Masks of Love WNC
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Jen's Sewing Notes

4/14/2020

 
Are you sewing Citizen Mask 1, the curvy, fitted one? Some of these are coming in very small, and I think I figured out why. When you print the pattern, you need set your printer to the landscape orientation, not portrait. Double check the size of your pattern pieces. The bottom edge of A should be 5.25" and the bottom edge of B should be 4.25". The too-small masks will go to pediatric centers and won't go to waste, but please sew the masks at the correct size.

  • FYI, we now have a Sewers' FAQ on our website.

We have plenty of supply bundles at Flora, ready if you are running low. I love to see your kind faces through the glass door! We now have 100 mask bundles as well, for team-sewers and the super-fast! Today at Flora (still our mask drop off and supply location), we got two bins of beautiful fabric donations and even some elastic! 
 
About that clear elastic:
With elastic in short supply, we’ve had to find a way to make the 1000’s of yards of the clear elastic we have work better. We're sorry if it's been annoying to work with! We have doubled and lengthened it. See the new instructions at the bottom of the Sewers' page. This applies to either Citizen mask design.

Supply and Demand

4/14/2020

 
Hello marvelous sewers and other supporters! First, I want to thank Donna and Greg of Ambrose West, an event and music venue in West Asheville. Ambrose West has opened up their space for our filter-cutting operation, and we will soon use their courtyard as a pick-up location for outgoing masks. It’s heartwarming how local businesses have stepped up to help.
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​Speaking of local businesses, we also need to thank Carley Lee at 
Long Live Simple for designing our beautiful new logo!
The demand for masks has far outstripped our supply and, as a result, we have had to temporarily halt online orders for Citizen masks. As soon as we catch up on the 6000+ masks now in the queue, we will turn that back on.

We have also made the decision to raise the price on the Frontline masks, to $9.00 each, in packs of 20. This allows us to pay our commercial sewers, providing jobs in our community, as we recapture our overhead and materials costs. The purchase of a Frontline masks helps us provide both Frontline and Citizen-style masks to those in need, without the ability to pay.

Sewing Webinar Now on YouTube: Citizen Mask 2

4/8/2020

 
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A big thank you to home sewist Geraldine Dinkins for her live webinar on Zoom today. Geraldine made our Citizen Mask 2 (a traditional, flat, trim-fold mask style). This webinar, organized by Marisol Jimenez of the Coping with Corona Collective, is now on YouTube! Click here to view.
Sewing NOTES

Reminder: please look at the patterns again, even if you've been whirring along merrily for two weeks. There have been updates in measurements. Also, w
e would love to see pictures of you at work. Tag us on Facebook or instagram or email them to us.

Filter questions?

Each of our masks comes with filters for the end-user. After research and testing, we've now started to make them out of sterilization fabric, a material used in the sterilization of surgical instruments. Made out of a type of polypropylene, this fabric is affordable, readily available, and has an impressive ability to block virus particles.

When you receive a Masks of Love mask, insert the filter into the pocket between the layers, center it, and open it up flat. You can reuse the sterilization fabric filter by first disinfecting it with heat: remove it from the mask; put the filter only in a low temperature oven, at 165 degrees; and let it "cook" for 30 minutes. Lay it flat while cooling.

Sewers do not need to provide filters for the masks they make. We add filters to orders when we ship. For now, filters are not available separately in our online mask store. We have supply bundles a Masks of Love HQ if you need them: Flora, 428 Haywood Road; Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Care & Use + Online Store Update

4/6/2020

 
Now that you’re a mask-sewing expert, you probably have people asking you questions about how to wear them. We just wrote a Care & Use insert to go into our outgoing mask packages. The info is posted on the website as well. Experts stress a good fit and correct use of a mask in helping to contain the spread of the virus.
Every day brings an onslaught of frantic changes and fine-tuning of glitches at Masks of Love. Today, we’re focused on creating a regular online store for ordering masks. We’re ready to go live with that as soon as we get our payment link working. We hope to have it going by the end of the day at this link
We are looking for an industrial walking foot sewing machine and/or an industrial serger to purchase. If you can help, send us an email. 
We’ve finally added a page that lists the Masks of Love WNC team members: click here. It also has a handful of the businesses and organizations that have helped in this project. Because of the chaotic nature of this emergency effort, the business section isn’t fully up-to-date, but we hope to complete it soon.

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(L) Dr. Sarah Evers; happy to receive a delivery from Masks of Love WNC to her office yesterday.

​Sewers' NOTES

We just added measurements to both patterns so you can check your work. If your printer prints things a little off, you cut the fabric too wide, or you use different seam allowances than indicated, the masks may end up a non standard size. Please double check your sizing now and then as you zoom along. If you did make some masks a bit small or big, we will still find a home for them.

Speaking of printer problems - some people don't have printers. We added a grid to the download of Citizen Mask 1 so you can draw it out if you need too. We are also keeping a stack of printed patterns at Flora to give out. Sorry for any problems downloading patterns over the weekend, we switched web hosts and some things went AWOL. BTW we will have some better elastic this week, and it's red and pink!

Thank you Toby Maurer and The Branding House Asheville for making this awesome Mindy the Maskmaker T-shirts and other goodies available for purchase HERE. Proceeds from the sales of these items will go directly to help fund our mask-making venture.
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Update: Masks flying in AND out

4/5/2020

 
Read the latest news here. And if you would like to get this in your inbox, go to our Volunteer/update form.

600 Masks on their way!

Yesterday, we got the first finished masks and filters out the door and on the way to people who need them! We shipped 110 and delivered another 50, including some to Asheville Poverty Initiative's 12 Baskets Cafe.

Other exciting numbers to share:
  • Supplies given out this week - bundles equaling about 800 masks
  • Completed masks logged out of quarantine and ready for shipping — about 700
  • Masks collected from sewers just on Friday — about 300
  • Orders that have come in to the website since Thursday - 2110!

As you can see, demand is exceeding supply. Keep sewing like the wind!

Recent articles of interest:
A Sewing Army (NYT 3/25)
Some Fabrics Work Better than Others (NBC 4/3)
See Dr. Carly in the Mt Xpress' latest Covid-19 update.

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Sewers' NOTES


​To the sewers who received the clear elastic this week - we just realized this is not good quality elastic. It will NOT hold up to being sewn through. Please thread it through side channels and tie together. This is how we described it in the pattern. We designed it that way because it allows the ear loops to be adjustable and allows the option of retying around the back of the head. With this particular crummy elastic, it's even more important NOT to sew through it. Thank you!
​
BTW, we've reached our goal for the cloth bags. Please switch to sewing masks now.





At left: Superstar volunteer Sara Legatski at Flora Botanical Designs, our Mask of Love WNC hub.

    Masks of Love WNC

    was created in Western North Carolina in March 2020 as a response to our community shortage of PPE in the face of Covid 19. We created an all volunteer effort to get cloth masks into the hands of those that needed them most.  Now, Masks of Love has grown into a business that is providing local jobs while staying committed to our mission of donating masks to our under-served neighbors. We have donated almost 10, 000 masks since we began. Learn more about our community partners here.

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What Our Clients Are Saying

“The design is really striking and beautiful, but it’s also really being able to adjust the straps to fit the mask to my face in a way that makes me feel protected.  It also holds the filter very well- and I can breathe.  It looks nice and is attractive- and I got compliments on it… from people who never compliment me on my mask!  That particular mask got me compliments right away.” ​"

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    • Community Outreach