ELLINWOOD — As an act of kindness, the Twilight Stitchers Club in Ellinwood decided to use their talents for sewing and make dresses for poverty-stricken girls in Africa.

A member of the group suggested the project, and the women decided to take it on.

"We thought it would be for somebody less fortunate," said one member. Another thought it was a good Lenten Project.

Ten ladies over a period of four weeks sewed 50 dresses in sizes from 3-12. The club has never sewn dresses before, but got the instructions through Nancy’s Notions.

A nonprofit organization called "Little Dresses for Africa’s" main mission is to provide dresses to girls in remote villages in Africa. The dresses the local group makes will be shipped to Africa at no change to the Twilight Stitchers through the PBS show Nancy’s Notions. Nancy’s Notions has shipped 13,960 dresses as of January.

The pattern for the dresses was free. The ladies only had to purchase six yards of fabric, and had over 50 yards donated from local churches or their own closets. The dresses tie over the shoulders, so the size can be adjusted as the girl grows.

This is the first year that the group has made the dresses. In addition to the dresses, the members make TLC quilts for members of their community who are having a difficult time.

Little Dresses for Africa is a non-profit 501c3 Christian organization which has distributed over 175,000 dresses to third world countries

More information is available at www.nancysnotions.com.