Local Residents, Sewing Machines Help In Battle Against COVID-19

Sewing machines are no small part of the battle against COVID-19. The sewing warriors who stitch together masks for use by medical professionals, truck drivers, postal carriers, store clerks, family members and friends keep their machines humming constantly.

Interruptions in production come in the form of machine failure. But delay gives way to determination, and the work continues.

Bristol Borough resident Ronnie Walker, a registered nurse, spends four to five hours a day turning out masks, working on her own, “from the sidelines,” she said.

Her two machines came to a stop one day when the electrical outlet in her sewing room failed. No time to stop, she said, so she attached her plugs to extension cords while awaiting an electrician.

“I started on my own because my daughter Katie is a physician’s assistant and I worry about her and others in the family,” she said.

Word gets around. Walker’s masks have made their way close to home, for friends and neighbors, and across the country for doctors in California.

Behind Walker’s sewing table sits a big stack of colorful materials just waiting to be used creatively. Along with -standard masks, she makes headbands from bathing suit material – a material that’s increasingly hard to find – that keep the masks in place with hooks that fasten to headbands with buttons, instead of hooking behind the ears.

Walker has put out about 100 masks so far, “A way of helping by doing something from the sidelines,” she said.

One group of sewing heroes, the Bucks County chapter of the American Sewing Guild (ASG), remains at their posts to produce for whoever needs the masks. But they, too, encounter obstacles with their mechanical “weapons.” Some problems are minor, but in some cases, a sewing machine gives in to exhaustion, or, in Luz Lebo’s case, simply bites the dust,

In her case, Lebo simply dug out her old sewing machine and kept going while awaiting delivery of a new one, continuing her daily work that starts in the morning and stretches into the afternoon.

Guild member, Mary Ann Lalli, just works around her exasperations with the inanimate object she’s coping with.

“This dang machine; I wonder if I hold the record for broken needles. I’m having issues with the bobbin right now, but I am making it work until the part comes in,” said Lalli, who sends her masks to Jefferson Health.

Perseverance has its reward. A friend’s father died, and attendees at the funeral were required to wear masks. The friend needed one.

“It was not a big deal to make her a mask, but you would have thought I gave her a million dollars. That felt good to help one person,” Lalli said.

Rachel Shay said she’s lost count of how many masks she’s made, but her efforts were blunted temporarily when her sewing machine gave out. She borrowed her mother’s, but because of its age, she couldn’t figure out how to use it.

Shay’s mother-in-law came to the rescue, dropping off not one, but two sewing machines, and Shay was back in the action.

“It’s been a rewarding experience to make masks to keep people safe,” Shay said.

Falls Township resident Richard Andrews and his wife Helen are all in with ASG’s work, spending about six hours a day making the needed protective materials. Machine breakdown is no problem for this couple. They need only pluck another sewing machine from the wall, or out of a cabinet, or stored in an outside shed. The collection dates back to the 1800s when sewing machines were first invented, to more modern equipment.

A sewing machine historian, Richard Andrews has repaired and can operate most machines in a collection that varies from the familiar domestic ones, to larger, industrial sewing machines. He started his hobby about 10 years ago, after retiring as a technician from Modern Equipment Handling in Bristol Township.

Luz Lebo said that the guild has made and delivered 5,000 masks, and the work continues.

“There are many of us who have family and friends that work in the medical field. They need, we sew,” Lebo said, adding that all ASG masks are made according to CDC guidelines.

The American Sewing Guild is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to the art and love of sewing. Sewers of all skills are welcome to join. Visit www.asg.org for more information on local groups.

Kim Moll, president of the ASG’s Bucks Chapter, said she is pleased with the dedication of the organization’s members, many of whom go the extra mile by keeping a stack of masks with them, even in their cars, to hand out to anyone who doesn’t have one.

Anyone is welcome to volunteer with the group. Organizations or individuals who need masks, or can donate materials, can also visit www.weneedmasks.org.

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