Meet the ‘angel’ who started a sewing group to help needy

9Honey Heroes is a series highlighting unsung community heroes, recognising those who have gone above and beyond in helping others and making change
Once a week, volunteers gather in a nondescript church hall in Sydney’s southern suburbs to sew and stitch their way through a variety of clothing and accessories for adults and children in need.
Last year alone, the group made 9000 items that were then distributed to the needy through charities both in Australia and overseas.
The volunteers are part of Gabbies Sewing Angels, which was started in 2001 by retired school teacher Patricia Will.
READ MORE: Tess picked up the phone on her third shift and heard a stranger
Will, who left the corporate world in the 1960s to become a teacher after an eye-opening volunteer visit to what was then known as New Guinea, began the group after a chance encounter.
“I was at a spinning group with a lady who was cutting out material for shifts [dresses] for ladies and matinee jackets for babies, and I said, ‘What are you doing there?'” she tells 9honey.
“And she said the newborn babies in Malawi go home from hospital wrapped in newspaper, so I just said, ‘Give me the pattern and I will do some.'”
Will soon got other craft groups she was part of on board and together they made 50 items.
When she noticed members of her local church were making items for an upcoming fete, she suggested they form a group and Gabbies Sewing Angels was born.
“Someone said, ‘What are we going to call this group?’ And I said I think we should call it ‘Gabbies’ because you never stop talking,” Wills laughed.
After making clothing for the mothers and babies in Malawi came another project, and then another.
“It has just grown and grown,” Will said.
“Anyone who comes to us and says, ‘We need clothing’ will get it.”
After starting with four members, today that number has swelled to 45, who range in age from 60 to their 90s. Their oldest member was 98 and still sewing from home up until she died recently.
Now 88, Will is the group’s co-ordinator, overseeing operations. She still sews items herself, both at the hall each Thursday and at her kitchen table.
Those who are not able or well enough to travel can work from home while about 25 people attend St Gabriel’s Catholic Church hall in Bexley each Thursday.
Some volunteers cut out fabric for shorts, dresses, shirts, pencil cases, bags and other items. Others get to work on the 25 sewing machines and 15 interlockers – most of which were donated.
Most of the material they use is also donated, and the group fundraises to pay to service the machines.
No job is too big or small. They supply items to women and children escaping domestic violence and communities throughout Australia ravaged by natural disasters such as drought, bushfires and floods.
Two years ago they undertook a “massive job,” sewing thousands of items for families affected by the Lismore floods.
For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here.
They supply outback Australia and Aboriginal communities in Alice Springs, Bathurst Island and Whatyre Island.
Items have also been sent overseas to places including Timor-Leste, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, India, Syria and even Ukraine.
Sixteen boxes of items were recently completed that will head to Fiji.
In 2012, Will travelled to Timor-Leste to teach local women how to sew.
Now 88, Will is the group’s co-ordinator, overseeing operations. She still sews items herself, both at the hall each Thursday and at her kitchen table.
Among her fans is NSW Premier Chris Minns, who is also her local MP. He visited Will and her team of volunteers late last year and has also praised her in State Parliament.
“I would like to acknowledge and celebrate Ms Patricia Will for her commitment and dedication to Gabbies Sewing Angels,” he told Parliament in 2023.
“Whenever she can, Ms Will looks to her local community and other places to grow the organisation and let people know there is a welcome place for them should they like to share or learn sewing skills.
“I would like to thank Ms Will and express my deepest appreciation for the wonderful work that Gabbies does for our local community.”
Chris Coad and his wife Elwyn have been volunteering with the group since 2015.
He praised Will’s “lifetime commitment” to helping others.
“She has got boundless energy and she has the contacts, because you can do all these things but if you don’t know where to send these things there is no point,” he said
While Will doesn’t like a fuss, she was happy to raise the group’s profile.
“I think it’s good that people realise that there are other people in this world that don’t have the things we have and that there are wonderful people working with us,” she said.
“We have [volunteers] from 14 or 16 countries at the moment in our group and they are just beautiful people who want to give back.”
Will said the volunteers also get something out of what they do.
“If they are having a bad day at home, they can come and talk and feel better.”
While she knows she can’t stay at the helm forever, she has no plans to step down just yet
“Gabbies is my passion.”
This article has been produced in conjunction with NRMA Insurance.
FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.