Coronavirus Masks-Today’s Version of the Victory Garden

My parents were born in the 1920s.  They were coming of age in the build-up to, and during, World War II.  It was a time of great patriotism in America.  Everyone pulled together to assist with the war effort, even school girls learned lessons about how to prepare for the harder times ahead.

Food was rationed so more could be sent overseas to help with the war effort; everyone had to endure shortages of all those things that made life enjoyable (sugar, meat, cooking oil, canned goods.)   

Victory Gardens were planted in yards and public spaces to grow fresh fruits and vegetables to supplement people’s rations. Though I never heard stories of “victory gardens” in my family, I did hear about “Victory’s Spread.” When my grandmother couldn’t find butter in any of the stores she could walk to, she would purchase this white, lard-like substance that came with a capsule of yellow coloring to mix in so you could make it look (edible?) more like butter before spreading it on your bread.  (This was due to a law sponsored by the dairy industry that prevented yellow colored butter substitutes from being sold.) 

My dad and his older brother enlisted in the Coast Guard. His younger brother had rheumatic fever as a child and wasn’t eligible for the armed services.  He remained home with his single mother, working to help with household expenses.  He received a gasoline ration, but it was limited to exactly enough gas to get him back and forth to his workplace five days a week.  My mother and her sisters worked for defense contractors.  Mom worked for Leeds & Northrup, on an assembly line, producing naval gunfire control equipment, and one of her sisters worked at a plant welding airplane motor mounts on equipment used to train pilots.   It was a time of great patriotism and service to the country.

I’m feeling a nostalgia for, and a greater connection to, the experience of my parents these days as terrifying news of shortages of PPE for our health care workers dominates the news amid the coronavirus pandemic.  What can a person do to try to help those who need it most, while being stuck indoors for my own good and the good of society? Make masks!

I rummaged through my sewing supplies, and found loads of cotton fabric and fusible interfacing, leftover from quilts I’ve finished, and a nice supply of fat quarters from my boss who gave me what was left from a project she and her daughter had completed. 

I set up kind of a production line, cutting the fabric, interfacing and elastic.

I stitched the two sides of the mask together and inserted elastic, then pinned the pleats.

Then I sewed the masks together.

I had masks in various stages of completion.

Then, Victory! Finished fabric face covers. I stopped sewing when I ran out of elastic. Who knew elastic would be the currency of the apocalypse?

I boxed up the masks and sent them to my former employer, an organization that provides advanced preventive care (in-home education and health care) to seniors with complex medical needs. Like every other health care provider these days, they are having trouble acquiring enough PPE for their staff. 

But before I sent them off, I was able to give a few to my family and coworkers.

Victory Masks!