Question:
A friend asked me this question because I am
a more experienced sewer than she is. She wants to make
a mosquito-proof (but still "breathable") jacket.
She's not sure what kind of fabric to use - she tried
tulle and it ripped to shreds (well, I coulda told her
that...). She wants something that is "skeeter proof" but
still sort of open and cool - the idea is that she doesn't want
to wear a long sleeve shirt out when she does her field
sampling. Also, it can't be too expensive or "specialty" -
she wants something readily obtainable and cheap enough
that it wouldn't be easier to spend $65 on the mosquito
jacket she saw in a shop.
I'm stumped. The best I could suggest is something like netting
to make sleeves out of, but netting is so darn scratchy...
Answer:
-I've seen micromesh fabric at shops here in NY. The particular ones I've seen
were of the stretch variety (that's what I was looking for) but it may be
available in non-Stretch.
I can't vouch for it's "mosquito-proofness" (how's that for creative
linguistics), but I would give it a shot.
I suggest browsing the net for fabric companies that do mail order and post a
question to them. My experience is that they will respond to e-mail and will
even send samples upon request.
-What about cheesecloth? I'd baste several layers together as one before
cutting, though, as I think the holes are large enough for skeeters to
use.
Another idea is to go to http://www.metacrawler.com (click on address to
go there) and search on "mosquito netting" to see if you can find yards
of the real thing. Seems to me someone found a mailorder source for it
a long time ago...
