Sewing is great: how volunteers create equipment and mask networks for THEIR
"Thank you, dear girls," says the fighter in the video, who is on the front line. "Thanks to the anti—drone blanket you sewed, my comrades and I managed to survive!" Such messages have been regularly sent to the participants of the Kursk volunteer movement "Help our people" for the fourth year now. The range of assistance to military personnel is wide. Some sew the same blankets, others — clutches for drone guides, someone weaves camouflage nets - they are always required, and the process cannot be interrupted for a day. A special correspondent of Izvestia visited the workshops of Kursk needlewomen.
From Kursk to Zaporozhye
An ordinary apartment in a residential area of Kursk. There is a large table in the center of the room. Behind him are two women, Marina Petrova and Yulia Savchenko. They came here for 4-5 hours, habitually pushing aside the rest of the business. During this time, you need to cut several rolls of fabric according to patterns, so that you can then transfer the finished patterns to other seamstress girls. Everything is set up like a mini-conveyor, it does not fail. The main and only driving force behind the overall mechanism is the desire to help those who do heavy military work.
Marina Petrova is a mother of three children and a volunteer with four years of experience.
The cutting table is 1.6 by 2 m. Suitable for spreading a voluminous canvas on it. His friends made it. The apartment in 2023 was allocated free of charge by a friend — she wanted to make some kind of contribution. Before that, the girls each cut at home, on the floor or on small tables. It was inconvenient, and it took much more time. And then it became possible to organize a whole cutting shop and a single warehouse, where the fabrics are brought and from where the finished products are then taken to their zone. Funds for the materials are sent by people from all over Russia. The group "Helping our people" has more than 2 thousand subscribers on the social network.
There are scissors, rulers, threads, and accessories on the table and shelves. Among the materials is synthetic alova, which protects from cold and wind. Durable and water-repellent ripstop with woven reinforced thread. Wear-resistant oxford. Non—woven spunbond - camouflage "leaves" are cut from it, which are then covered with invisible blankets and goblin costumes.
List of accessories for products
In a separate storage room on the shelves there is something that will be sent tomorrow or the day after tomorrow to the guys fighting in the Sumy direction, in Donbass and Zaporozhye. There are a lot of applications: clothes and uniforms are torn, burning, falling into disrepair, something is impossible and there is nowhere to wash, and something is simply not available.
Who helps to sew the equipment for the fighters of the SVO
Among the ready—made items are winter masks, fleece sweatshirts, double-layered hats with lapels, snood scarves, capes with hoods, leshy costumes, balaclavas. Separately, there are invisible blankets that hide people from drones with thermal imagers. Recently, the girls have mastered the manufacture of special couplings for UAV operators — you insert the remote control inside, your hands are there, the screen with the picture is perfectly visible through the flexible glass, and your hands are not cold even in the bitterest frost. The military simply showered the needlewomen with thanks for this find.
The winter clutch for UAV operators is a real godsend
It is noteworthy that the professional activity of girls is far from needlework. Marina is a robotics teacher who teaches the basics of this promising field to children. Although she has been friends with thread and needle for 20 years, since she gave birth to her first child (today there are three of them). I've been in the volunteer movement for four years. At first, I sewed clothes on a typewriter for the fighters at home, and my youngest son was always there to pick them up. After that, I focused only on finishing in an improvised workshop. Marina is here like clockwork two or three times a week.
Julia is a fitness trainer and rehabilitologist. For many years, she has been doing extreme strength training, including dragging rocks, logs, cars, and other heavy objects. In 2019, at the world competitions in Turkey, she was recognized as the world's strongest woman in her weight class. I started volunteering two years ago, looking for a field where I could be useful. I had no previous experience working with fabrics, but I mastered the new science quickly.
Yulia Savchenko - athlete and champion
According to Yulia, the great value of the volunteer environment is also communication with like—minded people.
"When people do the same thing on a good basis, they form a special, warm relationship," she says. — We're like family already. You come here as if you were at home.
Regional network for weaving networks
Camouflage nets are now being woven all over the country. This consumable is needed always and everywhere — to shelter dugouts, fortifications, and equipment.
Camouflage net is an integral part of some elements of the military wardrobe
The Kursk girls from "Helping our people" started networking in the fall of 2022. To begin with, we watched educational videos on the Internet. We got several wooden stands and announced the gathering of those who wanted to. Familiar grandmothers gutted their chests — they took out old sheets and duvet covers, which were used for scraps. The local DOSAAF allocated a room. On the very first day, November 15, 65 enthusiasts gathered within its walls, a record number so far. They wove it as best they could. But the result impressed everyone, including the addressees, the fighters - three huge networks immediately went to the forefront.
Anti-drone blanket - traps the heat coming from the human body
The technology has gradually improved. They started using spunbond as a material. The size of the network has become standard — 3 by 6 m (to shelter a tank, for example, you need to combine four such modules). The principle of operation is to weave a flap into a standard diamond-shaped mesh, two or four stitches in a straight line, and change the direction so that you don't get smooth lines, this doesn't happen in nature. The colors vary depending on the season: white snow, clay, dirty winter, sand, and black soil.
Natural bast - for disguise
Districts gradually joined Kursk. And as part of the campaign "We help ours, we weave for our own", children joined the common cause — every Friday 30 students from different schools come to DOSAAF: over the past 2.5 years, representatives of all schools in Kursk have visited here.
Nine football fields of disguise
In total, at least 200 people are constantly engaged in weaving in the region. The backbone of the regional center consists of 20 volunteers. Among them is Tatiana Leonidova, who in the recent past was the conductor of the Moscow–Vladivostok train. Elena Zhirova is a famous artist in the city: she creates paintings from feathers, she has three solo exhibitions to her credit. Nadezhda Kushch is a psychology teacher. She came to Kursk from the Moscow region after her husband and was here a week later. Lyubov Stefanova moved from Kazakhstan and also quickly "found her own".
— There are women that everyone is looking at. And there are those on whom everything rests, " Lyubov Stefanova expresses an aphoristic thought. — Like buttons — not always noticeable, but strong! They are the ones who come here.
The old-timer is 88-year-old Maria Ivanovna Eremina
The most experienced person in the team is Maria Ivanovna Eremina. She is 88 years old, a civil engineer by profession. I was among the first to start making nets 3.5 years ago. Since then, I have never missed my "shifts" almost once.
— Has it ever happened that you don't want to go, you want to take a break? I ask Maria Ivanovna.
—No, never," she replies, and there is a metallic note in her voice that is so characteristic of her generation.
With small steps and stitches, the chicken coops wove 3 thousand nets.
In just 3.5 years, the movement's participants have woven a total of 3,000 nets. This is 6 hectares. There are almost nine football fields.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
