SEWING GOODWILL
A photographer by trade, Vivian Doan is putting a new skill to excellent use, crafting handmade masks for workers in health care and other essential services. And her efforts are gathering momentum: ‘It’s a community coming together to help’
Photographer Vivian Doan has recently shifted focus from the camera lens to the sewing machine to make free, brilliantly coloured cloth protective masks.
Doan says the coronavirus pandemic was making her feel anxious. The mask project helped channel her energies into doing good for others while easing her feelings of anxiety.
The learning curve was sharp and she came to the mask project in a circuitous fashion.
“Sewing is a new skill for me,” Doan said. “My boyfriend gave me a sewing machine as a gift.”
To learn the ropes, she joined online quilting and sewing groups, many of which were based in the United States. She soon noticed a number of American groups had started sewing protective masks.
The idea was intriguing, so she researched online for mask patterns, started up a modest production line of her own and posted the results on Instagram.
Last week she was contacted by a friend, who happens to be a doctor, who said she could use some masks. Then a nurse from the CLSC in Pierrefonds asked for 20 masks and a nurse who works in a rehab centre asked for 30.
Organizing the gathering of materials and getting the sewing done is a lot to handle, so Doan joined forces with makeup artist and costume designer Marilou Bergeron to get the word out by creating the Facebook page Couzeuzes.
“So far we’ve made 60 masks and distributed about half,” she said.
Doan was quick to point out that Couzeuzes is not the only mask initiative making a difference in Montreal.
Diligent Mask Makers Montreal and Les masques solidaires Québec/united Masks of Quebec are also churning out protective masks for those in need. Both groups can be found on Facebook.
Social media contacts are becoming more and more important to meet the far-flung requests Doan has received. She got a mask order from a food bank in Nova Scotia, but couldn’t organize the shipping quickly, so she put the word out and someone from the East Coast got in touch and took the order in hand.
“My heart is warmed,” Doan said. “It’s a community coming together to help.”
Doan said donations of new, clean fabric and quarter-inch elastic or bias tape or cord are welcome. As are the sewing skills of efficient, dedicated sewers.
“We need people who are committed to doing the necessary work.”
Doan said quarter-inch elastic is proving difficult to find, so they are creating cords out of thin strips of fabric, which need to be pressed flat with an iron.
“It’s time-consuming, but when I get frustrated, I know that frustration is coming from a place of love.”
A self-confessed perfectionist, Doan is not one to plow through the process. She produced 30 masks in four days last week, keeping an eye on the details, while looking after her eight-year-old son.
Her mask design has a pouch that can hold a protective filter or even a surgical mask.
The mask can be washed and reused, with a new filter inserted for each use. Doan said the masks are designed to protect, but are not designated for use in the operating room.
Doan said she is making the masks for people working in health care or essential services and would not like to see them being used to just take a walk around the block.
To donate clean, new sewing materials or to offer sewing skills, visit facebook.com/couzeuzes.