As a little kid I had dreams of being a seamstress.
I would sew dresses out of old sheets and trim them with lace from old panties. I even posted a hand written sign in my bedroom window offering my sewing services. I just loved to make things. That love of making has stayed with me my entire life and mask making fits right in. I find something seriously satisfying about sewing one batch of seams, then another and so on and so on, repeating step after step multiple times until a pile of masks is sitting in front of me. The actions are simple and yet the end product is actually fairly complex.
In our home there was never a question about wearing masks. It was a given even if our Co-op hadn't required it in all public spaces. We weren't going out often, but when we did, we wore a mask.
Like my cousin over at Patterns from the Past, I have played with many styles and made personal judgements as to which ones are easiest to make (a basic pleated mask), which ones are best at keeping my glasses from fogging (pretty much anything with a good nose wire), what makes a good nose wire (I prefer 12 gauge aluminum cut to 14 inches with the ends bent under), which method is best for holding a mask on one's face (again, personal preference) and so on and so on.
That first batch was a wonky looking lot but they covered our faces. Taking out a few for the family, the rest were donated to the soup kitchen at the church next door. I feel a little bad about those now but I was doing my best at the time.
I made some for the holidays because, if I'm going to wear a mask, I'm going to have fun with it!
My answers to these questions are as varied as the questions themselves.
It seems that masks, like shoes and underwear, are a personal matter. What works for you may not be what works for me. Yes, I am a proponent of nose wires but then I wear glasses and a mask that doesn't seal well over my nose means that I can't see due to the fogging. My husband prefers that masks be held in place with elastic that goes around his head. My son is partial to a panel mask and my daughter needs softer ear bands, preferring ones that she crochets herself to the elastic that I use. Other folks are gung ho for the gold standard of non-medical masks, the KN-95, while yet others are partial to the disposable pleated paper mask.
When masking was initially recommended I immediately thought "why buy when I can make?" I could not stand the idea of paying for a disposable item when I could easily (or so I thought) make my own. The materials were already on hand and free DIY patterns were plentiful. So, I dusted off my sewing machine (really, it was covered in dust!) and started making masks.
I had a fair amount of quilting cotton left over from my curtain making spree ten years ago. Google provided a basic pleated mask pattern and my daughter crocheted ear bands because elastic was in short supply.
That first batch was a wonky looking lot but they covered our faces. Taking out a few for the family, the rest were donated to the soup kitchen at the church next door. I feel a little bad about those now but I was doing my best at the time.
Over the next several months I refined my techniques, found new "favorite" patterns and distributed my masks to family, friends and the staff and students at my sister's school. My repertoire expanded to four basic styles -- the "old school" pleated, the "hybrid" pleated, the "3-D" and the "panel" masks. My son and I prefer a panel mask with a zip tie inserted as a stiffener while my husband prefers the 3-D and hybrid masks. My daughter seems to mostly wear pleated and hybrid. In our family we all use nose wires now (we didn't originally) as we all wear glasses.
One friend only wears KN-95s that she purchased in bulk and another mixes it up, moving between paper pleated, KN-95 and cloth -- heavy on the pink. Some folks like to coordinate masks with their outfits (ME!!!), wear seasonally themed masks (also me!) and others want their masks to be plain and unobtrusive. My son prefers plain colored fabrics because he finds a pattern distracting. He is, however, willing to wear colors of all hues.
My mask making adventures reignited my love of sewing, particularly of production sewing. The rhythm and repetition of mass producing something is soothing and satisfying. It harks back to my childhood where I helped my father put out mailings for his firm. It's different from making a garment, satisfying in a different way. With a dress I am clothing one person. With masks I'm protecting my family, friends and community. And that is what drives so much of what I do in life, serving my community.
#sewing #productivefidgeting #maskmaking #masks
