Blackfalds mom 'Miss Sew It All' offers a DIY face mask tutorial

While the pandemic is putting people out of work and forcing us to adapt to a new normal, some people are using their skills to try and give back during this challenging time, even while balancing a new routine that now includes being your child's teacher.

Amanda Valin-Preston is a mother, fashion designer and master seamstress out of Blackfalds, and when the pandemic caused her sewing business, Miss Sew it All, to shut down, she decided to use her skills to make cloth masks for people to wear.

Normally her clients are mostly grad students and brides, two major events in people's lives that have now been put on hold due to COVID-19. 

Valin-Preston felt she needed to put her skills to good use, and that's where she got the idea to also teach others how to do it themselves. 

"Actually my friend introduced me to the idea because she tagged me in a post on Facebook that the Alberta Humane Society was looking for masks for their employees because of the shortage. And then we ended up just collaborating and we dropped off, I think there was 15 of them? And then since then, it just kind of grew to, ok I want to teach people so they can do it on their own. All the money that I've made basically in the last two weeks is being donated to the food bank. So it's just a good way to give back for me especially because my work has gone down. I wouldn't consider this my job, it's just my way of giving back."

She said these are not meant to replace the N95 respirator masks used by healthcare professionals, but these are more of a reminder to avoid touching your face. 

She says it's easy to make the masks yourself, all you need are four pieces of fabric and two elastics. In the video below, Valin-Preston demonstrates how to make them three different ways: using a sewing machine, needle and thread, as well as glue or fusible hem tape if you don't have any sewing skills. 

She has also made a couple of Google Docs available where you can see her patterns as well as an instruction guide to making the masks yourself. 

Click here to check out her free face mask pattern. 

More details are available below the video.