Coronavirus: Rush on sewing machines and fabric hits Melbourne

As Wednesday’s deadline to don masks approaches sewing machines and fabric are in hot demand as Melburnians get crafty to save lives

Daniel Andrews masks up before addressing the media in Melbourne on Victoria’s latest COVID numbers. Picture: Daniel Pockett

Whether for a profit or a friend, Melbourne’s makers are stripping the shelves of sewing machines, elastic and fabric as sewers rush to meet demand for a comfortable and practical face mask by Wednesday’s deadline.

Bob Stiles, owner of The Sewing Machine Company, reckoned he had hundreds of customers on Monday, calling him or traipsing through the door of his Glen Waverley shop, in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.

“Customers are my friends but when I have 200 of them, it’s hard,” he said.

“It’s good but it’s crazy.”

Mr Stiles said he sold out of elastic as well as some of the cheaper models of sewing machines but everyone who came into the shop appeared to know their way around a bobbin.

“I think it’s great that people are getting back to sewing,” he said. “We never envisaged what was going to happen today. I was supposed to be out picking up stock and I haven’t been out of the shop at all.”

On the homemade front, Meredith Kain from Carnegie has been inundated with requests from friends and family after making masks for herself and her husband.

She delivered two orders on Monday, one for a lady with a petite face who couldn’t find a retail mask to fit and the other for a woman with sensitive skin that reacted to the disposable masks.

“In the last two days I made 30 and delivered them,” she said.

“The difficult thing is everyone’s run out of elastic.”

Ms Kain said there were two solutions to the shortage – cut elastic from disposable masks or grab a pack of hair ties from the chemist or supermarket.

And as for fabrics, Ms Kain said she uses three layers of fabric in the masks; a pure cotton on the inside layer for absorbency, a poly-cotton weave in the middle and usually a black, navy or spotty-patterned fabric on the top.

Workers at Nobody Denim in Thornbury making masks. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

“Some people are being brave [with fabric design], some are not,” she said.

Ms Kain said she had a couple of reasons for making her own masks, not only for comfort. “I’m really a recyclable, reusable and repurpose person,” she said.

“The throw-out-everyday ones don’t sit well with me.

“Keep them for medical personnel who really need them.”

Ms Kain said making masks was a nice thing to do for a person.

“We can all do with a little bit of kindness,” she said.

Her friends agree, paying the kindness back with wine, chocolate and even cupcakes.

On Etsy, face masks were going fast as well, with customers paying on average $20 to $30 for a single mask that could blend in or stand out, or one for the kids to match a stuffed toy.

Galina’s Clothing Alterations in Camberwell had a line spooling out the door as owners Jacob and Galina Kats sold face masks in conservative black and navy.

Mr Kats said the run on masks started on Friday and more than 100 were sold on Monday.

He said they started making masks in March when quarantine began but then it was just a way to keep busy. “We take orders from customers and [if they want to bring fabric] they need to order at least two or three,” he said.