush salon. "Some are stretch materials, and crepe is coming back in." The new materials make it possible for brides to wear fitted or even "mermaid" gowns and still be able to move, in the ceremony or on the dance floor. Though the materials move with the woman, the new stretch fabrics still give off an elegant and sophisticated look, she added. Necklines and silhouettesThere are as many necklines available as there are brides to wear them, according to Fortin — sweetheart-style, off the shoulders, low or high. Full-skirted "ball gown" styles are still in, ranging from "plain and simple" to "sequins head to toe." And lace is popular as a trim, with manufacturers coming up with new designs and even new varieties of lace. Most of Fortin's clients opt for a simpler silhouette, with many choosing A-line styles. Though ornamentation is available, they don't like a lot of heavy detail, she said, adding, "But they still want to feel like a bride." Color and laceColor is having a moment, with brides not only choosing between snow-white and ivory, but she also stocks, and sells, ice blue, champagne, dove gray and something called "soft blush." They're also deeply interested in detail. "Everyone wants a different look -low back, strapless, the sheer illusion necklines," she observed. She pulled out another gown. "This is more of a 'boho' look, all lace," she said. "It's good for summer weddings or destination weddings to warm places." It's also nice for "barn" weddings, another trend observed by Fortin. Changing with the timesThe trend of older brides with careers and their own money continues, according to Fortin, "though I still get a few young ones." The median age for today's couples is 28 for the bride and almost 30 for the groom, she said, quoting industry research. But she's helped women ranging in age from 18 to 70, she added. Fortin's gowns range in price from $500 to $3,000. For designers she relies on Maggie Sotero, Casablanca, Kenneth Winston and Pronovias. "I'm thrilled with the lines we carry, their quality, their styling," she said. The dove-gray gown with the beading is a Kenneth Winston and retails at $2,300. Over 34 years Fortin has also seen trends in the bridal shop industry. Like everything else it has been affected by the Internet, she said. "At one time in the '80s and '90s there were five bridal shops in the greater Manchester area," she said. "Now we're the only one." But Fortin warned that for techno-brides, quality will suffer. "The quality isn't there," she said, adding that "her" brides get to touch the fabrics and look at the lace before committing themselves. She and her staff have performed a couple of rescue missions, when a bride-to-be brings their Internet dress in for repairs. Demographically there are also fewer brides, with the walk down the aisle not necessarily a requirement for a successful life. But the ones that remain know what they want, and Fortin and her staff are prepared to give it to them. "We want them to feel good about themselves," she said. Tweaking the trendShe goes to bridal markets several times a year to keep pace with the industry. While her clients accept most of the trends, there's one that Southern New Hampshire brides eschew: the plunge. Maybe they're modest, maybe it's too darn cold. "The gowns from the shows are much more revealing," she said as she lifted the skirt of a beaded Maggie Sotero beauty. One of the newer designs is sheer from the waist down, she said. But Fortin had a word of hope for women who like other aspects of the dress: "I can order it lined." The Sotero dress has a plunging neckline, plunging back and almost no sides, but that doesn't faze Fortin. "If they ask, I can add 'modesty panels,'" she said.  |
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