- When I sit down and sew,
my hands are busy with this thing that's so familiar.
[sound of sewing machine]
It's some magical combination
of the motor sound and the sound of the needle.
[machine sound]
It allows my mind
to open up and think about other things.
I do a lot of problem solving
when my hands are moving at a machine.
- Solving an unexpected problem
set Margaret Jankowski on a course to help mend the world.
- To me, a sewing machine is so much more than just a tool.
- Margaret learned that lesson in 2004
when a tsunami ravaged Asia.
An event made personal
through a story about a woman in Sri Lanka.
She had lost her sewing machine--
her only way to make a living.
- Something about that article really hit me.
As a sewer, I thought,
"I don't know what I'd do without my sewing machine."
But reading further and thinking about it,
it was clear, that for this woman,
that sewing machine was a tool for survival.
I thought I'll collect some sewing machines
and I'll send them over to Southeast Asia.
- At the time,
Margaret worked at a sewing machine shop in Madison.
She tapped the generous spirit of its customers
to donate machines
to what she named The Sewing Machine Project.
- Sewing machines are so important to people
that it's wonderful when people know
that their machine will have another chapter
and that it will go to help somebody else.
- As the first donated machines made their way to Sri Lanka,
disaster struck closer to home -- Hurricane Katrina.
- I rented a van,
and my daughter and I drove to New Orleans.
I still deliver sewing machines to New Orleans,
mainly to the Mardi Gras Indians.
It's an amazing community.
- I think there was one year that Mardi Gras,
the Mardi Gras parade would not have happened
without Margaret taking those machines down there.
- Today, The Sewing Machine Project
is more than just Margaret.
In the Madison area,
they hold sewing classes for under-served populations.
Monica Mims took one of the classes
taught by Rebecca Stanley
and is working with her as an apprentice.
- I'm really happy to teach her what I know.
And she's very fast.
She's a very fast learner. - Thank you.
It's a great opportunity to learn something new and fun.
- We offer classes in different spots around Madison.
And different groups around the country
are interested in offering this, too.
And we offer them machines and then,
they tailor the class to the population
that they're serving.
- In a converted
Madison Lutheran Church school room,
Margaret found a storehouse for donated machines.
- And as you can see, there are sewing machines everywhere.
We try to make sure that every single machine,
everything on it works.
We want our machines to make people happy.
We don't want it to be a headache in any way.
Our volunteers carefully go through them
and check everything.
- We have to be careful what we send out for machines,
because we don't want
to start a fire in someone's house.
- Margaret and The Sewing Machine Project's newest effort
benefits the public,
even if they don't want to touch a machine.
- All right. We're on it. - Thanks so much.
- My sewing skills are not good.
I can do things by hand.
I've never tried a machine, heaven help us all.
- Fortunately for Larry Orr, every other Wednesday,
The Sewing Machine Project offers free mending,
first come, first served,
at Madison's Goodman Community Center.
- These are some of the most popular ladies
in the building.
- When I'm mending something for someone,
especially people that I'm meeting for the first time,
to me there's something almost sacred about it
because so often these are things that are dearly loved.
There's so much trust
on the part of the person giving it to us.
I would say "sacred" is the word that I would use.
It's really something.
- Silk long johns, expertly repaired!
Thank you ladies. I really appreciate this.
- As Margaret watches The Sewing Machine Project
grow and diversify, she sees the common thread--
making a difference.
- Whether we are sitting at a table
and mending things for people or we're sitting down
next to someone who's learning how to use a sewing machine,
I can't help but think
that there's some little bit of mending going on.
You know, it might ease somebody's...
somebody else's struggle.
It might make somebody else's life easier in some way.
I think everybody has the power to do that.
We just want to do something that's good.
[mechanical hum of sewing machine]