Portland has been blessed by the work and passion of the Door to Grace and Adorned in Grace organizations. Door to Grace serves to provide care and shelter for teen girls who have been victims of sex trafficking. Adorned in Grace, which came from Door to Grace, serves to “raise awareness and funds for the prevention of human trafficking and support for its victims,” in the words of director Linda Tribbett. Part of the amazing work that Adorned in Grace does is their Design Studio Outreach, which, as Linda so beautifully said, “seeks to aspire young women and girls to become advocates on behalf of their at-risk sisters and friends for the prevention of child sex trafficking.”

A visit to one of their workshops.

Portland has been blessed by the work and passion of the Door to Grace and Adorned in Grace organizations. Door to Grace serves to provide care and shelter for teen girls who have been victims of sex trafficking. Adorned in Grace, which came from Door to Grace, serves to “raise awareness and funds for the prevention of human trafficking and support for its victims,” in the words of director Linda Tribbett. Part of the amazing work that Adorned in Grace does is their Design Studio Outreach, which, as Linda so beautifully said, “seeks to aspire young women and girls to become advocates on behalf of their at-risk sisters and friends for the prevention of child sex trafficking.”

Every so often, the girls involved with Door to Grace’s day program do workshops at that design studio, as well. The other half of Adorned in Grace’s work is a bridal shop that sells second-hand wedding and formal dresses to raise funds that go towards the anti-sex trafficking cause. 

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting the Adorned in Grace Design Studio in NE Portland. Each week the Design Studio holds a workshop where girls can get crafty and creative with the formal dresses not used by the Adorned in Grace Bridal Shop.

The space in the design room is taken up mostly by dress racks, bursting with flowing colors and textures, and all the necessary sewing equipment. There’s a bit of room for laying out sewing patterns on the floor which we used to its full capacity.

I joined some wonderful women, a few who work regularly with Adorned in Grace, some who are involved with Door to Grace’s ministry, including the director Felicia, and two girls from Door to Grace’s day program. After everyone arrived, we got right to work. The girls chose from dresses and colors that would look great on them, and began to create, with the help of some master seamstresses. This design studio bursts with creativity and life, but even more so when there are women working in there who, themselves, are bursting with creativity and life.

At the surface this workshop seems like a bunch of females just enjoying the love of fashion and each other’s company. It seems so simple. One might think, what is this even doing? What is it accomplishing? But I could not help but think how beautiful everything is about the workshop. What it accomplishes and what it brings into the world is so subtle, yet so important.  I believe the workshops are powerful because art can bring people from different backgrounds, with different stories, and with different needs, to a common ground. All who participate work joyfully together towards the common goal of making beauty out of something that has been overlooked. Someone’s heart bore the inspiration for this idea and was graced by taking part in God’s genius masterpiece for the redemption of our city. 

Want to learn more about Adorned in Grace and Door to Grace?