This week is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and for those of you who are home (and probably sewing face-masks) it is a time to contemplate our priorities around the environment, and the future of the planet for the sake of our children and all living things.
For those of you who contributed to my GoFundMe project, you should have received an invite to a private Earth Day webinar at 10 am MDT on this Weds April 22, which is Earth Day. I will send out one more reminder through GoFundMe before then. Thanks to you, we raised over $4000 for Earthworks, and my quilt “Rocky Mountain Poison” (part of the “Water is Life” exhibit which premiered at the UN in Geneva) has been acquired by the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln Nebraska. A very heartfelt thank you to the anonymous donor who contributed an additional $1K to this fundraiser effort.
Because of this quilt, many opportunities have come my way, including an invitation to curate an exhibit at IQM. Right now the opening reception “For the Love of Gaia” is planned for Friday June 26, and we have a stellar list of artists participating in this invitational exhibit. I will be discussing this project with our donors on Earth Day, and discussing how artist-activists can have a powerful voice to communicate conservation messages to their viewers.
Please do share our Mask-Making info-page with anyone who might be interested in sewing face masks or other PPE for their community. eQuilter is still a collection point for our local sewing volunteers to drop off masks for healthcare and frontline workers in Boulder County. I’ve been dropping off masks to the hospital and other clinics, nursing homes, etc. several times a week, thanks to the generosity of our local army of sewing volunteers. We are shipping out thousands of yards of elastic all over the country, and donating hundreds of yards locally. Our buyers are working hard to keep all the specialty fabrics and PPE supplies in stock for those of you committed to the mask-making effort. Thank you.
sharing your Passion for Fabric… Luana and Paul
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Posted inCharity, Quilts|Comments Off on Sewing in the time of COVID-19 – Week 5
As the weeks wear on and more quilt festivals and gatherings are cancelled, I feel an emptiness inside. Reviewing the photos I took in Tokyo and at QuiltCon helps, but still no matter how busy I am, there is an empty space where quilts and quilters once filled me up with the kind of inspiration one finds only at a physical gathering with amazing quilts to admire up close and personal. I miss the joyful hugs when we spy a good friend walking through rows of beautiful fiber art.
So here we are, making the best of this event, Zooming and sharing online….stitching at home…and most of us are making masks instead of quilts. (according to my unofficial survey of quilter friends) How will this translate into quilt exhibits and festivals later this year and early next year? We will all find out together.
This is a detail of a quilt at QuiltCon by San Diego quilter Juli Smith. “Summer Sea Breeze” is part of her series of color gradation studies. She is exploring how color transformation embraces negative space. She felt that the negative space was where the sea breeze would ebb and flow, with the sand below and the sunset above.
Somehow that seems to capture the place we are all in now.
All of us at eQuilter are acutely aware that you are making masks for your community’s healthcare workers, frontline workers, and loved ones. Like the other few online fabric suppliers still open, we are running up to a week behind. My classroom has been transformed into a cutting room to accommodate new additional workers, so we can keep everyone safely spaced. We’ve been practicing health and safety protocols for a month now, and we are following very strict disinfecting and hand washing guidelines to keep everyone safe. Our buyers are working hard to keep products stocked and restocked for your PPE sewing projects – and you will see that elastic goes in and out of stock each week. Contact customer service if you want to be emailed the minute those items are back in stock! Search for “COVID” to see which of these specialty products are in stock on any given day.
We are aware that Military Moms are now sewing masks for those who are serving, and now need protective masks. Fortunately we have a great network of friends who give us a heads-up as these new categories of need pop up. We are doing a very deep restock later this week of specific solid colors for those who are sewing for Police, Army, Marines, Navy, etc.
Batiks and Hand-Dyes have been very popular because they are a higher thread count and tighter weave, as are premium muslins also with the high thread count. As your facemask and PPE sewing needs grow and change, we will continue to work hard to get these products into stock and continue to restock. We are in touch with our suppliers every day and have close partnerships with many of them. I continue to update our Facemask Info page. Let us know what we can do for you!
All of us at eQuilter wish you health, peace and comfort in these troubling times. We will get to the other side of this…together.
We send out our most
sincere wishes for peace, comfort and health – both emotional and physical
health – during this sacred time of Easter and Passover celebrations.
It is a relief to me that the rest of the country has caught up to the idea of
wearing a mask to keep self and others safe. Healthcare workers are still
asking for homemade masks, and I hear from quilters around the country that
those hospitals who said ‘no thanks’ to our DIY masks a couple weeks ago, are
saying ‘yes please!’ now. If you are making masks for family and friends,
please make every other mask for those medical workers on the front lines. If
you are selling masks, please offer to your customers that for every mask they
buy, you will donate one to healthcare workers. This is not over yet.
We still encourage you to make masks with ties, which can be cut from fabric.
However so many of you have asked for elastic, so we are continuing to stock
this item. We are receiving thousands of yards from the garment industry, and
then we are measuring and bundling before sending out to you. The elastic comes
in and out of stock very quickly. Contact our customer service and they will
notify you when it is back in stock every few days.
Our shipping time is taking a little longer than usual, because these are
unusual times. If you search for ‘COVID’ you will pull up all the mask-making
and PPE items in stock. We are giving these orders priority because we know
these sewing projects for our communities are most urgent.
We have 2 trunks outside our front door now: One to receive finished masks, and
one with free fabric for those who are sewing with no stash of their own.
eQuilter is a dropoff point for finished masks for our local hospital and
healthcare workers. We receive masks and then do a ‘triage’ and divide up the
masks for the local and state groups who are requesting them: this week
including police, jail, mental health clinic, and more for the hospital and
state department offices. Also we have quilters who are donating their stash in
our fabric give-away bin, on top of the fabric we are donating to mask makers.
Many thanks to all who have rallied to this effort!
Please do share our Mask-Making info-page with anyone who might be
interested in sewing face masks or other PPE for their community.
sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul
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Posted inCharity, Creativity, Travel|Comments Off on Sewing in the time of COVID-19 – Week 4
Here is a quilt from the Tokyo Quilt Festival,
featuring the beauty of blooming Iris in the Springtime.
We are challenged to find the beauty in our world now, and yet that is exactly
what we must do in the face of this global health challenge. I find beauty on
our community bulletin board, where one person asks for help, and a stranger
answers with instinctive generosity. Often those who respond can help only
because they have been laid off, but they give their free time to help those in
need. And so it is in our sewing community – those who have free time now are
making protective face masks for their community’s healthcare workers, their
front line workers at the grocery store or in the delivery truck, and making
masks for those elderly and at risk in their neighborhoods.
It is at times like this when a community rediscovers its heart…and soul.
In the last few days we are seeing a shift from people making masks for
frontline healthcare workers, to people making masks for friends, family and
neighbors. Understandable, now that the CDC and our governor have advised us to
wear masks around others in public.
The mask donations for the hospital have dropped off, but they are still desperately
needed. Can I suggest that when you make a mask for a loved one, you also make
a matching mask for a health worker who just might save the life of a loved
one? Please don’t stop making masks for healthcare workers now. We are also
seeing more people who are selling masks instead of donating masks for
healthcare workers. Again, if you need to do this, can you make and donate one
mask, for every mask you sell? Thank you. Pass it on.
My deepest gratitude to friends at the Boulder Handweavers Guild who responded
to my call for help this week. Sue D. loaned me her large 5 foot high warping
mill so we can process thousands of yards of elastic for all of you wanting
this for your mask-making. I put the call out to the community and got an
immediate response! It looks like a spinning Ferris Wheel in my studio. This is
why I left the garment industry and then came into the quilting and crafting
world so many years ago…because we are a community of Heart and Soul.
All of us at eQuilter wish you health, peace and comfort in these troubling
times.
We will get to the other side of this…together.
sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul
*This quilt was photographed at the Jan 2020 Tokyo Quilt Festival by Luana
Rubin. For more
photos visit her photo page. The 3 fabrics on the right side are currently
in stock at eQuilter.com
eQuilter Classroom:
October 5-9 – Susan Carlson –
RESCHEDULED
October 11-15 – Paula
Nadelstern – Kaleidoscopes & Quilts – RESCHEDULED
2021 – Jacqueline de Jonge
The CDC has announced
that we should all be wearing masks when we are out in public, even though
we’ve been told not to go out in public. During your minimal grocery store
runs, wear a mask. If you know someone who has an essential job, make them a
mask.
We are still scrambling to keep special items in stock for those of you sewing
masks and PPE items. They come in and out of stock so quickly. If there is
something you need please call customer service and get on the wait list. We’ll
contact you the day it is back in stock! We have thousands of yards of elastic
now, and more on the way. We encourage you to make masks with homemade bias
strips, but if you need elastic there will be plenty this week and plenty more
in a couple weeks.
Our shipping time is taking a little longer than usual, because these are
unusual times. If you search for ‘COVID’ you will pull up all the mask-making
and PPE items in stock. We are giving these orders priority because we know
these sewing projects for our communities are most urgent.
This week was also about bigger statewide projects for those who remain on the
job but don’t have protective masks. We are still collecting your DIY face
masks for healthcare workers and government workers here in Colorado. We’ve
been making phone calls to match up sewing groups around the state, with groups
of essential workers who need masks. You can do this in your community also – check out our info page and see if you
know somebody on the front lines of this pandemic who could use a mask.
Mission of Love is
asking for masks and help for the Lakota people of Pine Ridge South Dakota. If
you would like to help this impoverished community during the crisis, follow
the link to Mission of Love
and see how you can help Kathy Price with this project on the reservation.
We have 2 trunks outside our front door now:
One is to receive your beautiful donated handmade face masks. The other is full
of colorful fabric, strips for ties, and this week we will have some elastic
for those of you who are sewing masks but don’t have your own stash. Please
take only what you need.
Due to further state shutdown orders, and to give our staff more protection, we
have had to stop our curbside pickup. However we send out our most sincere
gratitude to those who have continued to make and drop off dozens and hundreds
of handmade masks. I am going out about every 2-3 days to deliver another batch
to those in need…healthcare workers and government employees. Those of you in
this army of sewing volunteers are demonstrating true patriotism, and I wish I
could give each of you a big hug. We will get through this, together.
Please do share our Mask-Making info-page
with anyone who might be interested in sewing face masks or other PPE for their
community.
How many face masks did you make this week? Every quilter I know has dropped their quilt projects to make protective face masks for their local healthcare workers and community.
eQuilter is a collection point for our community hospital, plus we are gathering and distributing masks for local nursing homes and government workers. We are stocking up on requested fabrics and PPE supplies for those of you who are sewing masks and gowns for local hospitals. Our warehouse remains open as an essential business, but is closed to the public. We have curbside pickup for our local customers.
We will have elastic for masks in the next few days, and you can see what other PPE/mask fabrics and specialty supplies we have in stock by searching for the keyword ‘COVID’. These change from day to day as we sell out of some and are restocked on others. Our buyers are in high gear all day long to keep these in stock for you. If there is something you need give us a call or email, and we will try to get it for you or let you know when it is back in stock.
There was an article in the NY Times today that the CDC is considering advising all of us to make and wear face masks. Sewing volunteers are already making masks at a breakneck pace all across the USA, and all around the world for that matter. We see what has happened in Europe and we are already preparing.
Both of the Susan Carlson and Paula Nadelstern workshops have been rescheduled for October. We are checking with students and then will let you know if there are any spots open in these back-to-back classes. We will limit the number of students so everyone is well spaced. More on that soon.
sharing your Passion for Fabric… Luana and Paul
*This quilt “Kawaii” by Rumiko Oiwa was the winner of the big Machine Quilting Award at the January 2020 Tokyo Quilt Festival. Photographed by Luana Rubin. For more photos visit her photo page.
eQuilter Classroom: October 5-9 – Susan Carlson – RESCHEDULED October 11-15 – Paula Nadelstern – Kaleidoscopes & Quilts – RESCHEDULED 2021 – Jacqueline de Jonge
As many of you know
by now, I’ve been working to compile an info-page for all of you who are
anxious to help. A week ago we thought our homemade masks weren’t good enough.
Now we have hospitals, clinics and EMTs begging for PPE items. (PPE – personal
protective equipment) Many thanks to Meg Cox for her mention of our efforts in
her “Quilt Journalist Tells All” e-newsletter Saturday.
We’ve spent the week scrambling to find suppliers for the things you are asking
for, to make PPE items. If you search for “COVID” it will pull up
everything we have in stock that has been in demand for this purpose, and we
have thousands of yards of elastic, and hundreds of yards of polypropylene
(nonwoven mask liner) on order for next week. We will be selling the elastic at
our cost after cutting and bundling in 10 yd and 50 yd packages. These are
coming from a garment industry manufacturer and are Latex-Free. If you want to
be notified when they come in, please contact customer service Monday so we can
judge the demand and order more if needed.
We’ve been asked by the governor’s office to help coordinate making, collecting
and delivering masks to the workers who are keeping Colorado running during
this pandemic. These are the folks who are still going to work during the
shutdown – processing your state tax return checks – running the DMV – and I’ve
added these workers to my list of potential mask recipients on my info-page.
For all of you making masks out there, look at my list and think about who is
still out there in your state working and delivering, and think about who would
appreciate a mask this week.
I also have a request from Mission
of Love to make and send masks to Pine Ridge SD, the poorest county in the
US. (Reservation home to the Lakota people.) Please watch our blog page and Facebook page for updates on
all of these efforts.
It has become clear to me in the last few days that anyone who is still
working, going to the grocery store, or having other potential human
interaction, needs to wear a mask when around others. Period. This is what they
do in Asia, where it is 2nd nature. Here in the US we have been spoiled and
there is resistance to this idea, but watch this video sent to me from the Czech
Republic.
There is now a large sealed trunk for masks outside our front door. Our
business is closed to the public to protect our staff, but you can drop off
donated masks during business hours. If you have no fabric but want to help, we
are also putting fabric in the bin so you can pick up what you can use, when
dropping off finished masks. Our local BCH hospital group has listed us as one
of two dropoff points for your DIY face masks. We are collecting and
distributing to a wide range of groups including the hospital, nursing homes,
and state government workers.
We are providing curbside pickup for our local customers. If you live locally
and wish to save on shipping but not get out of your car to pick up an order,
just let us know when you will arrive and we will bring your package out to
your car for a *quick* hand-off to protect staff and customer…maybe on your
infrequent trip to the grocery store down the road from eQuilter.
Please do share our Mask-Making info-page
with anyone who might be interested in sewing face masks or other PPE for their
community. We will get through this together. Sending love and hugs to you and
your families during this challenging time.
We have gone down the rabbit hole and it seems we have a long way to fall before this journey is over.
It doesn’t seem like just 2 months ago that Sophie and I were in Tokyo for the Quilt Festival. Now Japan’s cherry blossom festivities and the Tokyo Summer 2020 Olympics have been cancelled. So I wanted to share one of the beautiful quilts from this year’s festival, along with some seasonal Japanese fabrics. This too shall pass. Spring will flow into Summer, and we can only hope that by Fall the world will have returned to some normalcy.
eQuilter remains open at this time, and we are still shipping out orders. As we’ve mentioned the last couple weeks, we are disinfecting, social distancing, washing hands, and following all virus protocols very strictly. The health of our staff remains a priority. We are in touch with the governor’s office and local hospital, working to support local healthcare workers as a collection point for masks.
We are stocking up on requested fabrics for those who are sewing masks and gowns for their local hospitals. We have curbside pickup for local customers, but starting today we also have curbside drop off for those making DIY face masks for local healthcare workers. Many have requested elastic for face masks and we will be restocked in about a week. If there is something you need give us a call or email, and we will try to get it for you.
Despite the current chaos, the Earth will still blossom with Spring flowers as temperatures warm. I hope that you can find time to step outside and go for a walk in Nature, while social distancing. Many of you are sewing masks like crazy but don’t forget to take a break to fill up your soul with the beauty of the season.
If you are sewing face masks for your community, please check out this page where we have gathered lots of information from around the country and around the world regarding the construction of these masks. I’ve been in touch with many doctors and nurses to put together a page which I hope will be of help. Please feel free to share this page with others who are organizing to help those needing PPEs (personal protection equipment) in your community. I am continuously updating this page and it has received over 50K visits in the last few days.
sharing your Passion for Fabric… Luana and Paul
*The red and white quilt “2020” above was photographed by Luana at the Tokyo Quilt Festival in January. The artist’s name is printed in Kanji in the top right corner. The righthand border features Spring fabrics currently in stock. For more photos visit her photo page.
eQuilter Classroom: June 1-5 2020 – Paula Nadelstern – Kaleidoscopes & Quilts – Registration OPEN July 20-23 Betty Busby – Transfer Dyeing August 6-9 – Cindy Lohbeck Returns October 5-9 – Susan Carlson – RESCHEDULED 2021 – Jacqueline de Jonge
Luana’s Travel Calendar: June 19 – Quilt Canada – “Intl Quilt Trends” presentation June 26 – Intl Quilt Museum – Lincoln NE – Opening Reception & Lecture “For the Love of Gaia” July 29 – Aug 2 – “Love Your Mother” Gallery in Birmingham UK (Lecture 8/1) Sept 26 – Quilters Take Manhattan Oct 16-17 – Visions Art Museum – San Diego (Lecture 10/16)
*This page is being updated as needed – SCROLL DOWN for free patterns, VIDEOS and other info!*
Dear Big-Hearted Sewing Friends,
We are now living in a time where a protective face mask must be worn in public to stay safe, combined with social distancing and other health protocols like frequent hand washing. We are now understanding why Asian citizens wear masks in public…it is just common sense!
The majority of Americans now understand the importance of reducing transmission by wearing masks. Many states are under facemask mandates, including here in Colorado.
Many of our customers made hundreds or even thousands of facemasks to be donated to healthcare and other front line workers, then moved on to make masks for Navajo and Lakota reservations, Homeless populations and Low-Income communities. We have worked closely with the Boulder Emergency Taskforce to provide masks for local frontline workers. Now there are calls for masks for students and teachers as the school year approaches. Some of you who lost your jobs have supplemented your income by making masks to sell.
Neck Gaiter Face Masks are becoming more popular. The best are double-layer with an opening for inserting a filter such as Oly-Fun or other nonwoven. Cotton Jersey is used to make these stretchy tubes that are pulled over the face. New links below for easy Neck Gaiter instructions/patterns.
Another concern for the school year is for students playing wind instruments in Band. There are also links below for those needing specialty masks for students blowing on brass and woodwind instruments, and in some cases to also cover the musical instrument’s air exit point(s).
First Responders – EMT, Ambulance, Police and Fire/Emergency workers.
Other Health Care Workers – Senior living facilities, Nursing Homes, Home Care workers.
Government Workers – We are coordinating with the governor’s office to supply those who are still working – making sure our state govt keeps running – including sending out tax refunds. Who is going to work keeping the lights on in your state?
UPS, FedEx and Postal Service delivery employees!
RTD, Lyft, Uber or Via Drivers. Meals on Wheels delivery.
Daycare workers, Foodbank volunteers. Grocery store and cashier staff.
Nursing home residents, homeless communities, prison communities.
Airport, government and construction staff required to stay open during shutdown. Law enforcement and security personnel.
Veterinarian staff, animal shelters and pet boarding services.
Here in the Boulder area we are a collection point, for healthcare workers and government workers who have to work during the pandemic. We are in touch with the governor’s office and Boulder Community Hospital for distribution. You can email me at [email protected] and I can arrange to be a personal collection point on an evening or weekend if you can’t make it to our office during business hours. (Mon – Fri, 7:30 am to 6 pm)
Mask and PPE collection:
eQuilter.com – Boulder Colorado
6201 Spine Rd in Gunbarrel (1/2 block west of 63rd St)
Office Hours – 7:30 am to 6 pm – Monday through Friday
Phone: 303-527-0856
MASKS SAVE LIVES –
Universal mask-wearing is the most overlooked COVID-19 lifesaver
Chart from Bob Huttinga PA – explaining how DIY face masks help:
Â
High thread count cottons like BATIKS and HAND-DYES (and the PFD greige goods for batiks) are more effective than the standard 60×60 greige goods used for quilt cottons. High thread count fabrics in general are best – look for Premium Muslins and Solids with high thread counts. Light colors are preferred by healthcare workers so they can see when the masks are dirty.
Lining masks with flannel or nonwoven fabrics increases the filtering quality. Many mask-making groups are using Pellon Nonwovens (NON-fusible!) and products like Polypropylene (Oly-Fun) for filtering liners.
Elastic will break down in repeated hot/bleached washers/dryers, and many are allergic to the latex in the elastic.
Metal in the operating room is an electrical safety hazard. Metal in the operating room can spark and start a fire.Â
If the mask is going to someone who will never wear it in an operating room, then it is ok to put in the wire or metal to shape around the nose. Different doctors and hospitals have strong opinions about this, often opposite.
This mask with ties should fit the best for a healthcare worker. Any nurse will tell you that fit of a mask is very important, so you can keep your hands free.
The bindings and ties will contribute to a good mask fit. Hands are full and having to stop to adjust a slipping or gapping mask is awkward and unhygienic.Â
For all masks, please use clean, tightly-woven cotton fabric on both sides, and sew on a clean work surface. Please place CLEAN face masks in ziplock-style plastic bags for donation.
There is a critical shortage of face masks for health professionals and first-responders. We have been asked to mobilize our community to do what we do best: sew.
I looked at many websites and liked this method best – especially when made with a tie cord instead of elastic (which is becoming hard to get). Also: the tie cord is adjustable therefore more comfortable. She mentions and illustrates it on the YouTube tutorial below. I use floral wire for the nose piece.
Sew It – Cloth Surgical Face Mask Pattern: with Elastic and Wire.
If you want to make masks, this group has a standard, vetted, tested, downloadable pattern, quality control standards, and regional distribution hubs. – Michael K.
How to sew pleated easy mask with elastic, using clips:
How to make a Face Mask from Shruti in India. This is in Hindi but she uses English words and it is a very good visual tutorial. I’ve asked her to do an English version for this page!
Many of you are probably reading this as you are practicing that new phrase – “social distancing” – or even sheltering in place as the coronavirus sweeps over and through our communities.
I am sure many of you have found, if you’ve lived long enough, that you can overcome anxiety and stress by focusing on helping others. That’s what quilters do. We are the ones that Mr. Rogers called The Helpers.
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'”
I see on our neighborhood NextDoor app, people offering to help elders who can’t go out to buy food or meds. I see online discussions of neighbors working to solve problems as businesses close down and our communities come to a silent stop. But still there are helpers, whose first thought is to find those who are afraid, suffering, paralyzed by panic…who need someone to say “I’ve got your back”.
As I mentioned in Saturday night’s newsletter, we will continue our online mail-order service as long as we can, but we are protecting our staff by cancelling events, and asking local customers to do curbside pickup instead of coming inside. We have no (known) cases of the virus here, so we are washing hands frequently, disinfecting common surfaces, and limiting our exposure as much as we can.
As always, 2% of sales will go to our charity program, to help those who are impacted by this historic and very surreal event. We send you our love and comfort, and we are here for you if you have special needs while you are undoubtedly sewing and keeping safe at home.
sharing your Passion for Fabric… Luana and Paul
*The miniature quilt above was photographed by Luana at the Tokyo Quilt Festival in January. The artist’s name is printed in Kanji in the lower left corner. The frame features Spring fabrics currently in stock. For more photos visit her photo page.
eQuilter Classroom: June 1-5 2020 – Paula Nadelstern – Kaleidoscopes & Quilts – Registration OPEN July 20-23 Betty Busby – Transfer Dyeing August 6-9 – Cindy Lohbeck Returns October 5-9 – Susan Carlson – RESCHEDULED 2021 – Jacqueline de Jonge
Luana’s Travel Calendar: May 14-15 – Quilt Market – CANCELLED June 19 – Quilt Canada – “Intl Quilt Trends” presentation June 26 – Intl Quilt Museum – Lincoln NE – Opening Reception & Lecture “For the Love of Gaia” July 29 – Aug 2 – “Love Your Mother” Gallery in Birmingham UK (Lecture 8/1) Sept 26 – Quilters Take Manhattan Oct 16-17 – Visions Art Museum – San Diego (Lecture 10/16)
