The first floor of this Arkansas woman’s home is a workshop for tiny angel gowns. She is sewing the gowns to give families a moment to cherish their babies who never get to go home from the hospital.
Terry Bauer, a retired Pickerington Schools teacher who taught home economics classes for 30 years, stumbled upon an idea to use her sewing skills for good one night as she scrolled through Facebook. She saw a woman who was using donated wedding dresses to craft bereavement outfits for infants who die. The Reynoldsburg resident knew she could help, too, and she has likely sewn more than 1,000 angel gowns since 2014 for a variety of local hospitals and charities across the nation.
Almost every day in the United States, an infant loses their life through stillbirth or miscarriage. The loss of an infant is the most traumatic, unimaginable thing that can happen to a family, and there isn’t much comfort for grieving parents. One of the most heartbreaking moments is when a parent has to sort through the lost and found tub at the hospital to find clothes for their little one.
This is what inspired a grandmother in Hot Springs Village to turn her retirement into a project that helps others. Colleen Angel, who goes by the nickname Grandma Angel, turned her first floor into a sewing room where she creates gowns for tiny premature babies. She’s now a nationwide volunteer, sewing them in her spare time and donating them to hospitals all over the country.
The gowns are made from dresses that once symbolized hope and happiness in new marriages. They are then repurposed and given to families who have experienced the loss of an infant during pregnancy or at birth.
Angel Gowns of WNY is a nonprofit group that takes donated wedding gowns and turns them into final photo and burial gowns for babies who don’t make it to their full term due to complications from preemie birth, or they are stillborn. The group will provide a gown to any hospital, infant loss organization, or funeral home who requests it.
Bauer’s husband, a retired labor and delivery nurse, supports her work, and she has a small team of seamstresses who help out when they can. In addition to making gowns, she’s also designed patterns for sleep sacks and overalls that some families might prefer as burial clothing for their baby.
The gowns are a beautiful way to honor the short lives of a precious baby. But they’re also a symbol of love, hope and healing for mothers who have suffered the same unimaginable tragedy that thousands of other women do each year. They knit broken hearts from around the world together in a shared experience of loss and grief. The NICU Helping Hands program at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital is proud to support this wonderful cause. The cost of the garments is covered through donations from families, friends and supporters.