Locals Step Up To Sew Protective Masks

Leelanau County shop owners and community members are stepping up to create DIY masks for medical practitioners and other professionals experiencing shortages of personal protection equipment.

The washable, hand-sewn masks are intended to be worn over existing higher-grade masks to extend the PPE’s life and keep them from getting soiled as quickly. (Cloth masks worn alone aren’t as effective in protecting against the coronavirus but can be a last line of defense during shortages.)

Linda Mead of Cherry Country Quilters and Chelsey Skowronski of Poppy Things are among those helping.

Skowronski, a clothing designer whose women’s fashion and accessories shop in Suttons Bay is currently open for online orders only, has been making masks for the last week, and is donating them to the Suttons Bay/Bingham Fire & Rescue. There is need everywhere, she says.

Mead is sewing and donating masks, and also offering a selection of fabric at a 75-percent discount to community members who are sewing masks for themselves or healthcare workers. She will mail that fabric free in Leelanau, Benzie, and Grand Traverse counties.

Mead says last week in a single day she sold enough discounted fabric for over 500 masks. “One person is organizing her quilt club to make them, another’s daughter works in medical office and she is making masks for the entire staff,” she explains.

She is recommending mask-makers donate on their own to places such as assisted living facilities. “They are still doing their normal day-to-day care with virtually no masks.”

She notes that the hand-sewn face mask Munson Healthcare is seeking has specific criteria. Find the instructions and pattern as well as donation locations posted on the website.

The elastic required to make the masks is also difficult to source at the moment, she adds. “Sewers can be very creative as to how they complete their tasks, and some facilities may accept masks with ties,” she says.

“The way healthy people have stepped up to help during this time has been amazing,” Mead says. “If it helps one person from getting sick, I’m grateful.”

Also in Suttons Bay, Martinson Funeral Home will have their lobby doors open (115 North St Joseph Street) Monday through Friday 11am to 4pm for PPE and face mask donation drop-offs. "Your generous gifts will be sanitized before delivery to Goodwill Northern Michigan for distribution to Munson Healthcare," says Ranve Martinson.

Photo: Chelsey Skowronski of Poppy Things