THE Prince’s Foundation at Dumfries House has partnered with nationwide sewing initiatives to manufacture garments for NHS workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A team of volunteers made up of staff, students and friends of The Prince’s Foundation have joined forces with For The Love of Scrubs and The Big Community Sew to make at home scrubs and face masks that meet the strict safety standards required by the NHS.

It comes after HRH The Prince of Wales recognised the potential of his charity to lend help to those working on the frontline during the coronavirus crisis.

Jacqueline Farrell, education director for The Prince’s Foundation at Dumfries House, said: “It is a privilege to be able to utilise the community spirit and skills within The Prince’s Foundation to help the NHS in partnership with For The Love of Scrubs and The Big Community Sew at this vital time.

“We are delighted to be able to use our sewing expertise to make scrubs for NHS workers in Ayrshire and Arran in partnership with the Ayrshire branch of For The Love of Scrubs.

“The not-for-profit community group has sourced us a supply of around 200m of suitable cotton fabric to use and we have used our network of staff, trainees and members of the local community to put together a team of experienced volunteers to manufacture 100 sets of scrubs at home.

“In addition to making scrubs themselves, staff from our textiles training programmes will be on hand to offer expert help and advice to our volunteers online or over the phone. The project has been a real team effort and the finished scrubs will be collected and delivered, on a contact-free basis, by one of the drivers at Dumfries House who has also volunteered his time.”

Volunteers have committed to sewing masks for people caring for members of their own family as part of The Big Community Sew.

These will be distributed through the charity Crossroads, which provides respite services for home carers.

The news comes after clothing designer and judge of the BBC’s Great British Sewing Bee Patrick Grant called on the nation’s sewing community to help people across the UK adapt to new public health guidance by producing millions of homemade face-coverings as part of the Big Community Sew campaign.

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