Learning new skills

I wanted to learn a new skill during this lockdown. Seeing as I started making masks I thought using a sewing machine would make the process easier. It wasn't easy as I had no one to teach me but I used the manual that came with the machine and youtube to teach myself. The first mask I made, the light blue mask in the image, didn't come out very even. I struggled to sew straight because I wasn't used to controlling the speed. I eventually got used to controlling the speed with the foot peddle it was just like our Foredom drills have a foot peddle for speed control. The second mask I made is better than the first because I had better speed control with the sewing machine. I still have to add elastic but I will stitch that by hand so it is neater.

Masks made with a sewing machine

Making Masks

Putting my embroidery and stitching skills to some use I decided to make some face masks. I used the embroidery I had been working on for some time to make the first mask as I had no clue what I was going to do with the embroidery once it was done (Fig. 1).

After my first mask was successful, I had enough material to make a second one. I wanted to try stitch a flower, but I wasn't sure which flower at first. I eventually decided to stitch Forget-Me-Not flowers (Anchusa capensis) which are five-petaled blue flowers with yellow centres. They are indigenous to South Africa. I was given a packet of Forget-me-not seeds with my dog's ashes at the beginning of the lockdown. I haven't planted the seeds yet and I don't know if I will.

I started stitching with a dark blue thread as it was the only thread, I had at the time but when my local haberdashery opened I managed to get a blue thread closer to the colour of the flowers. I used yellow beads for the middle of the flowers which added another texture. The beads also catch the light drawing attention to the flowers so they don't get lost on the blue background.

I want to make a few more masks with some embroidery but I want to try sewing them up with the sewing machine as the embroidery takes time and stitching by hand makes the process a lot longer.

Figure 1 - Bowes, K ., (2020). abstract embroidery mask.

Figure 2 - Bowes, K., (2020). Forget-me-not embroidery mask.

Face Masks

Face masks have become a part of our everyday lives to protect us and the people around us. There are a lot of videos and articles on how to make face make this is so that the surgical face masks can be kept and distributed to people working in the medical field who need them. Some people have become very creative in making masks and adapting them to their needs, for example having a mask with clear plastic so that people with hearing difficulties can read lips (Fig. 1). Some of the homemade masks are art pieces with people making masks to mimic movies (Fig.2) and fashion statements masks to match their personal style (Fig. 3).

Images from: https://www.boredpanda.com/creative-unique-masks-designs/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

Figure 1- Masks for lip reading

Figure 2- Mad Max mask

Figure 3- black stud mask