We start off chapter 3 with a super fast recap of chapters 1 and 2… March 2020 – a Nevada medic needed masks so we sewed and sent 210 fabric face masks. April 2020 – Minutes after our masks became available, orders started pouring in… 50 in one day and nearly 400 that month! If you missed the beginning of our face mask story, you can catch up by reading chapters 1 and 2 here…
Our Face Mask Journey
Chapter 3: Special Orders & More Masks
Great! You’re all caught up on chapters 1 and 2 so let’s pick up where we left off…
It was now May and orders for our Handmade Fitted Fabric Face Masks were still streaming in. We were fast approaching the 1,000 face mask milestone when we received our largest mask order thus far – 210! A company in Illinois asked us to sew face masks for their employees but also had a special request. They wanted their masks to be solid-colored on both sides in a shade of blue and green that matched their logo. Since local fabric stores were struggling to keep up with demand, finding specific solid-colored fabrics in-store was impossible. This conundrum led us to finding a fabulous fabric company in North Carolina called Pineapple Fabrics. They gladly worked with us to color-match the logo and shipped the 36 yards of needed material quickly!
While waiting for the material to arrive, we continued to make improvements to the mask-making process. Pinning and cutting around paper patterns had become tedious and time-consuming so we turned to the 3D printer! Soon we had four plastic mask templates that allowed us to quickly cut out our mask-shaped fabric pieces using a small rotary cutter. This technique drastically reduced the time it took to cut out the pieces and since they could be nestled closer together, we were getting more pieces per yard. Oh and most importantly, no more sore spots on our hand from the scissors!
Once the material arrived, all 210 masks were quickly sewn and sent on their way to Illinois. This launched a new version of our face masks – custom colors! Sure enough, one week later another order for custom face masks came in. This time it was a church, needing 25 masks for their staff and volunteers. They wanted one side of the mask to match the dark blue of their logo and let us decide what the other side would look like! We scoured fabric stores, looking the perfect fabric for the church’s masks but nothing seemed to be just… right. Then we found it! A collection of colorful inspirational words with crosses and hearts on a cream background. It was perfect! In no time at all, the 25 masks were sewn, packaged and delivered.
By June, yet another twist on our face masks debuted – Limited Edition face masks. What is a Limited Edition face mask? Read Chapter 4 to find out!
By the way, have you seen our collection of Handmade Reversible Fitted Fabric Face Masks?
