Homemade clothes for preemies

Newborns are tiny, preemies are even tinier, but clothes made for premature babies are often hard to find and never seem to be small enough. <br/><br/>A Tulsa woman is doing her part to correct that,

Monday, November 14th 2005, 10:30 am

By: News On 6

Newborns are tiny, preemies are even tinier, but clothes made for premature babies are often hard to find and never seem to be small enough.

A Tulsa woman is doing her part to correct that, at least for some premature babies. As News on 6 reporter Rick Wells explains, she loves to sew for babies she has never met.

Joy Butcher is sewing preemie clothes, outfits for babies born prematurely, before 37 weeks. "How's that look, think it will go." Preemies are, of course, smaller. Baby clothes are much too big, even store bought clothes made for preemies don't fit.

Joy tried to find patterns, still too big. "I got my doll clothes." She made her own patterns from doll clothes.

When she gets a stack of outfits done she takes them up to the neonatal intensive care unit at Hillcrest Medical Center. They love them. RN Jennifer Kelley: "the clothes, she makes clothes that have ribbons and bows or sailors." Jennifer Kelley is the discharge planner at Hillcrest's NICU. She says they keep them in a special closet with other items donated for these very little babies. "After I make 'em I press them and put them in these little bags to keep them nice."

Joy learned to sew in junior high; she sewed for herself and for her daughter. When her daughter was grown she put the machine away, until a friend asked her to help with this project and she visited the hospital. "It just gave me the felling I need to do something for these babies. I started sewing for them and I've been doing it ever since."

She's never seen any of the babies that have worn her outfits, but that's not the reason she does this. "That's the main reason I do it. Somebody will get some benefit, even though I will never know them." Well, now at least, some of them may know you.

Joy says she can make a couple of these outfits a day if she really stays at it. She doesn't know how many she's turned out; she says she stopped counting at 250.