What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 And you thought the mask sewing was over with. 

This summer has been busy.  Since COVID destroyed all of our travel plans DH built a vegetable garden at waist height.  Wow, I don't even mind weeding it.  It is so easy when you are not bending over or crawling on the ground.  The cucumber died, but the zucchini made up for the loss. My rhubarb, which has struggled for 4 years, "dying" every summer, survived one more transplant into the "box" and is loving it there.  I have great hopes for rhubarb pie next year.  Then we had 22º weather and a snowstorm in the first week of ...

Another quilter asked if I could make a pair of custom masks for a bride and groom. I said yes.

Ever since I learned that it was not only going to be socially acceptable to put fabric on my face, it was actually going to be mandatory, I have been wanting to make some quilt block masks. Because if people can’t see my smiling face, then at least they can see some happy quilt blocks! […]

Every time I think I have made enough masks I realize my work isn't done.

I was asked again to make masks. Mask sewing has been an exhausting endevour for me. At first, it was just really sad. Now, it isn't so sad but still not how I want to spend my creative time all the time.

I had sewn some face masks for my mom and my brother. Brother wanted a single closure, so I did 3/8″ inch elastic around the base of his head, and he says it’s perfect. For my mom I cut the ultra soft elastic off of disposable masks so she would have the ultra soft. Today I decided to sew a few for a daughter-in-law and a couple more for me.

[The finished product.]

I know everyone has their own patterns or tutorials on how to make a mask, but I thought I’d add a very small one ...

We now have a new Bias Binding Maker that is made right here in the U.S. so we’re able to reorder! The new 2″ Double Fold Binding Tool from Purple Hobbies LLC is perfect for making double fold bias tape for mask straps.

Its construction allows you to eliminate a step and fold the edges in on itself AND in half at the same time to create 1/2-inch double fold bias tape all in one step. That will save tons of time and allow you to make more masks.

The tool comes in a bunch of colors ...

Today’s video is a little different. I brought in three women, one of whom doesn’t even sew, who have organized a group of volunteers to make 11,000 masks a week to go to healthcare workers in my community.

They recognized early on the massive need to make masks to protect our healthcare workers during the PPE shortage, put a call out on Facebook and now have more than 500 volunteers working together, but in their own living rooms, to make a massive difference in the community I live.

I got them together via Zoom chat to share ...

• Materials Used:
• 2 pieces of 7″ x 9″ fabric
• 1 strip of 1 to 1+1/2″ x 7″ fabric
• 2 strips of stretched 1″ x 6″ T-shirt fabric
• Optional: some type of filter and/or wire

Along with everyone else, I am making fabric masks. I am also making masks from special microbial fabric the hospital provided for them. The fabric masks will go to family, friends in need, and special places that need at least some form of protection. I looked at and tried a lot of different patterns, until I came up with something that works for ...

• Materials Used:
• 2 pieces of 7″ x 9″ fabric
• 1 strip of 1 to 1+1/2″ x 7″ fabric
• 2 strips of stretched 1″ x 6″ T-shirt fabric
• Optional: some type of filter and/or wire

Along with everyone else, I am making fabric masks. I am also making masks from special microbial fabric the hospital provided for them. The fabric masks will go to family, friends in need, and special places that need at least some form of protection. I looked at and tried a lot of different patterns, until I came up with something that works for ...

Okay, so, there is a LOT of info out there for and against wearing a mask during this Covid-19 crisis...especially one that is "home sewn" and while I had planned to stay out of it, I changed my mind and decided to dedicate this post to making one for yourself.

There are a great many tutorials out there, probably the only real difference is that I have included an extra  layer of protection in the form of a Hepa filter in the ones I have made.

* Warning, you want to be certain that such filter material does not contain ...

Thanks to the outpouring of support from the sewing community in the effort to make masks, elastic is now hard to come by. The four main distributors to quilt shops in the U.S. are all out and it is going to be a bit before they can get more.

So I created this video to show you how to convert ANY mask pattern that uses elastic into one that uses ties. The first half goes through the steps you need to take to convert the standard surgical style mask from elastic to ties.

The second goes over how to ...