Shelter-in-place Sewing
Hello friends. It's been awhile since I've posted here to the blog. At the end of last month the Governor of Illinois announced a shelter-in-place initiative, and ordered non-essential businesses to close due to the Covid-19 virus outbreak. Unfortunately, my part-time, work from home job didn't make the cut, and I was laid-off from my job. So I do have a little more time on my hands these days. :)
How are all of you coping with the situation in your location? Are you sheltering in place, working from home, or are you an essential worker? Our family is probably going through a lot of the same things you are, and we're just hanging in there.
I see lots of you out there using this opportunity to sew, craft, quilt, and otherwise be creative! I have to admit, I haven't had the same creative urge to start making or sewing lately. Or I should say, it's more like I feel like I want to sew, but also feel totally overwhelmed by our current circumstances and don't have the energy to start a new project.
The one thing that is keeping me sewing is making fabric face masks for my family. I have a family member who works in a hospital and contacted me a few weeks ago specifically requesting some handmade face masks. I'm also making some for elderly family members who are in the high-risk category to wear when they absolutely need to go out of the house.
There are tons of tutorials out there for making fabric face masks, and if you are an experienced sewist I'm sure you'll find your own best way for making face masks. I found a few ways when I sew face masks to make the process go quickly, and to make sure they fit the needs of the final recipients.
I am using the tutorial first posted by The Deaconess here which I first read about at BERNINA's WeAllSew blog here.
I first made just a few for my family and asked them to try them out before making more. We found that the elastic was a bit too big, so I adjusted from a 7" length to a 6" length. I also added a layer of lightweight, non-woven, fusible interfacing to the inside of the mask as an extra layer.
My first tip is to use the batch sewing method (you can read more about this method here), setting myself up to sew about 10 masks at a time.
There are a few sewing techniques used in this tutorial, such as sewing a seam and edgestitching. Instead of switching back-and-forth between specialized presser feet (like an edgestitch foot or straight stitch foot), I use a patchwork foot that's made to help you sew straight stitches and a perfect quarter-inch seam.
The patchwork foot is perfect for sewing the quarter-inch seam around the mask (don't forget to leave that opening in the bottom to turn inside out).
After stitching around all the masks in my pile, I move over to the ironing board to turn the masks inside-out and press. You can move back to the sewing machine and just finger pleat the sides of the mask just like the video in the tutorial linked above, but I find it helpful to press them in place.
And I pin in place before moving back to the sewing machine.
I use the patchwork foot to topstitch all around the outside edge of the face mask, and this will also secure that opening used to turn the mask inside-out closed in this step.
The patchwork foot is perfect for stitching that final run all around the outside of the face mask at a quarter-inch from the edge.
This method makes a nice, crisp face mask.
The pleats open up to create the perfect shaped face mask.
And it's easy for me to feel like I've accomplished something when sewing a batch of about 10 at a time.
Thanks for stopping by for a visit! Let me know what kinds of projects you are making, or let me know how you are able to stay creative.
Stay well!
How are all of you coping with the situation in your location? Are you sheltering in place, working from home, or are you an essential worker? Our family is probably going through a lot of the same things you are, and we're just hanging in there.
I see lots of you out there using this opportunity to sew, craft, quilt, and otherwise be creative! I have to admit, I haven't had the same creative urge to start making or sewing lately. Or I should say, it's more like I feel like I want to sew, but also feel totally overwhelmed by our current circumstances and don't have the energy to start a new project.
The one thing that is keeping me sewing is making fabric face masks for my family. I have a family member who works in a hospital and contacted me a few weeks ago specifically requesting some handmade face masks. I'm also making some for elderly family members who are in the high-risk category to wear when they absolutely need to go out of the house.
There are tons of tutorials out there for making fabric face masks, and if you are an experienced sewist I'm sure you'll find your own best way for making face masks. I found a few ways when I sew face masks to make the process go quickly, and to make sure they fit the needs of the final recipients.
I am using the tutorial first posted by The Deaconess here which I first read about at BERNINA's WeAllSew blog here.
I first made just a few for my family and asked them to try them out before making more. We found that the elastic was a bit too big, so I adjusted from a 7" length to a 6" length. I also added a layer of lightweight, non-woven, fusible interfacing to the inside of the mask as an extra layer.
My first tip is to use the batch sewing method (you can read more about this method here), setting myself up to sew about 10 masks at a time.
There are a few sewing techniques used in this tutorial, such as sewing a seam and edgestitching. Instead of switching back-and-forth between specialized presser feet (like an edgestitch foot or straight stitch foot), I use a patchwork foot that's made to help you sew straight stitches and a perfect quarter-inch seam.
The patchwork foot is perfect for sewing the quarter-inch seam around the mask (don't forget to leave that opening in the bottom to turn inside out).
After stitching around all the masks in my pile, I move over to the ironing board to turn the masks inside-out and press. You can move back to the sewing machine and just finger pleat the sides of the mask just like the video in the tutorial linked above, but I find it helpful to press them in place.
And I pin in place before moving back to the sewing machine.
I use the patchwork foot to topstitch all around the outside edge of the face mask, and this will also secure that opening used to turn the mask inside-out closed in this step.
The patchwork foot is perfect for stitching that final run all around the outside of the face mask at a quarter-inch from the edge.
This method makes a nice, crisp face mask.
The pleats open up to create the perfect shaped face mask.
And it's easy for me to feel like I've accomplished something when sewing a batch of about 10 at a time.
Thanks for stopping by for a visit! Let me know what kinds of projects you are making, or let me know how you are able to stay creative.
Stay well!
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