The Mask Makers: Episode 1 - Sewing in a Crisis

In spring of 2020, face masks were one of the few tools we had against covid-19, and you couldn’t buy one. Anywhere. 

When hospitals started calling for homemade fabric masks amid a world shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), people with sewing skills in Vermont and around the world responded. In early April when the CDC changed its guidance and encouraged all Americans to wear a mask in public, sewers quickly expanded to sew for family, friends, and neighbors. At a time when anyone who could was asked to stay home, this work was one of the few active ways for individuals to help keep others safe. 

In this three-part mini-series we’ll explore the pandemic experience through the voices of some of Vermont’s mask makers. You’ll hear how and why they joined the sewing effort, learn about the Great Elastic Shortage of 2020, and explore how they expressed themselves creatively through the masks they made (what, you didn’t have a mask with spikes on it!?). 

The Mask Makers is co-produced and co-hosted by material culturalist and mask maker Eliza West. 

SEWING IN A CRISIS

In Episode 1 we explore the experiences of a handful of Vermont mask makers, learning about how mask making became an outlet for anxiety, while also forming an essential part of Vermont’s efforts to stem the spread of the virus. We also consider the complexities of mask makers earning money, or not, in exchange for their labor and the pressure some people felt to join the cause. 

 

VT Untapped™ is a production of the Vermont Folklife Center. To learn more click here.