Sewing mojo has been looooowwwwwwwww but yesterday, following a friend’s advice, I joined the FB group named in the title of this post. I spent some hours reading the many many posts, people are joining all the time [over 4000 as I type] and subgroups are forming to coordinated efforts to make NHS scrubs all around the UK. I got myself hooked up to the one organising efforts in Birmingham, and as it happens, the hospital they are first responding to is the one where my lovely niece is working on the front line. She tells me they already have 5 dedicated wards of COVID patients, with as many as 16 nurses per ward already sick and isolating.
I have some fabrics in stock which meet requirements [cotton or poly cotton, min weight 120gsm] and have ordered 40m+ more after some hunting. Lots of places are offering discounts or reduced postage, BUT not all the fabric people are snapping up is actually suitable for requirements, which is a shame. I could have downloaded and taped a free PDF pattern but opted to get it shop-printed for a flat charge of £14, should arrive tomorrow.
Radpatterns have made a pattern for two styles of scrub caps, available free if you register with them. Washbags are the easiest things to make, so that staff can bung all their gear in, then fling it all into the washing machine without touching it. Fabrics for these are less stringent, and I’ve just washed 20+ old pillowcases [No, I don’t know why I have so many] and will just put a drawstring in, and they’re done.
So I’ve spent a couple of hundred, and have followed what a few friends have done and asked if anyone who can’t sew wants to contribute, to try to double the amount of fabric I can get my mitts on. Each suit takes about 3.5m, average cost per metre is £3-£4 for suitable weight fabric…it soon mounts up. Another friend suggested setting up a Gofundme page, so I have. Here’s the link if you want to bung a few bob into the pot. Once we’ve filled requirements locally, we will share resources further afield of course, and the group as a whole is doing an amazing job.
I’ll keep you posted
PS apart from this, and teaching from home for the last 2 weeks, I’ve mostly been making Wintercroft skull masks. Why not?
thedementedfairy 
You are so good.
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I have just received my material to get making scrubs, there are a few from my sewing class getting involved. I am fairly close to Birmingham to. I made some drawstring bags yesterday so will be sending them out too. It’s great how everyone is joining together to help🙂
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It is great, but shouldn’t of course be necessary. I hope people think next time we’re due to vote…this government are utter bastards.
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I keep looking at this initiative and wondering if I can help, but I’m not near enough any of the scrub hubs. There are requests for ear savers (a tape with a button at each end on to catch the face mask ear pieces onto on the back of the head, but I worry that those need to be sterilised too and they need slightly more thought than is going into them.)
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Ask your local GP/vet/dentist if they need any [they do]. The ear things are allowed by some trusts, not by others. Offer your help anyway=- it will make you feel better, even if the sewing is dull [it is, oh it is] and you could make caps/headband /bags etc and post them to where they’re needed without much fuss. In our area. people who can’t sew are volunteering to collect/deliver/distribute materials
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