If you were to ask me six months ago where my sewing machine was, I’d shrug my shoulders and point to a corner of my closet. Somewhere over there, I think? Never would I have imagined I’d go from not knowing where the machine was, to re-learning how to sew, to overcoming technical difficulties (thread tension, I’m looking at you!), to making 10-20 masks a day that are not too embarrassing to share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the shelter-in-place began in my local county several months ago, my main focus was keeping my family safe, stocking up on necessities, and… I’ll admit… lining up some binge-worthy shows. The news around the world and across the nation was overwhelming, and I felt so helpless. Then one day, while looking into hand-made face masks for personal use, I came across information about amazing groups coming together to sew cloth masks for front line workers. What? YES! I started spending a lot of time researching pros\/cons of different mask designs. I scoured the internet for fabric, elastic, pipe cleaners, bias tape, filters, sewing tools, you name it. Since I was a little late to the game, a lot of these supplies were either depleted or sold at a ridiculous markup. Capitalizing on this pandemic absolutely boils my blood, so I made sure to avoid those retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It took a few more days, but I was finally (mentally) ready to dust off my sewing machine and to get to work. I remember sitting by my mom as she sewed when I was young. I remember her (now vintage) black sewing machine with an attached green-colored table. Most of all, I remember begging her to stop sewing so she can play with me. She couldn’t though. That was her work, and she needed to make a living. Many, many years later, I bought my own sewing machine. To make pajama bottoms. I made 4 pairs, and then the machine was relegated to a corner of my closet where it kept the dust mites company for several years. The first mask I made was awesome (in my mind!), and I still wear it, but please don’t look too closely at the stitching. I started making masks for my friends and family and collecting feedback (thanks, guys!), and I feel I’m now ready to share my craft with others. Still, please don’t look too closely at the stitching. After all, I’m relatively new at this sewing thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I created Mask Slinger to contribute to the existing efforts to donate hand-made face masks for our communities. I wanted to create a way for individuals and organizations to submit requests as well. As many areas are moving to re-open, it’s more important than ever to protect those around us, especially those who are most vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On that note… back to “work”! And to watch the SpaceX Launch! How momentous!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you were to ask me six months ago where my sewing machine was, I’d shrug my shoulders and point to a corner of my closet. Somewhere over there, I think? Never would I have imagined I’d go from not knowing where the machine was, to re-learning how to sew, to overcoming technical difficulties (thread […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"_lightning_design_setting":{"layout":"default"},"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,7,4,5],"class_list":["post-98","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-free-masks","tag-mask-donation","tag-masks","tag-maskslinger"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maskslinger.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maskslinger.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maskslinger.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maskslinger.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maskslinger.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/maskslinger.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102,"href":"https:\/\/maskslinger.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions\/102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maskslinger.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maskslinger.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maskslinger.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}