Coming from Ballarat, Geelong and Melbourne to the Cotton Factory, 16 quilters put the finishing touches on blankets destined for the neonatal unit at the Royal Children’s Hospital. 

The quilts will be donated to the Very Snuggly Quilt program, which supplies the hospital wards with more than 170 quilts each month.

Cotton Factory owner Alison von Bibra has assisted the program through a large fabric donation drive.

People can purchase a $15 quilt fabric pack online which contains one metre of bright, high quality fabric. The fabric is given directly to the Very Snuggly Quilt program and then fashioned into a keepsake for a sick child.

Ms von Bibra said her business had already given more than 250 metres of quilting fabric to the program in 2017.

“They rely on donations, and it’s usually lots of browns and quite dated fabric, so we’re reinvigorating the process.” she said. 

“We’ve made it as easy as we practically can for people to donate and it has been successful.

“Particularly this time of year, it’s nice for people to be able to do something thoughtful.

“The real richness of the Cotton Factory is the community that sits around it, and we have no trouble mobilising that community for good causes.”

Very Snuggly Quilt program’s Josephine Kelly said when the program started ten years ago, the quilts were primarily for patients of the oncology unit.

But the program has expanded rapidly, as nurses saw the impact receiving a quilt had on the sick children.

“Their little faces light up,” she said. 

“The biggest thing we get told from parents and grandparents is that they cannot believe someone that doesn’t know them has spent so much time making something like this.”

“They provide hours of fun as well, as they have little characters in them, so they’ll play I-Spy too.”

If you’d like to purchase a fabric pack, head to www.cottonfactoryballarat.com