Stitching up solutions for face mask demand By: Brenda Suderman Posted: 7:15 PM CDT Wednesday, Apr. 8, 2020

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/04/2020 (1723 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I can’t mask the world or even Winnipeg with my home sewing machine, but in the last day, I’ve stitched up some other solutions for you.

Since Paul Samyn, editor of Winnipeg Free Press, posted a picture wearing the face mask I made for him out of newspaper print fabric, I’ve been overwhelmed by the demand for handmade cotton coverings. I’ve received requests for about 500 masks by email, social media and telephone from acquaintances, business owners and strangers.

The requests were already filtering in last weekend, after government officials recommended non-medical fabric masks might slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. On Saturday, I turned out three dozen for friends and family, and then offered some to my colleagues. I gave them away without strings attached, but did suggest they donate to Home Street Mennonite Church (which I attend) if they really wanted to compensate me.

(Like other churches, it is currently closed, but its expenses continue.)

I’m happy to sew for family, friends and newspaper colleagues, but I’m just one sewer, stitching as fast as I can on my semi-industrial home machine. Even at 1,500 stitches per minute on my 10-year-old Juki, it’s impossible to fill the demand.

But I’m not the only one out there with a sewing machine, a little extra fabric, and the skills to fashion a pleated face mask. Others have reached out to me over the last day to offer advice and even their services.

“I’m happy to do anything for anybody, if it is purposeful and helps out someone else. That’s what sewing can do,” said Jan Bones, a sewing teacher with 50 years experience who has extra time since Red River College closed its doors last month due to the global pandemic.

The instructor in the apparel design program has already stitched up 80 or so cotton masks in various colours for family, friends and neighbours, inviting them to choose one from a box on her front porch during a pre-arranged, no-contact meeting.

“They’ve been fun to make and people are happy to have them,” Bones said of the pleated masks made from high-quality cotton fabric.

Winnipeg resident Andrea Wilson has produced more than 120 masks on her own Juki sewing machine this week, after she offered the items for $5 each through word-of-mouth and social media accounts. She’s using up quilting cottons from her fabric cupboard but keeps running out of elastic.

“Because they have to be washed so often, I make them as sturdy as possible,” she says of her technique of double-stitched seams.

Home sewers with a little experience and a sewing machine in good working order can produce these masks on their own with the help of the many good tutorials on the internet. Pick one that suits your sewing skills and the requirements of the wearer and make it attractive, suggested Bones.

“It still needs to be done well,” said the Fort Garry resident.

Those who don’t sew or know anyone who does have some other options. Beginning April 15, they can purchase a non-medical cotton mask produced by the Cutting Edge, affiliated with the Canadian Muslim Women’s Institute. The masks will be available for $10 through Local Initiatives Toward Employment’s shopping website (shop.lite.mb.ca) to be picked up at Pollock’s Hardware Co-op (1407 Main St.).

These purchases help employ industrial sewing machine operators working from home for the Cutting Edge’s social enterprise division, and also offer Winnipeggers a chance to donate a face mask or hygiene kit to the city’s vulnerable population, said Tyler Pearce, executive director of LITE.

“We’re going to sell them to individuals because we know people want them,” she said of the three-way partnership developed in only 72 hours. “We’re asking the public to purchase some we can donate.”

Hygiene kits containing body wash, toothpaste and toothbrush, deodorant and shampoo cost $15.

“Nobody is making any money on this,” Pearce said of the mask and kit initiative. “It’s just about getting the community what it needs.”

Candice Desjardins is ramping up her local sewing company, which usually produces boat tarps and gazebos, to produce masks from breathable fabric with a high vapour barrier, which retail for $10.

“I have three sewers sewing individually at their houses and I’m sewing at the company, as well,” Desjardins said of the work produced by Custom Repair & Stitchery.

Sewers are generous people willing to share their skills during these unprecedented times, but please be prepared to compensate mask makers fairly for their materials and labour. (Please note I am not accepting any more requests for masks, but I welcome story ideas on how Winnipeggers are building community during the pandemic.)

brenda@suderman.com