Regular readers might have noticed that I’ve been posting much less frequently than usual to this blog, ever since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.
Not because I’ve been ill, luckily, nor any of my family members or other loved ones. No, my blogging and online presence have been interrupted for a different reason.
Instead of using my computer during the course of the past few weeks, I’ve been using my portable sewing machine. Standing at the kitchen counter, stitching cotton face masks, and hoping that my thirty year-old machine would hold on for just a bit longer; just a few more masks.
Unlike many folks who’ve dusted off their sewing machines, I’m not making face masks for profit. The ones I’m sewing aren’t for sale, despite multiple requests from potential buyers over on Instagram and Twitter!
Instead of selling them, I’ve focused on getting my handmade and quirky masks to my extended family – across Canada, with a few to the United States. Originally from Montreal, my family is now scattered; many of us remained here (Montreal area) and in Vancouver, others moved to Ottawa and areas north of Toronto.
With Quebec and Ontario currently the two hardest-hit provinces, and British Columbia the site of the first COVID-19 case in Canada, my family members understand the value of wearing a face mask.
In short, to protect others in case any of us are asymptomatic carriers of this virus; because wearing a mask in public can prevent its spread. Lower incidence, or overall spread, of COVID-19 could translate into a lowered likelihood that a loved one would contract it.
The idea is that the fewer people who come into contact with the virus – through droplets from coughing or even talking – the less it spreads. By reducing the spread of this coronavirus, we lower the likelihood of catching it ourselves. Of our loved ones coming down with this unpredictable illness.
Unlike catching a fly ball in a baseball game, we win in this pandemic by not catching the virus. Wearing a mask in everyday life, outside of our homes, may turn out to be just as important as wearing a baseball mitt in the outfield.
It might surprise you to know that I’m not a baseball fan, despite these analogies – but I know that some of you are, so those comparisons were just for you ,-)
Before I started sewing the masks to give away, I created several prototypes; test versions. The first few I created were based on rectangular face coverings, like the surgical masks used in areas of a hospital where there aren’t any suspected cases of COVID-19.
Each of these rectangular prototypes either gaped open at the sides of the mask or fogged up the wearer’s glasses – or both. I tried making masks with elastics for the ears, and also tied with straps, but nothing seemed to fit properly.
What I was looking for was a close-to-the-face fit, with no big gaps at any parts of the mask. Next I tried a curve-fronted style of mask, from a free pattern available for online in two different sizes; one for teenagers and women, the other for men.(1)
This time the basic design provided a better fit to the wearer’s face. A good fit is important for a face mask, to stop droplets from flying out the sides if the wearer sneezes or coughs into their mask.
The curved front design was also more comfortable than the rectangular prototypes I’d made, and didn’t fog up my glasses up as much – or my husband’s with the men’s size mask.
Are you thinking, “So that’s the type of mask she’s been sewing”? Not quite! My right hand and arm are affected by a rare neuro-inflammatory and autoimmune disease called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), making it difficult to tightly tie up the straps on a mask.
By then I’d also realized that it would be great to have a mask that I could wear around my neck, and then easily pull over my face when I needed it – without touching the front panel. When I’m walking a few blocks from the post office to the pharmacy, for example, I don’t need the mask when I’m outside; only when I got into one of those places.
Wouldn’t it be great to be able to just as easily let the mask hang back around your neck again, once you left the shop? That became my goal. It made much more sense to me than having to take off a mask and put it into a pocket, or letting it hang off of one ear as many people in my area are doing.
I went back to the drawing board, literally, to create another prototype mask – this time to improve the straps. Once I’d figured that out, I was almost ready to go!
In the meantime, though it had occurred to me that there might be a way to improve the fit as well; along the sides of the cheeks. So I prototyped a way to do that, as well.
The title of this post is “4 hours, 40 masks”. Why? Thanks so much for asking! ,-) It’s because I’ve just finished sewing my fortieth mask, including those for me and my husband, and each one takes me about four hours to make.
That’s more than twenty days, if you consider an 8-hour workday usually includes a lunch break!. I used to be able to finish sewing projects much more quickly than I can now. My creative activities have been hindered, and significantly slowed, by the CRPS in my right hand and arm.
It takes longer to iron out the fabric, a necessary step before cutting it exactly to my patterns. Each of my masks requires five to seven pieces of fabric, depending on how tightly-woven – how thick – the material is.
For thinner cottons, the majority of my prettier fabrics, I include a third layer within the mask. The rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t be able to see daylight through your mask, if you hold it up to a lamp.
It’s also a struggle for me, with CRPS, to cut out the multiple pieces of fabric which I’ll sew into each mask. Next comes the sewing. More than ten seams – stitching the pieces of the mask together – each of which has to be ironed out to smooth the hem, before sewing the next bit.
At each step in this process, which I’m view as a creative arts project, my CRPS slows me down. It causes unpredictable and unimaginable neuropathic (nerve) pain. And, perhaps most frustrating of all, my CRPS has resulted in a “mild cognitive impairment”.
When I’m making a mask, I’ll often sew the wrong pieces together. Or sew the pieces in the wrong order… Whichever mistakes I make, because of my difficulties with concentration and focus, I have to unpick each stitch – and start over again.
Which, of course, takes time. I send printed instructions with each mask that I deliver or mail to a loved one, which begin: “I made this for you, with lots & lots of love. A hand-made reusable face mask.”
And that’s why I’m not selling the masks I make! It’s too painful, and takes far too long, for me to make each mask. This really is a labour of love!
If you’re interested in reading more about face masks, and which kind are best for the general public, The Guardian newspaper’s Science correspondent has put together a great summary: “What kind of face mask will best protect you against coronavirus?”(2)
Please stay safe, take care of yourself, and find moments of happiness in each day ‘-)
References
(1) Non-Pocket Face Mask Template, from www.craftpassion.com
(2) Hannah Devlin. What kind of face mask will best protect you against coronavirus? The Guardian. 08 May 2020. Online:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/08/what-kind-of-face-mask-will-best-protect-you-against-coronavirus-covid-19