Hi fellow sewers!  As JFK once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country”.  I may have paraphrased the quote here.  Well, home seamstresses are the most empathetic, patriotic people I know, who’ll respond to anyone who needs help, let alone their country’s entire health professional community. They are the new Rosie the Riveter. They are an army by themselves.  I also want to hail fashion designer Christian Siriano who responded immediately to his state governor’s call to people who make clothing in New York state.

So, medical masks. We all know that the medical community is in dire need of protective masks since the Corona virus pandemic changed our world. And sewers have responded.

I will share some links here with patterns, instructions and other pertinent information about fabric masks.

Today, Janice Blasko, web designer and manager for the American Sewing Guild (asg.org), shared information on the ASG Notions blog about her new website called WeNeedMasks.org.  Go there and read every page, watch the video, download the instruction PDF. There is relevant information such as mask sewing instructions, a list of medical facilities who have registered as willing recipients of fabric masks, and FAQs to answer your questions (be sure to read FAQs).

It’s easy to sew masks and churn out many in a short time, but keep in mind that our cloth masks will not shield the wearer from the Covid-19 virus. The usefulness of a fabric mask lies in allowing the health professionals to cover the actual medical mask with the cloth mask to form another barrier. That way, the real medical ones like the N95 mask  can be used with more than one patient, therefore reducing the likelihood of depleting the  surgical mask supply in a short time. It is at the medical pro’s discretion how they use our cloth masks.

My Instagram friend Julie Eilber has shared pattern and instructions for re-usable N95 respirator mask covers on her blog Jet Set Sewing.

Another link shared by my local neighborhood group is on FreeSewing.org. They’re calling this one a “Fu” Facemask and it’s shaped differently than the one pictured in this post.  Take a look.

So this orange polka dot mask is my only make for now, until I sort out more information.

Keep yourselves healthy. Otherwise, who will sew the masks??  We’ll beat this menace yet….

Samina