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Replies to "Hi everyone, I hope everyone is OK and coping with shelter in place. I have been..."
Post-COVID Recovery & COVID-19 | Last Active: Apr 25, 2020 | Replies (42)
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Hi everyone, I hope everyone is OK and coping with shelter in place. I have been coping by working on new facemask designs. One is DIY surgical mask with shopping bag material and cotton. The other is all cotton but has yarn instead of hard to find elastic for earloops. Personally I think it's helpful to direct one's mental energy into something that takes focus. To me focusing on facemasks makes the stress of worry, boredom, grief easier to deal with. I see up a little workshop on my 4 season porch. It's my happy place.
Replies to "Hi everyone, I hope everyone is OK and coping with shelter in place. I have been..."
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@ihatediabetes Me too! We have needed so many masks for our friends and neighbors in our RV park. Last 2 weeks we made and gave away almost 50, then ran out of masks and supplies. Friday a fabric store in town was able to resupply me with a phone order and curbside pickup, but no elastic or binding to be had. My arthritic hands were screaming from producing over 1 1/2 yd of bias per mask, so in desperation I had a brainstorm last night and it worked.
Still making the pleated facemasks of heavy quilting cotton with ties not earloops because they feel better and are easier to remove safely. Tried the shaped one, but a lot more work, and since these are for occasional use, they are the easiest and most universal.
The new ties are made from a recycled heavyweight t-shirt! Simple, effective and comfortable to wear. Here's how:
Cut off the lower hem, then cut the t-shirt into 1" wide strips going around the shirt - this is the stretchy dimension. Cut 11 to 12 in pieces of the strips (one XL t makes about 4 ties strips per circle of fabric. Stretch the ties and they will curl in on themselves, tie a knot in one end , fold the other end in half and insert into the side seams of the mask where you would put elastic or bias tape. The t shirt fabric doesn't ravel, so no hemming or seaming needed on the ties.
Today 4 of us made 15 masks in just over an 1 1/2 hours, about 25 minutes per mask. The old way, it would have taken 2 of us at least that long just to make the ties before we started on the masks.
I always love it when a seemingly crazy idea actually works out.
Next task - improving prototype scrub caps for our daughter's ER nurses. Pretty happy so far, just need to streamline the process for multiple worker. Community connections matter! A friend of a friend has a donated box of elastic coming later this week. The masks will be ready to insert the elastic when received & mail out.
All this really helps the hours pass. We are working at 3 tables and an ironing board spaces ur on my covered patio.
Stay calm, stay safe & stay busy.
Sue