by Randa Mulford and Rachel Philips

Editor’s Note: This month we have a really special blog: two long-time FabMo volunteers, Randa Mulford (who also brings you the FabMo newsletter every month!) and Rachel Philips are sewing for an organization called Sewing4Good and in this blog they share with you what the organization is doing and how they contribute.

RM: In the past few weeks, Rachel and I have joined many other volunteers to sew medical-grade isolation gowns through an initiative launched by the nonprofit Sewing4Good (sewing4good.org). Sewing4Good is working directly with hospitals to be sure that they can actually use what we produce. They also procure and distribute the appropriate materials to us home-sewing volunteers, and ship finished gowns out to fulfill the orders from hospitals and other organizations.

RP: It has been a great pleasure to contribute and come together in a meaningful way during this time of living apart. Like many people I had been very busy making masks, well over 100, and now I have self-promoted to stitching PPE gowns. This work has helped me feel like I have some structure to my days and weeks during a rather unmoored chunk of time. Being of service is meaningful at anytime, but now I am definitely getting as much as I am giving in this round of service.

A bundle of materials that my coordinator delivered to my doorstep.

RM: Sewers are organized into small collectives (Rachel and I happen to be in the same one) with a coordinator who brings us the materials (moisture repellent fabric, elastic, Velcro), tells us how many of what size to make, and picks up the finished gowns. (Our coordinator doesn’t sew, but there’s plenty that non-sewers can do to help in the effort.) So far we’ve been supplying our own thread.

As individual volunteers, we first had to print out and assemble the garment pattern from a PDF file. After I printed out and assembled the 40-page master pattern (which includes four sizes) once, I decided I didn’t want to have to do that for each size I needed, so I’ve been tracing off specific sizes from it onto pattern paper.

We’ve only had two weeks of actual sewing so far, but I'd say that the experience has been good, with more support coming all the time. There are a number of videos available online covering various steps in the construction process, so even novice sewers have a good source of information on what to do at each step. Of course, we’re all learning and discovering tips and tricks as we go!

When we signed up we committed to sewing an average minimum of 5 gowns/week. The initial information we got estimated that it would take about 2 hours of work per gown, but my experience the first week was more like 3-4 hours/gown, when you factor in the time for cutting, finishing raw edges, etc.

Fabric and pattern pieces on a mat on the floor, ready to cut

RP: My strategy has changed with experience and is evolving to support faster production. Here are some of my power sewer tips:

Cut the 60” fabric on a clean floor. (RM: I use a rotary cutter on a large mat on the floor. For people with limited space at home, you can also make an appointment to use large tables at Sewing4Good to cut your gowns.)
Position the selvage at the bottom of each pattern piece so the gown is stronger and takes less finishing on this sturdy edge.
Use pinking shears to cut the exposed seams (shoulders, armholes, sides and sleeves), so that the cutting is also the finishing. The pinked edge of the straight last cut bumps right up into the next straight cut to save strokes and cloth. (RM: I’ve switched to using a serger for the long exposed seams so they are stitched and finished in one pass.)
Align the pattern pieces on the fabric so that one cut edge is also the edge of the next piece you cut, saving the number of cuts you have to make.

RM: The first week I was asked to make 5 Medium gowns, but there was plenty of fabric for more, so I wound up making 7—that took me all week! The second week my assignment was 4 XL gowns and that was much more manageable. (Plus experience helped me figure out how to work smarter!) Now we’re waiting for our coordinator to deliver the third fabric bundle and to tackle this week’s assignment.

A batch of finished gowns (photo courtesy of Sewing4Good)

The Sewing4Good newsletter reports that distributions of finished gowns have started. After the first week of production, 100 gowns went to Mills-Peninsula Hospital and 25 to a group of social workers. The gowns we made the second week will go towards filling an order of 2,000 gowns for hospitals in New York City.

I believe that there are more than 10,000 gowns already on order, so there’s plenty of work to do! Sewing4Good still needs volunteers in California for sewing and other non-sewing tasks (like a webmaster!), as well as financial donations to purchase materials and pay for shipping. If you’d like to help, go to their website Sewing4Good.org.

Sewing For Good: Making Gowns with Sewing4Good