How to Make a Lot of Masks

Local nonprofit mobilizes army of mask-makers to sew face masks for workers in need

By Hannah Prather

June 15, 2020

I’m sitting alone in front of a sewing machine on a big wooden table that’s meant for large groups. I left all the lights off in the building, except the one right above me. I turned on the space heater because we haven’t been heating the store while it’s closed and it’s cold and my phone keeps me company, serenading me softly with indie music. I have some cotton fabric, some t-shirt strips, a rotary cutter and printed instructions for How to Make an Adult Mask with Ties.

I first feared COVID-19 when I heard that Italian hospitals were forced to turn away the sickest patients, so they could have a better shot at saving the less sick. They couldn’t save them all.

News reports and Twitterers said the biggest problem wasn’t the disease itself, but its high rate of spread and the inability of medical systems around the world to accommodate so many people with respiratory ailments at once. They didn’t have enough beds, they didn’t have enough ventilators, and they didn’t have enough masks, gloves or gowns needed to keep healthcare workers healthy themselves. This was in early March.

The obvious answer was to stop the spread of the virus, but no one knew exactly how. On March 11th, the first wave of event closures in Washington began after the World Health Organization declared the COVID outbreak a global pandemic. After that, restrictions and guidelines kept coming.

They didn’t have enough beds, they didn’t have enough ventilators, and they didn’t have enough masks, gloves or gowns needed to keep healthcare workers healthy themselves.

At that point, the general wisdom was to reserve face masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers. Ragfinery, the nonprofit store that I work for in Bellingham, Washington, closed its doors to protect public safety on March 17. Six days later, Governor Inslee announced the first stay-at-home order.

As a store that resells donated textiles and sewing supplies, Ragfinery was positioned to help in a special way. If there are three things that are true about our customers, it’s that they love to sew, they love caring for their community, and they love anything that combines the two even more.

Ragfinery staff shared the Deaconess pattern, the standard pattern for most mask makers, on our social media and organized a donation drive. We knew we had loyal supporters and knew our followers were the type of people who would jump at the chance to help out — especially if it involved sewing.

Over the next week our post earned hundreds of comments, messages and shares. People were offering to share resources, asking to partner with us, and quizzing us to make sure we were organizing this drive responsibly.

At the beginning of April, Ragfinery delivered more than 400 masks to Northwest Youth Services and Unity Care, a nonprofit healthcare provider that serves Whatcom County. A few weeks later we donated another 215 masks to the Opportunity Council’s Homeless Outreach Team, who distributed them to their unhoused clients and to GRACE, a countywide community health initiative and local leader in pandemic response.

After the Center for Disease Control (CDC) announced that everybody should be wearing masks whenever indoors or within six feet of others, we realized this mask-making movement was way bigger than us.

In March, a Facebook page called Whatcom Mask Collective went live. Much like Ragfinery’s customers, other Whatcom County residents were looking for a way to help using the skills they already had.

“Our involvement started when nurses started crying that they had no PPE,” said Misty Mostrom, an admin for Whatcom Mask Collective.Providing needed care to infected patients puts nurses and other frontline healthcare workers at a high risk of contracting the virus themselves, especially when they don’t have enough PPE.

Mostrom joined the group at the suggestion of her mother, who is a nurse at PeaceHealth St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Bellingham, Washington. Mostrom’s daughter is also a nurse, and her grandmother was, too. Keeping nurses and other healthcare workers safe is close to Mostrom’s heart. In addition to her admin duties, Mostrom sews, hosts a pick up point and works with other nonprofit agencies to coordinate mask drops. Jennifer Jones is also a nurse at the hospital and is one of the founding members of the group, alongside Kim Quinn.

The mask collective primarily delivers masks to healthcare or residential facilities, nonprofit organizations, or other groups doing essential care work. These organizations reach out or post on the collective’s Facebook page to request masks. Organizers then gather supplies and cut out patterns using donated fabrics and elastics, and make kits for sewers to pick up so they can make masks from scratch at home. Sewers can also make masks from scratch at home. When completed, sewers bring masks to one of the collectives’ drop boxes, which are located at member’s houses, and those members coordinate with recipients to get the masks to them.

“The spirit of what we do is to give freely, and give to those in need”, said Mostrom.

In addition to sewing masks, the collective helps each other troubleshoot sewing machine problems, shares supplies, and has helped to organize a food drive. Mostrom said being part of the mask collective has given her hope and a sense of community during this crisis, and helped her to feel like we as a community have agency.

The spirit of what we do is to give freely, and give to those in need.

Dena Eastman, a volunteer sewist, feels similarly inspired by the sense of community provided by the collective.. Over the last few months, Eastman has personally made more than 600 masks for the collective, and she says she wouldn’t be able to do it if it weren’t for the support work of other Mask Collective members .

“It’s become a bit of an addiction. I just wake up and go straight to my sewing room. I don’t even go downstairs, I just go to sew,” said Eastman.

Over the last few months, the Whatcom Mask Collective has coordinated drops with healthcare facilities, nonprofit organizations and community support groups in the area. The 855 members of the collective have provided 15,000 workers and families with some of the equipment they need to flatten the curve and stay safe.

“It brings chills when I see the looks on people’s faces when they receive the masks. They were so scared they weren’t going to be able to protect themselves, and to be able to grant that wish is fantastic,” said Mostrom.

The best way to get involved is to join the Whatcom Mask Collective Facebook group. In the meantime, here is a tutorial for how to make a mask at home for yourself, your friends or your family.

How to Make a Mask (Adapted from the Deaconess Pattern):

You will need:

• An 8”x14” piece of the most tightly woven cotton you have

• 2 strips of fabric about 1/2” wide and long enough to wrap around your entire head each, plus 8 inches

• Thread and sewing machine (or needle)

Here are the steps:

1. Fold the cotton in half lengthwise (14” side), and sew together to make a tube shape. Do this inside out, so the seams end up on the inside of the tube. Then flip the tube so the right side is out.

2. Make 3 pleats, each about 1” tall, using pins to hold.

3. Sew the pleats down over the left and right sides about .25” off.

For Ties:

1. Clean all raw edges by folding and seaming them.

2. Line the ties up from the middle of the length to the middle of the mask vertically, and place the tie over the fabric of the mask.

3. Attach the ties by sewing over both pieces using a zig zag. Try to go over it twice for added security.

And you’ve made a mask! Congratulations, and thank you for staying safe!