A simple project - if you can sew jersey fabric.

Sewing knit jersey material on a vintage straight stitch sewing machine - Table of Contents

I’ve mentioned before that I’m an old geezer. Besides bad eyes that cause me to need two pairs of glasses, I also need a CPAP machine to keep me breathing properly at night.

The mask for the CPAP is what got me to thinking about sewing some jersey fabric.

The straps holding the mask on my face have velcro strips on them. The plastic of the velcro rubs my neck, leaving bloody scratches. The straps are made such that none of the plastic should touch skin, but it does happen and it is uncomfortable - and it looks bad as well.

Scratchy velcro strips
Scratchy velcro strips

The black stitching that you see there doesn’t make things better, either. The straps stretch when used. After a while, they get so long that I can’t adjust them to be tight enough for the mask to seal properly - it makes squeaky fart noises everytime I move at night. The fix for that is to sew the straps together, then sew the loop (where the mask attaches to the mask) shorter as the straps stretch. That leaves the thread exposed to also rub my neck - more scratches and raw spots.

Rather than make a complete set of straps, I decided I’d make some covers for the existing straps.

The covers have to be soft and stretchy and not scratchy. The best material I know for soft, stretchy, not scratchy is jersey, specifically the kind of knit fabric you find in T-shirts. Being an old geezer, I have plenty of worn out old T-shirts stashed away.

I made some measurements of the straps for my ResMed QuattroAir mask, then sketched out a plan. After allowing for seams and the thickness of the strap that has to fit inside, I figured that I needed cloth strips about 5 cm wide and 31 cm long (approximately 2 inches by 12 inches) to make my covers.

The only real trick is that there be no exposed seams rubbing my neck. That required some thought as to how to sew and assemble the covers. It mostly means that you sew things inside out then turn them right side out for use - that puts all the thread on the inside.

Here’s a quick photo rundown of making the strap covers:

Pattern
Pattern

The pattern is the sketch I made from various measurements of the straps. In practice, you don’t need a real pattern. Just make strips 5 cm (2 inches) wide and 31 cm (12 inches) long.

The covers will end up being about 15 cm long (about 6 inches.) That’s because of this first step:

Sew the ends together
Sew the ends together 1
Sew the ends together 2

Fold the strip the short way then sew the ends together. Turn the finished loop inside out so the seam is on the inside.

Sew the edges together
Sew the edges together

Keep the edge of the presser foot right on the edge of the strip as you sew.

Make a tube
Make a tube 1
Make a tube 2

Fold a strip in half the long way, then sew the edges together. Again, keep the edge of the presser foot right at the edge of the strip.

That’s got all the sewing done. That was the easy part.

There’s still an exposed seam. The tubes have to be turned inside out, now.

Turn the tubes inside out
Turn the tubes inside out 1
Turn the tubes inside out 2
Turn the tubes inside out 3

I used a piece of leather cord because it was handy and because it was easier to push through the tube than a thick string would have been.

Push the cord or string through the tube, then use a safety pin to hook the cord to the end of the tube. Pull the cord back through the tube to turn it inside out.

Put the covers on the mask straps
Put the covers on the mask straps 1
Put the covers on the mask straps 2

Thread the cord and safety pin through a tube, then hook the safety pin to the mask strap. Make sure that the long seam is on the outside of the strap where it won’t touch your skin. Also make sure that the thicker end of the tube is towards the front where the straps go over the hooks on the mask. That will keep the end seam away from your skin.

That’s it - nice soft cushions covering the scratchy edges of the velcro.

Besides putting all the seams on the inside, this way of making the covers puts two layers of fabric between you and the plastic - two layers is softer than one. Just ask Mr. Whipple.

You might think you wouldn’t have any trouble even if you sewed this on a straight stitch machine at a normal thread tension. You would be wrong. Turning the tubes inside out stretches the fabric pretty hard. If the stitches don’t give, the seams will pop when you turn the tubes inside out.

You can, naturally, make these cushions with your zig-zag machine or using a special stretch stitch if your machine has it.

As for me, I had a good time “pushing the envelope” with a 100 year old sewing machine.

There’s a small trick that makes it easier to start a seam when sewing knit fabrics. If you start the seam all the way at one end, the limp fabric will droop a bit and usually get caught on the edges of the cutouts for the feed dogs.

Simple trick
Simple trick

Start with the end of the fabric already behind the presser foot and the edge of the cutout (1.) Sew in reverse until you get to the end of the fabric (2.) Finally switch to forwards stitching and sew the seam as usual.

That slightly longer “back tack” stiffens the fabric enough that it doesn’t get stuck in the feed dog cutouts.

Those of you with Singer machines are probably out of luck. Singer resisted putting a reverse stitch function on their machines for a very long time. German made machines got reverse stitching in the early 1900s. Singer held out for a couple of decades. Your Singer vibrating shuttle probably doesn’t have a reverse stitch.

Sewing knit jersey material on a vintage straight stitch sewing machine - Table of Contents