Masks for you and for me

With everything going on I decided to sew some masks and teach my daughter some sewing skills.  I love crafting and sewing is a fun outlet for me.  I have way more fabric than I’d like to admit so I dug into my fabric stash for cotton pieces and we started cutting.

Jo Ann’s had a free pattern that can be found here.  This is a mask that is most similar to a surgical mask so it has two ties that go behind your head.

You will need to cut: 

-2 pieces measuring 7” x 9” 

-2 pieces measuring 1.5” x 6 (sides)

-2 pieces measuring 1.5” x 40” (strings)

Directions:

The Jo Ann pattern had great step by step instructions as well as photos so it was easy to follow!  To make it easier to encase the sides with pleats I took the extra step to iron the mask pleats first before pinning and sewing down the side.

At first we made masks for our family with another to spare but I realized I had plenty of fabric to continue making more.  I may have been a bit ambitious and cut too much but with my mom and daughters help we sewed about 75 masks!

I looked around and Jo Ann’s had select locations accepting them but none nearby.  Tieks popped up in my feed and they had a #sewtogether campaign to obtain mask donations.  I decided to mail 50 masks into their warehouse for distribution to an approved center they had found.  Tieks offered a gift card as well if any of you are thinking of sewing some masks and ordering a pair of their shoes.  A total win win.  Hopefully our small contribution will help some healthcare workers in need of them.  

I still had about 20 masks leftover and was thinking of making more.  I saw a local Facebook page requesting masks for donation to a local shelter so I volunteered to drop some off to the coordinator. One of my daughters Girl Scout projects for the year is to help or donate to her local community so this was a good project.  We sewed up some more masks and were able to donate 50 to the shelter.  

In all this uncertainty, it feels good to make something from the safety of my home that can benefit others during this pandemic.  It may not be large numbers but we are doing what we can to make a difference.