Here in the UK, reports have brought to light that medical scrubs are in short supply; this is where anyone with a sewing machine and basic sewing machines can do their bit!
Doctors, nurses and other hospital staff wear scrubs under their personal protective equipment (PPE), but the garments have been difficult to buy lately. Even ordered supplies are taking weeks to arrive. Many hospital staff don’t wear scrubs on an everyday basis but things are changing with the rise of Covid-19.
Our medical workers are risking their own health to fight this virus and if providing scrubs helps to take the pressure off it’s a really good thing for anyone who can sew (or who wants to learn to sew) can do!
If you want to get involved the best freely available PDF pattern that I have found is on the Sew Different website. Go directly to this page to download the pattern. You can then have the pattern printed – I recommend netprinter.co.uk and use them for all my printing needs – but do bear in mind they’re working overtime to meet the demand and Royal Mail are also suffering from the impact of Covid-19.
Need fabric?
Please bear in mind the following specifications when buying fabric for scrubs:
- 100% cotton or up to 50/50 polyester/cotton only
- Material weight 115gsm
- Plain, dark colours are preferred
- Must be washable at a minimum of 60 degrees
Empress Mills have a suitable range of fabrics here if you want to order online.
Fabric Land have a good range of cotton and polycotton available at wholesale prices.
Wholesale Fabrics are supplying members of the public scrubs fabric – but they’re closing on 9 April for Easter so you would need to get in there fast.
Fabworks have a collection online, also.
NB. If you are in Northern Ireland, you will find a wealth of info – and pattern files – on the Facebook group, NI SCRUBS. If you don’t mind printing your patterns on A4 paper and putting them together these are accessible and will help you get started now if you don’t want to wait for A0 prints in the mail. They also have a lot of fabric that has been donated by local fabric stores and other businesses so it might be worth checking out.