Like many people, Sandra Edens has always wanted to find a way to use her talents for good. But her talent is sewing, and she never seemed to find the right match or opportunity for her capability. Then one day, she was reading "Citizen Airman," the official magazine of the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. That’s when it hit her. The April 25 issue featured an article on the creation of a group known as "Sew Much Comfort," an organization created to provide adaptive clothing for injured veterans.

"I come from a military family," said Edens, who is a member of the Air Force Reserve. "So this was something that really spoke to me."

With military efficiency, Edens went to work. First she tracked down the founder of the organization and set up a meeting. Then she worked with other sewing enthusiasts to set up a nonprofit organization. By December 2005, she was hosting a weekly sewing circle in at her townhouse in Kingstowne. But the group became so popular that it eventually moved to Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church in February 2008.

"This is something that’s ideally suited for the church," said the Rev. Wollom Jensen, pastor at Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church. "Not only is the church a peacekeeping organization, we also have a tremendous amount of freedom that our servicemen and women help protect."

THE GROUP MEETS Tuesday nights at the church, which is located in Belle Haven. Members sew Velcro strips onto athletic shorts, T-shirts, pajama pants and boxer shorts. Some of the clothing items have Velcro on the left side, and others open from the right side. The group also creates clothing items that have Velcro strips on both sides. Some items are created by special request.

"Many of these injured service members have casts and bandages and tubes coming out of them," said Edens. "This gives some sense of normalcy, so they don’t have to wear a hospital gown all the time."

In the past five years, the group has provided more than 85,000 pieces of adaptive clothing and comfort accessories. The clothing is provided at no cost to the veterans, and the sewing is done entirely by the hand of volunteers. The vast majority of the clothing constructed in Mount Vernon is sent to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, although Edens said her group has also sent clothing to Andrews Air Force Base, Afghanistan and Iraq.

"We can’t keep up with the demand," said Edens. "There’s so much of a need for this kind of clothing."

THE MOUNT VERNON group is only one of the many Sew Much Comfort groups that meet on a regular basis to construct adaptive clothing. Overall, the nonprofit has about 1,700 volunteer seamstresses in the Untied States, Canada and Germany. Volunteers have shipped to 97 combat medial units, military hospitals, clinics and wounded warrior barracks. The organization also has a distribution center in Colorado, where un-adapted clothing is sent to volunteers and adapted clothes are sent to service-members.

The nonprofit organization receives a wide range of letters, many of which open a revealing window into the lives of those recovering from the wounds of war. An Air Force colonel said the gift from Sew Much Comfort meant more than any visit from a congressional delegation or celebrity tour. A Marine colonel said he deeply appreciated the gift, although he might have a hard time persuading Marines to wear pink and purple. And the wife of an injured serviceman wrote to thank the group for the clothing her husband wore while recovering at Walter Reed.

"The clothes gave Chuck self-esteem and dignity," wrote Carren Ziegenfuss in a 2006 letter to the nonprofit organization. "Chuck had a number of other surgeries after his initial stay at Walter Reed, and his suitcase always contained the clothes from Sew Much Comfort."