NI Scrubs: the sewing project supporting the NHS
At the beginning of April I spoke with Duncairn’s textile artist in residence Chloe Dougan about her leading role in the NI Scrubs project. It’s now week 7 and I’m catching up with her.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, Chloe stepped up and joined the NI Scrubs group on Facebook, leading the fundraiser and managing the logistics of this project. All over Northern Ireland 8k volunteers joined the group while many others helped by donating money and materials. An incredible 1400 volunteer members joined the Belfast and Lisburn division, getting ready to sew, gather and deliver materials and finished products to doctors and nurses in need. Chloe’s fundraiser collected nearly £15k, all of them went to buy fabric and materials. The work people put into making and delivering the scrubs has all been completely voluntary. In Belfast, fabric shops Sew & Sew and Mad about Fabric donated thousand of pounds in materials.
As of yesterday, these brilliant men and women managed to create and distribute: 5,011 sets of scrubs, 5,330 scrub bags, 422 face masks, and 177 caps.
It’s been surprising and overwhelming seeing so many people wanting to get involved, from retired seamstresses to hobby sewers. The generosity and the dedication they showed is just amazing. The first weeks were mental, there was so much to do and to organise, but now it’s calming down and we’re delivering the last orders. Everyone is feeling exhausted as this project got bigger than anyone expected very quickly. At the same time it’s given a lot of support to people, making them feel a useful part of the community, doing something for the greater good.
My house has been completely taken over by the project, I have bags of scrubs and fabric sitting in my driveway ready for collection all the time. Inside the house is the same, fabric and scrubs everywhere.
Chloe Dougan
As NI scrubs comes to a closure, there’s a little idea to create a piece of textile art to commemorate the great effort of all of those who got involved in the project. We’re looking forward to see this one too!
Chloe is also returning to her own clients and to the Duncairn community. In her role of sewing workshops facilitator, Chloe is creating 6 Easy Make video tutorials for the Duncairn. These are suitable to beginners and intermediates who want to improve their sewing skills. These videos are a great way to keep people active, creative and learning to improve their skills. You will be seeing them every Tuesday on the Duncairn Facebook page and YouTube channel.
If you missed it, here is the first tutorial:
