New title: Emergency Response Support Provider
Over the years as a military wife & mother, I have repaired, sewn & invented all types of adaptions for my Army husband & sons. Last night I again gained a new title. Our son is a member of a Police Department First Response Team & the team Paramedic provider. This requires that they use safety vests with tons of equipment attached in pockets. Unfortunately, sometimes additional straps, flaps, pockets are needed to be invented & added. So a call comes out to Mom and her great collection of materials, sewing machines & creativity.
No one said things like "Wow, why would you want to buy that" or "Do you really need to store any more elastic, Velcro, thread and stuff?" Now I am the really cool lady and all those sewing machines are something to be admired. Out came the size 18 needle, upholstery thread, sew-in Velcro, super wide black elastic, super heavy Pellon iron-in stabilizer, and my Pfaff 7570 machine. New inserts for the back brace got made and 12" extensions for securing the entire vest were invented. The real trick is sewing all these together and then attaching them to existing material without hitting the Kevlar or metal rifle plate in the vest. Did I mention that that I needed to sew through three layers of nylon binding already along the edges? Two layers of wide Elastic and both side pieces of the velcro.........one slow stitch at a time. WORKS GREAT & KEEPS ANOTHER SPECIAL PERSON SAFE! Now along with my art quilt ribbons will hang a First Responders' Support Patch. Never can anyone ask me why I am buying things again or why I need 6 sewing machines!! Quilters are always ready to in a time of need!