September is gynaecological cancers awareness month, and throughout September, we are looking to encourage as many people as possible from the sewing community to make pants for cash – or, as we are calling it, FUNDERwear. 

This event is about raising money for a charity that is doing some incredible work in reducing the number of people who pass away from this horrible form of cancer. Over 50% of people who are diagnosed will cervical cancer die, which is a tragedy in its own right – but what makes this even sadder is that 99.8% of all cases are preventable. After a year in which we have lost control of so many things, it is good to know there is something we can take control of.

How to get involved with FUNDERwear '21

There are three simple ways you can get involved:

1) Join us for an event

Visit our hosts page https://funder-wear.co.uk/hosts contact a local event and head along and have fun.You can then make yourself a pair of pants, using one of the fabulous patterns available to us / or your own pattern, and then simply make a donation through the venue or our JustGiving page. Your registration at your chosen event enters you in to our prize draw. 

2) or, if you can't make an event....

Simply make a pair of pants, share them on our social media, remembering to tag us, and make a donation via the JustGiving page. You will then automatically be entered in our prize draw that is being supported by a host of amazing companies.

3) Alternatively, you could host your own event

If you have a shop, are part of a sewing group, or just have a big living room!, then get together with your customers or friends and host your own event. 

Let us know and, if you want, we will help you promote it!

Don't forget if you don't sew you can simply support the cause by making a donation. 

Free Patterns

To help you get started, Evie la Luve and Megan Nielsen Patterns have kindly agreed to let us use their free knicker patterns (click through to their websites to download the patterns). They have both gifted some fantastic discount codes too. Keep an eye out on our social media pages for these.

We are honoured that so many companies and individuals from the sewing community have already got on board to support FUNDERwear, and hope that that you will join us too.

If you are still reading and this sounds like something you'd like to get involved in, here is a little bit more about us and why we are launching FUNDERwear. 

Over a cup of tea, and a few biscuits, Lara and Julie came up with an idea to help raise money for a cause that matters. 

So, this is our story of how we got from nowhere to FUNDERwear.

We’re launching FUNDERwear this year in aid of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust. We only met a couple of years ago, but it was clear from the outset that we share the same values; a sense of community, a passion for bringing people together, for building positivity, and of course we both love to sew.

One day we were discussing the loss that so many have suffered this last year. Not only from the pandemic, but from the knock-on effects it has had on so many families. 

In fact, we’ve all seen some very dark times, and in dark times a little bit of kindness goes a long way. As was shown by the sewing community’s response to the call for scrubs in April 2020, one thing we do know is that sewists are an incredible group of people when we set our minds to achieve something. 

We had the idea of initially holding a small fundraiser in Julie’s mill workshop, The Thread Mill, Hayfield. However, what started as small fundraiser quickly started to escalate as more and more people wanted to be part of FUNDERwear – and our ideas started to grow too.

There are so many deserving charities, but for the launch of FUNDERwear Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust felt right. Like the pandemic gynecological cancers do not discriminate and affect all of us from our, mothers, sisters, friends, work colleagues and their families. So many women I know have put off their cervical screening and it is probably not yet known to what cost. Too many of us personally know the devastation of what terminal illness can do to friends and family, and the pain that is felt from losing loved ones. Unfortunately, even as we were planning this event, Lara lost her brother to a previously undiagnosed, underlying illness. 

In whatever way you can, please do get involved. Whether that be going to one of the workshops, donating a prize for a raffle or even hosting your own sew-along, we would be delighted if you could be part of FUNDERwear to. 

Together, we can make a real difference.

Lara and Julie

All monies raised will be given to the Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust. Individual raffles at venues will be drawn on the premises of venues taking part, on the day of their event. The prize draw is open to all taking part at venues, and on social media. The closing date for the prize draw is Thursday 30th September 2021. The prize draw will be drawn on the 2nd October 2021.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.