How I Got into the Business of Making Cloth Masks

We had a partial box of paper "surgical" masks in the house when the pandemic hit.  I thought that would be all we would need. After all, we were just trying to "flatten the curve", right? 

Soon I realized I might want to make cloth masks for my family.  Well, I had a bit of fabric left from previous sewing projects; and I had a bit of 1/4" elastic, probably from my grandmother's stash; and I had pipe cleaners from some crafts with the kids. So, having found instructions I liked, I began making masks for my family. 

Then I ordered supplies through eBay, and I made masks for my adult kids' roommates and co-workers, and then for a friend's wedding. Pretty soon, I had made and given away 100 masks. In the meantime, one of my sons kept suggesting I make masks to sell. 

So I ordered more supplies and opened an account on Etsy. About that time a friend suggested metal nose strips to replace the pipe cleaners. That made a huge difference in efficiency and durability, and I was happy to begin my selling with this improvement to the masks. 

Currently, I have 28 different fabric styles or colors to choose from. Come check them out:  

Sewn4UByMMM at Etsy