Catching up: face masks

For most of the past year, I focused my blog posts on the making of Jeremy's wedding quilt. The last post where I talked about other projects was back in September, 2019. I've been working on several other things in these months, and every once in a while, I would title and save a blog post, to remind myself to come back and write about them; there are a half-dozen of these lined up. But I wanted to focus my attention on thinking through and working on the wedding quilt project, so I didn't write up blog posts about other things.  Since I finished that quilt, I've turned my attention to another big project, one I've been thinking about and making forays into since about 2006. I'm getting closer to having something to write about this, but not yet.  So, it's a good time to catch up on the other things I've been doing over the last year, mostly smaller craft work, but also a couple of art pieces.

I'll start with a recent craft project. Along with most everyone with a sewing machine, I've been making cloth face masks for a few months. 

I use a pattern given in the New York Times at the end of March. Soon after I started making them (in early April), the local natural foods store asked if I would be willing to supply them with masks, since people had been asking for them. I wasn't interested in making money on the masks, and I also didn't want to be spending more than a few hours a week sewing masks, so we came up with this idea:  I supply the store with about ten masks a week, at no cost. They have them on display, with a sign explaining that the masks are available in exchange for a donation to local food relief groups. Suggested donation is $10, but anything smaller is also happily accepted. So far, this has generated about $600 in donations. This definitely helps motivate me to keep making masks! I thought the masks might stop selling at this point, since they are now readily available in stores, but apparently not--people like the style, and they like that the money is going to a good cause.

Until recently, I made the masks with one layer of batik (recommended because of its tight fabric weave) and one layer of printed quilter's cotton, all from my stash of fabric. When I ran out of batik, I bought a couple of half-yards from a local shop. But rather than continue to buy fabric, I realized I could do some hand-dyeing on a bolt of fabric I rarely use, because it is so tightly woven that I can't hand-stitch into it (Testfabrics 419).  It's perfect for this use!  And it gives me the chance to do a fun kind of dyeing that I rarely use--mixing two or three different colors in a random pattern. (The dyeing I do for my quilts is almost all one-color solids or near-solids.) Below are six different strips I've dyed in the last couple of weeks. For any dyers reading, these are all with Procion MX dyes, color names noted on the photos. The "indigo" is a premixed dye from Dharma Trading; the rest are from Pro Chemical and Dye. For ease of use, I went with either primaries or pre-mixed colors. Now that I've got a method down, I'll probably mix some of my own colors, and extend the range. 

It's always fun to look up close at a smaller section of the fabric (click on photos to enlarge):

I took another photo with the four 13" panels placed right next to each other.  Hmm, something like this might be nice as a simple quilt top, maybe separated by narrow strips of solid fabric. . .

And here's the other side of the masks, showing the commercial cotton fabric I used: