Abigail’s Footsteps is a baby loss charity providing support and counselling for bereaved parents and families as well as specialist bereavement training for midwives and healthcare professionals. I first heard of the charity when they supported a family at the school where I worked at the time, and this lead to our School Parliament voting for Abigail’s Footsteps as their chosen charity and raising funds the following academic year.
So, what does that have to do with sewing?! Alyssa, the Bereavement Donation Coordinator, recently contacted me about their need for people to sew liners for their specialist cooling cots. The Abi cooling cot allows parents valuable time to spend with their baby before saying goodbye, and they are distributed UK wide by the charity wherever the need and funding allows.
By sharing about this project here on my blog and on my Instagram account, we’re hoping to reach a wider and more appropriately skilled audience to get cot liners sewn and sent to the hospitals that need them. So far, Abigail’s Footsteps have funded and delivered 210 cooling cots, and each of these cots needs a calico liner. The liners are super easy to sew and take around 90 minutes to make, including the cutting out. All you need is 1.25m of calico, an iron and ironing board and your basic sewing kit.
You can download the pattern here, but it is essentially just one rectangle and two squares that are hemmed on all sides and then joined together – if you can sew in a straight line, you can definitely make one! There is also now a video tutorial you can follow alongside the instructions when making the Abi Cot liners – you can watch it here. You can also download a helpful FAQ sheet for volunteers here. If you’re local to Hometown in Rochester, we have some printed copies of the pattern available, so just pop in an ask for one – we stock calico too! Once liners have been sewn, Alyssa (alyssa@abigailsfootsteps.co.uk) will let you know where there is a need for cot liners, and you can then post them directly to the hospital.
Today marks the end of Baby Loss Awareness Week, so I would encourage anyone who can share their time and sewing skills to get involved with this project, even if it makes only the tiniest bit of difference to bereaved families. 💜