Mask makers multiply as SLO County town rallies to provide face coverings
After months of debate over the effectiveness of wearing masks to help protect against the COVID-19 virus, more communities and businesses are requiring employees and customers to cover their faces.
Cambria seamstresses have been busy for months sewing up masks to give away to community members or sell to raise money for those heavily impacted by the closure of businesses and subsequent economic downturn.
Others have donated fabric and elastic to the efforts. Some sewers also have been making hospital gowns.
Some of these craftswomen have creating hundreds of masks each, connecting with recipients through social media and other means.
Among the first to launch their ambitious undertakings were Karen Dean and Carlene Cross. Along with Holly McCain, the three women have made and donated more than 800 masks so far.
Marianne Okamura has been donating her masks to organizations and individuals, according to neighbor Beverly De Lauer.
Debbie Johnson gave about 40 of her masks to Cambria Historical Society board members and docents and others, Melody Coe said. And, according to Cross, Jessica Frasier has used Facebook to offer her masks to anyone who needs them.
And there’s more. “My neighbor Julie Barnett has been making masks, with a slight pause to make hospital gowns,” Dean said. “Chris Siebuhr has also been making masks and gowns.”
McCain said she’s made at least 200 masks, giving them away “free for the asking.”
Dean said that she “started gathering the materials for the first half of March, before the shelter-in-place orders” to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic went into effect.
With two nurses in the family telling her about mask shortages, Dean went to work, and has made about 250 masks so far.
In the beginning, she gave the masks to family, neighbors and friends “and a couple who volunteered for the Medical Reserve team in San Luis Obispo — made special to fit over N95 masks.”
Since then, Dean has taken her masks “to the post office for our postal workers to have, and offered (them) to everyone I saw when I went there.”
“One of our locals who, along with two friends, does shopping and delivery for people who can’t go out themselves, came by a couple of times and got masks and filters. I ask people walking past the house, and I occasionally reply to posts on Nextdoor and Facebook,” although she hasn’t heavily promoted her efforts.
Dean said her masks are “the fitted type, with nose-bridge wire, soft cotton flannel lining, filter pocket and elastic ear loops.”
She has made several in children’s sizes designed to fit ages 3 to 6 and 7 to 12.
“They’re starting to pile up, though, and I’m not done yet,” she said. She might set up a table outside the farmers market.
After she gets caught up, Dean said, she plans to make masks with a couple of pleats added for those who want it looser to accommodate beards.” That’s at her husband’s request, since he’s growing sheltering-in-place whiskers.
North Coast residents who need masks can contact Dean at kadean@pacbell.net or send a personal message via social media.
Cross made more than 250 masks, often seeking donations of fabric and elastic.
The Cambria newcomer worked tirelessly for weeks, even wearing out her sewing machine. Sue Davis donated her late mom’s machine to the cause.
The masks were free, Cross said, but recipients can donate to the SLO Food Bank or local efforts to help feed those community members in need.
Even so, when people have gone to the Cross home to pick up their masks in zipper bags on the front porch railing, the seamstress said, she’s been touched to find that many have left behind thank-you gifts, such as “home-canned apple butters, sauces, doughnuts, personal artwork, thank you notes, material, home-made treats” and even wine.
Cross, a retiree, said she’s had to stop making masks after developing back problems from spending many, many consecutive hours hunched over the sewing machine.
Cross said she was encouraged when she learned that others in the community were making and giving away the masks, too.
“Cambria is such a sweet community,” said Cross, who moved to town with her husband a few months ago.
Townspeople have “shown such overwhelming kindness and gratefulness,” she said. “It has been really heartwarming.”
