Softies For Mirabel

Join Softies For Mirabel

‘Softies For Mirabel’ is an annual handmade toy drive for the Mirabel children. Every year the toy drive is open to all crafty participants who wish to knit, crochet or sew a Softie or two. Participants are encouraged to be as creative as they like as each Softie will be matched to the age, likes and needs of a Mirabel child. To join in the next campaign look out for announcements on the Mirabel website / Facebook / Twitter and the Meet Me At Mike's blog in September / October.

Latest News

Thank you to everyone who shared their creative talent to make a Softie for the Mirabel children in 2011. The children are delighted that they have a new friend to play with and hug. Take a look at the Meet Me At Mike's blog posts on the 2011 campaign and the ‘Softies For Mirabel’ Flickr group to see the wonderfully eclectic range of Softies made from 2007 - 2011.

Softies for Mirabel patterns were published in New Idea Magazine on the 14th November 2011. Make some cute dinosaur, caterpillar, bear and elephant Softies for the children. Thanks to Meet Me At Mike's : Good Stuff For Nice People and New Idea for supporting this special campaign.

The campaign has supporters from all over the world and Vogue Japan's May 2011 magazine featured a two page spread on Softies For Mirabel in their 'Vogue Angels' supplement.  A 30 second animation for the digital version of  Vogue Japan  brought the Softies to life with captions such as "I'm your friend" and "Let's play!". Watch the animation on Mirabel's YouTube channel and look at Vogue Angel's article. Full details of the Vogue Japan article are available on the Mirabel in the Media webpage.

How Softies For Mirabel began

The campaign is the brainchild of Pip Lincolne, Melbourne craft enthusiast and owner of Meet Me At Mike’s store in Fitzroy, Victoria. Pip approached Mirabel in 2007 as she started an appeal on the Meet Me At Mike’s blog calling for the global craft community to make soft toys to donate to the Mirabel children. Pip believes that crafting should create something positive and as a result this popular blog has driven the campaign for 5 years. This "person to person hand-made appeal” keeps getting bigger and better every year as more people learn about Mirabel and contribute Softies to help make a difference to the life of a Mirabel child.