Market all sewn up for devil face masks

TASMANIAN devil face masks created by a crafty Geeveston couple have been going viral to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The owner of lifestyle and baby gift store Lily and Dot, Katinka Dineen, said orders had been flooding in since she launched the masks made by local creatives Rhonda and John Fibbens on her website.

Ms Dineen picked up Mrs Fibbens as a supplier of sewn creations including Tasmanian devil baby bibs amid the state’s most stringent lockdown restrictions.

Lily and Dot had been forced to close, as had Mrs Fibbens’s main source of revenue — the Salamanca Market.

“I had a stall selling children’s stuffed toys and bright fabrics I make,” Mrs Fibbens said.

“Then I started doing a few baby items and bibs and then we developed our fabric after that because people were asking for Tasmanian devils.”

Mrs Fibbens said Ms Dineen found her handiwork on the Buy Tasmanian Facebook page and began stocking her bibs featuring a Tasmanian devil painted by Mr Fibbens.

When a request from a customer came in for a Tasmanian devil face mask, Ms Dineen put a call in to Mrs Fibbens who went to work.

Before she knew it she was filling orders of 50 masks at a time.

Ms Dineen said she has had to put a hold on orders to catch up. She said masks had gone out to Tasmanians all over Australia and further abroad to London. Local orders picked up over the weekend.

“My poor little sewing machine,” Mrs Fibbens said.

“It’s a good thing I had it serviced last week.”

The masks are expected to be available for order again at the end of this week.