Sewing Therapy

I am a self-described introvert, homebody and someone who loves staying busy and creating things. I am also a social being who loves getting together with friends, sharing the process and experience of learning about new subjects, methods, expressing and creating.

Thankfully, most of our population still has technological means of communicating with society at large. I think this ability to remain connected, albeit primarily cyber-based at this point, will prove a saving grace for the world during this time. This said, living through the reality of the last few weeks of sobering pandemic statistics and country-wide mandated social-distancing has proven challenging on many levels. While it’s true the majority of us (save our sainted healthcare workers, law enforcement, military personnel and those working in the farming, grocery and trucking industries) have a lot more time on our hands these days, many individuals I’ve communicated with have also struggled with achieving a healthy sense of balance; between staying informed about the latest “breaking news”, fear-inducing, sometimes addictive saturation of press conferences and news briefings in connection with our present Coronavirus situation, and remaining mentally, emotionally and physically healthy; continuing to be productive and maintaining a sense of purpose.

One thing that has helped me feel like I’m making some sort of difference is making face masks. I’m using a pattern that pattern-maker, Peggy Sagers of Silhouette Patterns, designed. She consulted with physicians and Department of Health professionals to determine optimal features and provided shipping addresses and distribution portals where to send them. For links to the pattern and construction guide see the “features” section at http://www.silhouettepatterns.com

Here are photos of some of the face masks I made and that were shipped out last week.

It turns out many people in our country, including theater costume shops, are making face masks using a variety of patterns, materials and construction methods.

Some people who haven’t sewn anything for years are pulling out their sewing machines from storage, dusting them off and sewing masks to contribute to the effort.

It is rewarding to be making something useful during this present health crisis to be sure.

This said, it is discouraging to read negative, alarmist posts by nay-sayers on social media, criticizing everything from materials used, mask designs, practical application and potential threat of spreading disease. I’m guessing many of these same individuals are not making masks themselves, choosing instead, to criticize and complain about all of the above. Perhaps a better use of their time might be to brainstorm about practical solutions to the issues they raise.

I was telling my husband the other day that our current global struggles will (and already the case) surely bring out the best in people but also the worst. We will all need to heal, in several ways, when this current health crisis has run its course. Fear of what we know, the unknown and loss of control often breeds irrational behavior at times like these.

I also believe we will learn a lot about many things when we look back on this time in history.

Back to balance. Last week I was in mask-making “factory assembly” mode.

Over the weekend I decided to take a break from making masks and set my sites on finishing quilting the Queen-size quilt I had to put on hold just before Christmas last year. Happy to say I’m almost done.

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Best wishes to all for optimal health-physical, emotional and mental well-being. We will get through this.