Thelma’s mask idea from vacuum bags
FORGOTTEN old vacuum cleaner bags are being re-purposed into face masks to protect key workers.
The work is being done by a Huddersfield woman who wants to help as the nation faces the major health crisis and demand for PPE outstrips supply.
Thelma Rhodes, of Marsh, has used her seamstress skills to create masks after being asked to make one by a worried friend.
Having realised that a simple cloth mask was almost useless she read on the internet that vacuum bags may offer some protection thanks to their HEPA filter technology.
The 75-year-old former Huddersfield police station worker explained: “About a week ago a friend who works in a supermarket sent me a message asking me to make a mask as she knows I sew.
“I was a bit dubious as a homemade mask offers virtually no protection and I didn’t want to lull anyone into a false sense of protection.
“But my neighbour said it would at least help people to stop touching their face and my daughter said if she worked in a supermarket she would definitely want a face mask.
“I was looking for a pressed fabric rather than a woven one that would let everything through and then I went online for a pattern and I came across a website in America where people were using vacuum bags because of the HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters which have 99% filtration.
“I remembered about a year ago I bought two boxes of old Miele vac bags in a charity shop for 50p and I thought they’ve got to be better than cotton.
“I made one while wearing a 3M face mask of my own to prevent any contamination and gave it to my friend.”
Thelma is clear that her mask does not offer much protection, perhaps only a fraction of what a professionally made clinical mask does, but she believes it’s worth it to help block some of the airborne particles that may be floating around in the atmosphere.
Nevertheless, she has had requests to make more and believes the old vacuum bags will provide enough material for about a dozen masks.
She added: “I feel while self isolating at home on my own, I want to do something to help.
“Being in lockdown you feel completely useless.”