A small-scale plan to send dresses to 100 girls in Kenya has blossomed into a national effort that has seen more than 1,300 dresses sent to Africa.

Smile Dresses was started up last year by Joyce Rhead of Stratford, P.E.I. and a few of her friends. The organization makes dresses out of pillowcases and sends them to girls in developing countries.

Last summer the group's goal was to ship 100 dresses to Kenya, but the idea caught on and now people all across Canada are sewing up the little dresses.

Rhead said she can't believe how the group has taken shape.

"It's been an amazing journey. It's something that I didn't do on my own," she said.

"I had an idea, I brought it back and these ladies and the ladies all over the country are picking up on it and I had nothing to do with it. It blows my mind. It's just amazing. It just gives me goose bumps."

Rhead said Smile Dresses' next goal is to send off dresses with members of the Women's Institute when they travel to India.