Get Involved Craft Connections
If you can knit, sew or crochet and would like to help our community by donating handcrafted items, we’d love to hear from you!
Life’s Little Treasures Foundation is proud to supply handcrafted resources to babies, families and hospitals.
Each year, Life’s Little Treasures Foundation provides over 152 hospitals with handmade items to be used in their neonatal intensive care (NICU) and special care nurseries (SCN). Without our vast community of crafters across Australia, we would not be able to make the journey through hospital easier for families and provide practical support to those in need.
How are my donated items used?
Our Little Treasures Welcome Packs, Little Bag of Calm, 100-day quilts, Financial Assistance packages, Little Readers Read-a-thon registration packs and so many other products have been designed to include hand-made items made with love.
We also donate items to families who have a premature or sick infant in their care at home.
Should you require any further information, please contact our Craft Connections Admin, Sarah, at craftconnectionsadmin@lltf.org.au
Contact Craft Connections AdminWhatever your favourite crafting style, we have a range of patterns that are hospital and parent approved for use with the tiniest and most vulnerable babies. We are always so grateful to receive thoughtfully handmade items using our preferred patterns. That way, parents can be comfortable that these items are safe for their baby and we know that we are providing handmade goods of the highest quality.
Knitting Patterns
Sewing Patterns
Crochet Patterns
Quilting Patterns
Craft Connections Newsletters
Craft Connections for Schools and Groups
Do you belong to a school or community group that would like to undertake a craft project together? We can help you work out what’s the best project for your group and help you to get started. Take a look at our suggested patterns by clicking on the link below:
Information for Schools and Groups
Frequently Asked Craft and Technical Questions
LLTF assists all families who start their journey in neonatal care, whether their baby is sick or premature. Therefore, your donations will be going to our smallest and most vulnerable babies, so it is vital that they are in keeping with hospital safety guidelines.
See below for answers to the most asked questions about donating handmade craft items. If you have a technical question that cannot be answered in our FAQs, please email our Craft Connections Specialist, Janene, at craftconnections@lltf.org.au
No. We have worked closely with hospitals to ensure our patterns meet hospital safety and infection control guidelines. For this reason, we can only accept items listed on our website.
All materials must be new, and free of extra embellishments such as ribbons and buttons (unless specified in the pattern). Please use 8ply acrylic, cotton or wool yarn and fabric types as specified in the pattern you are following. We also ask that you ensure that all material and finished items are: • Free from fluff, loose threads and pet or human hair • Clean and freshly laundered, with no odours • Stored in a smoke free environment
Knitting needles are specified in the individual patterns. Most patterns use 4mm needles. You may need to decide to change needle size to give you the correctly sized finished product if you produce a particularly tight or loose garment.
If you’re applying to be a Peer Support Volunteer role for our Facebook or hospital groups, then you will need to have had a prem or sick baby. We also have many roles that do not require this life experience.
The sizes have been developed to consider a range of requirements: • Packing and shipping requirements • Hospital guidelines • Our most requested items by families • Health and safety guidelines. • And to ensure all families are receiving the same quality and sized gift. For this reason, we would prefer that donations are kept to the sizes indicated in the patterns. We understand that there may be small variations based upon your personal tension but ask that you do your best to stick as closely as possible to the size specified in the pattern.
No, unless the pattern specifies otherwise. Embellishments of any kind can pose a safety risk to small babies.
To ensure we can direct your donations to where they are most needed, please send your donations to: Craft Connections Coordinator Life’s Little Treasures Foundation 1/21 Eugene Terrace Ringwood, VIC 3134
Yes, you can drop your donations into our office in Melbourne (Ringwood). Our office is open Monday to Friday 10 am to 2.30pm. We strongly urge anyone planning a visit to call first and let us know you are coming. Our number is 1300 697 736.
We are so very appreciative of donations that have followed the patterns provided on our website. We understand that there will always be a degree of variation when items are made by hand and are generally able to accept anything that has been made following our guidelines. We will pass them on to another charity on your behalf, and have worked with Backpacks for Kids, Red Nose and local opportunity shops to find appropriate recipients. If the items are flawed, we will endeavour to repair or re-make so that they can be used, but ultimately we ask that our community members please only send garments as per the patterns we provide.
No, each hospital has different rules with regard to what they will accept or use. We collect and sort donations on behalf of hospitals and supply them with items as they request them. We cannot provide your donation to a specific hospital unless it is by special request.
You will be sent an email acknowledgement with our thanks, provided that you have supplied your details and or have joined our mailing list.
Please include your full name, address, phone and email with all donations and we will add you to our mailing list. You can also register yourself as a member of Craft Connections using the link at the bottom of this page.
Please email our knitting and sewing volunteer team via our Craft Connections Coordinator at craftconnections@lltf.org.au
Get support from LLTF
We hope you have found the information included in the KE useful.
Remember we are always here for you, your family and your networks. You can contact us to find out more about our services, or just to chat to someone who has been there.
Contact us
I love volunteering for Life’s Little Treasures Foundation! My days at LLTF are my favourite days of the week. When we can’t find another use for a donated item, or it is faulty, I will unpick these items and remake them so that they can be loved and used by one of the many families that LLTF supports each year. At other times I help pack Precious Prem Packs and resource orders for hospitals. It is great to feel part of a team that helps families in such need.
- Maureen, Crafter and Warehouse Volunteer
I am the volunteer Craft Connections Admin Coordinator. In this role I sort through the beautiful handmade items that we receive and enter these into the database and so we can send thank you emails or letters to our wonderful Craft Connections volunteers. I love to see everyone’s gorgeous creations and looking at all the tiny items that I know families will treasure!” As an avid knitter and sewist, I take great honor in being known as the Crafting Specialist at LLTF. I really enjoy coming into HQ once a week to unpack all the parcels and check that items are up to the hospital standard. This is so important because of the nature of the needs of tiny babies in hospital. I spent over six months in hospital with my twin daughters, in both NICU and Special Care, and came to appreciate the need for support for parents in this position.
- Sarah, Craft Connections Admin Coordinator
As an avid knitter and sewist, I take great honor in being known as the Crafting Specialist at LLTF. I really enjoy coming into HQ once a week to unpack all the parcels and check that items are up to the hospital standard. This is so important because of the nature of the needs of tiny babies in hospital. I spent over six months in hospital with my twin daughters, in both NICU and Special Care, and came to appreciate the need for support for parents in this position.
- Janene, Craft Connections Specialist
As an avid knitter and sewist, I take great honor in being known as the Crafting Specialist at LLTF. I really enjoy coming into HQ once a week to unpack all the parcels and check that items are up to the hospital standard. This is so important because of the nature of the needs of tiny babies in hospital. I spent over six months in hospital with my twin daughters, in both NICU and Special Care, and came to appreciate the need for support for parents in this position."
JaneneCraft Connections Specialist
“I am the volunteer Craft Connections Admin Coordinator. In this role I sort through the beautiful handmade items that we receive and enter these into the database and so we can send thank you emails or letters to our wonderful Craft Connections volunteers. I love to see everyone’s gorgeous creations and looking at all the tiny items that I know families will treasure!” As an avid knitter and sewist, I take great honor in being known as the Crafting Specialist at LLTF. I really enjoy coming into HQ once a week to unpack all the parcels and check that items are up to the hospital standard. This is so important because of the nature of the needs of tiny babies in hospital. I spent over six months in hospital with my twin daughters, in both NICU and Special Care, and came to appreciate the need for support for parents in this position."
SarahCraft Connections Admin Coordinator
“I love volunteering for Life’s Little Treasures Foundation! My days at LLTF are my favourite days of the week. When we can’t find another use for a donated item, or it is faulty, I will unpick these items and remake them so that they can be loved and used by one of the many families that LLTF supports each year. At other times I help pack Precious Prem Packs and resource orders for hospitals. It is great to feel part of a team that helps families in such need."
MaureenCrafter and Warehouse Volunteer