New undertaking and yet another shortage

Tracey asked me yesterday if I'd be interested in making masks for her clinic. It took me a little bit because I really haven't been into making masks. I'm not sure why I didn't want to, but now I do and I told her yes. She sent me a pattern and I cut one out and gave it a shot.

(Patterns: https://sarahmaker.com/how-to-sew-a-surgical-face-mask-for-hospitals-free-pattern/ and
https://turbanproject.com/patterns and [added 4/8] https://refashionista.net/2020/04/08/face-mask-to-match-your-refashioned-dress-without-a-pattern/)

Picked out and cut some fabrics:

First one made. I did a little fine tuning and made a few to send to Tracey as prototypes. (Failed to brush my hair before taking this picture.):

Today, sent her a test batch of 6:

Now for the amazing thing: There is no elastic to be found. I thought I had a roll of 1/4" elastic, but after a thorough search, I don't. I have a small amount of 1/4", but not enough to make a bunch of masks. I can put ties on them, but I'm obsessed with elastic. I did a long internet search and ordered some that won't be here till the middle of next week. I contacted everyone I know locally who sews to see if they have any. I put a thing on Craigslist (more on that later) and on Freecycle (which is closed to non-Coronavirus postings). I also asked on Facebook. Freecycle paid off and I have 13+ yards that we picked up - it was in a bag on a porch. No contact pickup. As soon as Richard got in the car, I wiped the bag down and he wiped himself and the car down. When we got home, I emptied the elastic out of the bag to air out on the front porch. I'll wipe it down before I bring it in. The bag went into the trash and hands were washed.

Sidebar: No contact anything isn't really no contact. Drive-thru at the pharmacy requires a button to be pushed, a container to be taken out of the pneumatic tube and then put back in, and then the meds themselves in the bag. Hand wiped after pushing button, gloves if possible to hold container and if not, more wiping. Wiping of the meds and the bag. It never stops. 

This virus is just a pain in the ass, people.

Craigslist got me a response from someone who wanted to go to a store and buy elastic for me in exchange for masks. I told them not to go to a store and put themselves in harm's way. I'll make them some masks anyway.

A couple of people offered suggestions for finding elastic and alternative things to use instead. Plus, a couple of people have requested masks as a result of seeing them online.

I'm not sure how big I want this to get, but I do want to get Tracey's done first and foremost.

Who knew that elastic would be impossible to find?

I have officially gained 2 pounds from eating crap. Thank goodness that I'm walking every day.


Disclaimer I put together to give to people who get a mask from me:

Disclaimer: This mask should NOT be used as a replacement for conventional and approved Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). It has not been industry tested nor has it been industry approved. Homemade masks are not substitutes for regular PPE and should not be relied on to protect you from contracting the coronavirus/COVID-19. The decision to use this device is solely your own. Social distancing is key. 

Baby Balls Made with Pentagons (Tutorial in progress)

I'm newly obsessed with making balls for babies. I used to make them for my kids, but I used a sewing machine and now I'm hand sewing. The stitching is more precise with hand sewing and corners are tidier.

The method of sewing I'm using is English piecing. Basically, you have a paper pattern for the pentagon, the shape that is used for all pieces in the ball, for each piece of fabric. The fabric is basted onto the paper pattern, then the pieces are stitched together until there are 5 pentagons attached to the same central pentagon. When you have two sets of 6 total pentagons (the central one and the 5 attached to it), those two halves are attached to one another. (I'll add more about this as I construct the next one in line.) Leave open at least one seam so you can turn the ball right side out (this will make sense when I post pictures of construction), stuff it about halfway, add the sound maker (will add a photo of that too) in the center, and complete stuffing the ball. I stuff it tight, but not too tight; you want to leave enough play in the stuffing for baby's hand to be able to grab a part of it and maybe even shake it!

Color specific - brown

Black and white high contrast. 

Kid interest - Sponge Bob

I use a pentagon that I drafted. You can use pretty much any size bigger than 1". I would not go smaller than that. The side to measure is shown in the photo below. I use 2".

It's a pentagon (five sided) with each edge being 2". You can find pentagon patterns all over the internet or draw your own. There are 12 pentagons in each ball and they all have to be the same size.

I generally print off one page of templates and stack the printed page with some blank paper, then cut out a few at a time. That way I don't waste ink printing lots of pentagons. I like to cut through 4 pieces of paper at a time. Any more than that and the edges get a little off kilter. Remember, we're going to fold fabric directly on the paper pattern, so it's good to have it as precise as possible. 

After a few sessions of cutting, I have a bunch of pentagons ready to use when I'm ready to pick out some fabric and get going. 

The first step to sewing is to pin a pattern piece to a piece of fabric! I put down the paper and then cut at least 1/4" around the paper in order to have fabric to fold. Choose an interesting design to pin the paper to because that's what's going to show. 

Prepare a needle with a single thread that is in contrast to your fabric. Fold down an edge of fabric and take a couple stitches, fold down the next piece of fabric and take a stitch, and continue until you have all 5 sides basted down. I use a long basting stitch. You do not need to knot your thread. You'll be cutting the thread and taking the paper out later. For now, you want to fold all edges over the paper and baste each one down.

Here is one pentagon with the basting completed. You can see my red stitching in contrast to the white and black fabric. For each ball, baste fabric onto 12 paper pentagons.  

Here's a pretty simple tutorial on English piecing with hexagons. This one isn't mine, but I've made several hexagon projects using essentially the same instructions as I was taught them my a friend.  I'm not using hexagons, but the method of prepping the paper pattern is the same. They say it better than I can :) If for some reason you click and the site is no longer available, you can Google English piecing for several tutorials, including videos.

I'll update this post as I have photos of the steps required. It may take a while, but it'll happen!

Okay, this is what I'm working on - how about you?