By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News
Candyce Welch has been sewing between 8 and 12 hours a day, seven days a week for the past several weeks making masks to help people reduce the risk of the coronavirus infection.
“I’m able to make 10 or 12 a day. I’ve made about 200 so far,” said Welch on April 21.
The Steiner Ranch resident and her husband, Matthew, are in a higher risk age group. Both retired from full-time work but they were working part-time at Lake Austin Spa Resort before the pandemic.
Their daughter, Paige, is helping with the mask efforts while at home since her college campus is closed. In her last year of grad school at the University of Oklahoma, Paige completed her thesis last week while cutting materials for masks in her spare time.
Welch first began to think about masks in late February when two pieces of information were not adding up to her.
“We were being told through the media that there was no need to be overly concerned about the novel coronavirus making its way across the world, that everyone just needed to wash their hands,” she said. At the same time there was mounting evidence that the virus was spread person to person.
She noticed photos in news stories from areas of outbreaks like China and Italy showed just about everyone wearing masks while on the street. She read news stories from both countries that people were being stopped by the authorities if they were seen outside their homes without a mask. At that time Americans were being told masks weren’t necessary.
“I am the youngest in a group of ladies that play Mah Jongg every week,” Welch said. “My concern for those older adults is what prompted me to begin working on a mask prototype.”
Welch wanted to make the best mask possible. She watched tutorials, researched preferred materials, and made six prototypes her first week of mask making.
Welch’s goal is to provide as many people as she can with masks. She started with her friends and their husbands, then for co-workers, who are unemployed now.
Prior to the pandemic, Welch worked as an arts and crafts and fitness and wellness instructor at the Lake Austin Spa. Her husband, who retired recently from his career in electronics, was a culinary assistant, working with professional chefs and supporting his lifelong passion for cooking.
As jobs are on hold, mask making has ramped up and requests have not stopped.
“Some donate toward the cost of the materials… but many people are out of work right now. I wouldn’t want someone struggling financially to go without a mask,” Welch said.
Mask maker
After a couple of weeks of trial and error, she settled on two versions of a pleated mask made of two layers of fabric with a non-woven inner layer.
“The mask that offers the highest level of filtration has a layer of Merv 13 filter I scavenged from AC filters,” she said. “The Merv 13 mask offers filtration akin to an N95 but isn’t terribly breathable.”
Her second mask option has a layer of non-woven interfacing, which is a little more breathable.
For added protection and comfort, Welch includes a duct tape wrapped wire inside the top of the mask so that it can be formed across the bridge of the nose and cheek bones eliminating gaps.
Welch’s masks also have a flat band on the sides that helps keep the mask flat to the face. She adds two additional lines of stitching across the stretchy straps to ensure that they don’t pull out regardless of how many times they’re pulled on and off.
Additionally the straps are attached to the mask about a half inch away from the corners. If the straps are attached at the corners it causes the corners to bend in toward each other creating a gap.
Welch is a stickler about a proper fitting mask that is gap free. She admits that the process is labor intensive but she feels it’s worth it.
“An ill fitting mask or one that allows air to easily pass through or around it does no good at all,” she said. “When you blow into your mask, you should feel very little passing through it. With normal breathing, you should feel nothing or next to nothing passing through.”
Although elastic has been unavailable for weeks and interfacing is getting very difficult to find lately, Welch continues making masks.
In the coming weeks, production of commercially made masks will likely be ramping up but in the meantime, home sewers are doing their best to fulfill the need.
“She truly cares about the lives of everyone,” said Sharon Chesnutt, a friend who, prior to the virus, would meet weekly at Welch’s house to scrapbook with four other ladies. A hobby they had been doing for more than six years.
Lately Welch admits to having little time to miss socializing. She feels good about what little role she’s able to play “in the fight for our lives and livelihoods we now find ourselves in.”
More sewing details
For those who want to know more about Candyce Welch’s sewing and prototype discoveries, here is more information in her words:
Elastic has been unavailable for weeks. So many mask makers are making masks with ties. I’m not a fan of ties. Your hair gets tangled in them and the ties may come loose or slip and need adjusting. One of the points of wearing a mask is to keep your hands away from your face. If you’re needing to adjust your mask ties that is an opportunity to bring the virus via your hands to your face. I opted instead to make stretchy bands to wrap around the ears from a variety of clothes that contain spandex. When cut into strips and stretched, it curls up and becomes a stretchy cord. It’s actually much more comfortable than elastic. I’ve used yoga pants, tank tops and t-shirts.
I include a duct tape wrapped wire inside the top of the mask so that it can be formed across the bridge of the nose and cheek bones eliminating gaps. The duct tape seals the wire and softens the sharp ends.
The interfacing is getting very difficult to find anymore. I did find a new source for Merv13 filters that are actually pre cut for masks. Filters 4 Air, a San Antonio company that manufactures AC filters is selling them for $2 each.