The project is part of the 5000 Poppies project that invited crafters across Australia to plant a field of handmade poppies in Federation Square in Melbourne.

Project facilitator Helen Coughlan said she had been making poppies since last year.

The Bendigo team initially aimed at 6000 poppies. At last count Bendigo had made 16,396 poppies.

"All around Australia and New Zealand there are projects like this," Ms Coughlan said.

"We sent a few thousand to Melbourne for the Fed Square project and have about 17,000 for our project."

The poppies are being sewn together on 8 separate panels that measure seven metres in length.

They will hang from the columns of the Soldiers Memorial Institute in Pall Mall.

"We already have goosebumps and tears (at the thought of it)," Ms Coughlan said.

"It's going to be very overwhelming and moving. It's a beautiful project."

Ms Coughlan said there was a regular team of 18 poppy makers but that people from all over the region had contributed.

"Through word of mouth it kept growing. People are aged from the mid-40s to the 90s," she said.

"I love seeing women come together and connect or teach each other skills.

Ms Coughlan said she enjoyed sharing stories of people who had come together.

"We have been able to connect people together which is great," she said.

"(Shared) stories are about not only people who have been in war but the people who were left behind. The mothers, wives and children.

"I heard a couple of people talking and they both realised there were common themes in their stories.

"Neither of them knew their dads when they came back and they had never talked about it because people just would not speak about it.

"It has been a lovely and therapeutic experience for a lot of people."

The poppies themselves are a simple and heartfelt way of signifying a soldier who went to war.

"We wanted people to express who they are, the poppies just had to be about the same size," Ms Coughlan said.

"The beauty is that people can express themselves.

"Some people might have made one poppy, some people made a thousand but each poppy is so well loved."