This project was started after Sheilah Lee Restall (the organizer) saw a post on reddit about another community who came together and made a massive, beautiful poppy blanket. Inspired by this post, she reached out to the Handmade Winnipeg Facebook group community to see if anyone wanted to go off the deep end with her, and take on the massive undertaking of trying to do the same thing here in Winnipeg. The response was an overwhelming YES! From there Sheilah reached out to City Councillor Devi Sharma, who was responded with enthusiasm and has partnered with Sheilah to move the project forward to and become a success.
In one years time the community has come together and made a blanket more than 85ft in length, with over 8000 handmade poppies, and thousands of dedicated ribbons. Our community has made something amazing!
The Poppy Blanket hanging at the Manitoba Legislature
We are pleased to have been granted permission by The Royal Canadian Legion to honour our veterans through our project and to use the Poppy Trademark(please refer to the bottom of the page for trademark details).
Resources and How-to's
All the information you need to help!
News and Media
Friends of the Poppy Blanket
Devi Sharma City Councillor of Old Kildonan
Garden City Shopping Centre
Contact Us
You can reach the organizers by e-mailing info[at]PoppyBlanket[dot]ca
How to get Involved
There are many ways to get involved with this project, and it is not limited to people who can knit or crochet!
Knitters/Crocheters
First and foremost, we are looking for people to make poppies. This is something you can do from the comfort of your home.
For most people, each poppy will take no longer than 30 minutes to make, but this depends on what pattern you choose and your skillset.
At this time, we cannot provide any supplies to help you knit/crochet. If you have old red yarn in your possession, please feel free to use it.
We are not looking for exact shades, as a whole variety of shades will just make for a more beautiful blanket (but please stick to red shades).
Sewers
As the poppies are made, we will need to attach them to the blanket. If we can get this done throughout the year it will make September and October of 2019 less stressful.
We don't need experienced sewers, as this task will be very simple, just time consuming. Unfortunately you won't be able to do this from your couch.
Host Poppy Making Party
A lot of people want to make the poppies, not everyone knows how. We are looking for people who are willing to have a "party" to make poppies with a group of people, and teach the people who don't know how.
You won't be expected to provide any of the supplies (everyone should bring their own), just the know how and the place to hang out.
Please note that these poppy making parties are private events. They are not official events for this project, but we will help assist getting everyone communicating.
Administration
I don't know what will be required, but I have no doubt that there will be some administration work at some point. This could be stuff like picking up poppies from the drop points, paper work, etc., etc. I don't know yet, but I have no doubt I will need help.
Donations
As this is a project of volunteers, we are all funding this out of our own pockets. The poppy makers are supplying their own yarn, the fabric for the blanket is currently being paid for by the organizers, etc. etc.
If you wish to help us with this endeavour we are currently in need of the following supplies:
- Yarn
- Thread
How to make a Poppy
Patterns
In order not to have ridiculously large poppies, we ask that no poppy be larger than 5 inches in diameter.
Also, other types of poppies are allowed, not just knit and crocheted ones. If you know how to make felt poppies, or other hand made fabric types, please feel free to make those :)
Here is a list of the current locations to drop off your poppies! For those of you living outside of Manitoba, please look below the map for an address you can mail your poppies to!
When dropping off your poppies we ask that you please put them in a plastic bag (like a ziploc bag) and include a note with your name on it, that way we can include the names of all the volunteers on this site and on posters when we are all done!
Office of City Councillor Devi Sharma
646 Leila Avenue
Tuesday and Thursday 1pm - 4pm
Phone number: 204-986-5264
Canadian Goodwill - all 6 locations
70 Princess Street
3431 Portage Ave
317 St Anne's Rd
1540 Pembina Hwy
136-701 Regent Ave West
16 Main Street (in Ashern, Manitoba)
Since we are fortunate enough to have volunteers from all over Canada, I have arranged for a PO Box for poppies to be mailed to.
When you mail your poppies, please be sure to include your name!
Sheilah Restall
PO Box 99900 YZ 720 951
RPO Garden City
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R2V 5A2
Dedicating Your Poppies
I wanted to have a way to make each poppy individually meaningful. The whole blanket will be amazing, but each poppy is also made of love, and I wanted a way to show that.
To make each poppy personally dedicated, knitters should sew a ribbon to the back of their poppy with the name of the person they wish to dedicate it to written on the ribbon. The ribbons will remain on your poppies when we sew the blanket together. Personally, I will be dedicating two of my poppies to my grandparents who both served in WWII.
Trick to writing on a ribbon
1) Spray the ribbon with hair spray
2) Let ribbon dry
3) Write on ribbon with regular ball point pen
4) Spray with hairspray again and let dry
News and Media
On this page are the various news article and media about the blanket!
The POPPY DESIGN is a registered trademark of The Royal Canadian Legion, Dominion Command and is used under licence.
La représentation du coquelicot est une marque de commerce enregistrée de La Direction nationale de La Légion royale canadienne, employée sous licence.
