The Sisters Tailoring for Tots for the sixth consecutive holiday season, have given dolls with handmade doll outfits made by the “Sisters” themselves, along with other toys to various groups in the area for children in need.
The Sisters Tailoring for Tots began when the sisters, Mary Bartels, Linda Hoffman, Sue Cole, Julie Hollmer, Nancy Kaczmarek, and Kate Piotzkowski, examined the impact COVID-19 had on families and hope for the holidays during the pandemic.
The sisters decided to use their skills in sewing to create gifts for children to celebrate the holidays and have been doing it every Christmas season since.
“It is always just so much fun to do,” explained fellow sister Sue Cole. “And we understand the stress parents face this time of year, so we do whatever we can to help.”
They package up each doll with five to six sewed outfits, as well as sewn garment bags for the outfits, made throughout the year. And for the second year in a row, Sue’s niece, Amy Bartels, made matching bracelets for kids and their dolls.
For the boys, the Sisters also make roll up Matchbox/Hot Wheels car carriers and purchase toy cars to give away.
All the kids also receive sewn “coloring bags,” with crayons and coloring books.
Once everything is packaged up, which the Sisters spent doing last Thursday, they then head out and donate the dolls, doll outfits, and toys out to Crawford, Grant, Iowa, and Sauk Counties, as well as the children’s hospitals in Madison and Milwaukee.
“It just brings us so much joy, and we are happy to be able to provide these wonderful gifts,” Sue went on to say.
“We would like to keep this project going, but as you know, everything is getting more and more expensive,” Sue went on to say.
If anyone is interested in supporting/donating to the Sisters and their “Tailoring For Tots” holiday project, please contact Sue Cole at (608) 822-6449, or Mary Bartels at (608) 822-3995.
And in what has become a tradition with the seasonal article on the Sisters and their Tailoring For Tots, Sue closed with the line, “Our plan is to keep going until we can’t anymore. We’re retired and have nothing better to do.”
