It’s no secret right now that there is a massive shortage of PPE in every hospital and care facility everywhere. It’s also well known that the CDC is now calling for everyday people to wear masks when they go into public — to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in our communities. But where do you get masks when there are none to be found? You turn to your relative / friends who sew, of course….and somehow they are producing masks by the hundreds, as if they’ve been ready and waiting for their call to action, at moment’s notice.
The minute the CDC was all “we need home sewists to start producing masks for our first responders”, anyone with a sewing machine and a fabric stash dropped everything they were doing and started becoming home based manufacturers. Honestly, my friends are pumping out hundreds of face covers a week and it’s constantly flooding my social media feeds. It’s incredible. And selfless. And amazing that they are at home, sheltering in place, dealing with their own version of anxiety from this moment, some of them are wrangling kids and home-based schooling, and STILL they’re finding ways to support their community members. A lot of them aren’t even asking for a dime to make it happen. And the ones that are selling them, are selling way below the worth of their time, skill and supplies.
Years from now we are going to look back on this and marvel over this moment. I just hope the world appreciates this often overlooked art and skillset. Because damnit, we are KILLING IT out there. Thank you sewists everywhere!!!
I saw someone call us the “modern day Rosie the Riveter” and it stuck with me. I needed a shirt to wear while sewing masks — and I thought you might too. Scroll to the bottom and you can have this file to use as you’d like, for personal projects of course.
I think it’s pretty obvious from these photos that I didn’t bother to clean up part of my sewing space. Let’s be honest, I’m tired from sewing masks. As if I really want to add cleaning to my exhaustion, haha. It’s not lazy…it’s authentic (she tell herself while cringing over the chaos in the background.)
Hopefully you share what you’ve made with this file. And even more hopefully, I hope you tag me (I’m @mckinleykaty on Instagram) so I can see!! I love sharing in your joy of making!
The downloads are packaged as four file types:
SVG, DXF, PNG and PDF.
Please do not share the files, claim them as your own, or profit off of my design in any way. Â They are for PERSONAL USE ONLY.
Well that escalated quickly! We had some requests come in for other hairstyles, so you can now get the “We Can Sew It” with curly hair AND a bun!
Pattern: Slim Fit Raglan by Patterns for Pirates
Fabric: Rayon/Spandex Blend + Navy Ribbed Knits from JoAnn Fabrics
Iron-On Vinyl: Siser Easyweed
Thanks Katy!!, I am offering to cut out the design for all of my mask making helpers. I have had sewing helpers, fabric donors, folks to fold aluminum for nose pieces for masks. All worked together to make masks to donate to medical personnel and essential workers.
Thank you! This is super cute 🙂
You are so awesome! Thank you <3
I don’t have a maker and don’t know anyone who can do this. Do you sell them??
Well men see too ijs
Of course they do. And so do non-binary people! Nothing is stopping anyone from wearing these images on their shirt if they want to. 😉