General Discussions > Sewing and Knitting

Learning to sew again

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Anastasia:
My wife and daughter have taken it upon themselves to sew masks for friends and family. My daughter had been trying to learn how to sew so she could sew new bandanas for her beloved dogs. They were having trouble with the machine they borrowed from my mom so my wife put out the call on a neighborhood app. There are now 3 machines sitting in my livingroom. My mom reminded my wife I know how to sew and I had won an award in my home ec class for best sewing project. So suddenly I'm lead seamstress and trouble shooter on this project based on skills learned 40 years ago and never again used!

So now I am once again learning how to stitch and all that fun stuff. Maybe by the time I am done with this, I will be able to sew something nice for myself!

I could use a little help for ideas from anybody who reads this. Needless to say, the demand for suplies for this project is sky high and sewing shops are out of stock and closed. Online as well. What else could serve the role of of the elastic band used to tie the mask on? Shoe laces and scrunchies are also out of stock. I found several types of plant tie ribbon that looked good online but wouldn't work when I went to the store. Any other suggestions?

Allie Jayne:
Cut off all those hanging ribbons in your tops and use them, or go through your wardrobe and find old or ill fitting clothes and you may have plenty of materials.

Hugs,

Allie

Anastasia:
That could work. Some of my old "active wear" tops have stretchy fabric. Lot of sewing to make ties! But, lot if color choices.

JanePlain:
Add me to the list of sewing for the first time.   Machine sewing anyway.

Daniels:
I used material from old GC2 compression shirts. The fabric is 7O% polyester, 30% spandex. Any stretchy fabric should do nicely.

Cut 1/2” wide strips
Fold in half and stitch close to the edge. Now you have your 1/4” elastic.
You can make long strips and then cut it to your preferred length.

This was a tedious task but the fabric works great. I used a stretch needle and a straight stitch. I was worried that the straight stitch wouldn’t hold but it has been fine.

I suspect t-shirt fabric could be used as well. Search for “t-shirt yarn” on the internet for a neat idea about how to cut it up.

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