PPE Face Mask Challenge: A 1000% Communal Effort

PPE Face Mask Challenge: A 1000% Communal Effort

by Anne Savage

What involves breaking needles, burning your fingers, cutting yourself with a sharp implement, steaming up your glasses, wrestling with yards and yards of tangled fabric, and, of course, prototyping model after model before coming up with a workable option? Why, making fabric face masks for medical institutions, of course!

In an occasionally painful but definitely satisfying effort to meet the Nova Labs PPE Challenge, makers of all experience levels are breaking out sewing machines, cutting tools, and irons to make fabric face masks. Nova Labs has accepted requests for 340 masks so far, from institutions that include Chambersburg Hospital, Healthworks (Reston, Sterling, and Leesburg), and Virginia Cancer Specialists. Our handmade masks will generally be used to cover and extend the life of existing PPE masks at these facilities.

Our capacity is limited to frontline healthcare workers for now, due to the amount of time it takes to produce a sturdily-made mask that will withstand dozens of trips through institutional laundries. We’ve received many requests that we’ve had to say “no” to, but last week in April we crossed the “500 face masks completed” line – yay! – and we’re always looking for new volunteers with access to sewing machines.

With the skilled leadership of Jalene and the organizational know-how of Jeanne Marshall and Sally Byers, our friendly community of makers at #ppe_fabricfacemask on Slack has figured out how to meet the challenge. In addition to sewing, we are using laser cutters to create acrylic templates and precut dozens of fabric mask pieces for kits—shout out to Fabiana Cesa and Dave Moretti! We’re using 3D printers to create bias tape folders and mask pleaters—thanks to Paul Chase, Scott Shumway, Shane Smith, and Patrick Waters! We have folks soliciting donations of fabric, tape, and wire, communicating with medical organizations, reaching out to find additional sewists, ferrying supplies around Northern Virginia, arranging for contactless pickups and drop-offs, and so much more. Although some medical organizations request that a specific mask pattern be followed, not all do, so we spent a week researching patterns and testing them out, leaning towards patterns repeatedly requested by medical organizations. After researching fabric choices (a daunting task as new information emerges every day), we’re now using tightly woven 100% cotton fabric. We send a special thank you to Sally Byers, UpCycle Creative Reuse Center, and Reston community donor Karen Hawley for significant donations of the fabric we need.

Every single volunteer is important. As Jalene says, “this [is] a 1,000% communal effort. Every bit of technical sewing problem solving, every piece of fabric acquired and delivered, every logistical issue, was solved using the wisdom and effort of our little crowd.” In addition to the folks mentioned above, we send thanks to Amanda, Amy, Crystal, Dana, Jennifer, Joo Lee, Karen James, Karen Shumway and family, Katelyn, Margie, Melanie, Mike, Mona, Siobhan, Thuy, Yvette, and all of you who are a part of this effort.

Now, about those injuries I mentioned above: I suspect I’m not the only one who’s had some of these mishaps. Yards of fabric can get tangled as we pre-wash and dry them on “hot.” It’s easy to nick yourself when you are using a rotary cutter to cut dozens of mask pieces and strips. When making bias tape, it’s not uncommon to burn your fingers a bit as you fold that thin strip in half to iron it. Reading glasses can steam up when you wear them to see the folds you’re ironing! Lastly, sewing machine needles break when you are attaching the nose-shaping wires with a zigzag stitch, and you accidentally sew on the wire; I did this at least three times. But… none of these small mishaps matter once you have stitched the bias tape closed, given everything a final press, and – TA DAH – you have a completed mask that will help protect a frontline medical worker!

Click here to see more images - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qz63s8lo0h685hf/AACn4ICeGXPtkX6VedkTMQZha/Fabric%20PPE?dl=0&subfolder_nav_tracking=1