By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Sandy Wicks is known for her quirky, inventive crafts and window displays for Grounds for Thought. She turns the detritus of the coffee roaster and book business into whimsical wonders.
Now she’s turning her skills and enlisting others to help address a critical need as the community grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic – face masks.
Wicks has posted instructions to sew face masks on the Grounds for Thought Facebook page.
These masks, Wicks points out, are not high-end surgical masks, but are for the general public. Using them will reduce the pressure on the supply of the masks that medical personnel need.
Wicks read about a hospital that was recruiting people to sew such masks. She approached Stan Korducki, the president of the Wood County Hospital, to see if such an effort would be helpful.
He gave his enthusiastic support, she said.
Laurie Newlove, director of volunteers at the hospital, asked her to share the instructions with hospital volunteers. As soon as she gets the masks she has people who need them, Newlove said.
She’s been impressed by the response so far. Groups such as American Association of University Women, Black Swamp Quilt Guild, as well as knitters who usually congregate at Grounds, have signed on. “I’m just thrilled the number of people who expressed interest.”
Participants need to provide their own fabric. It must be 100-percent cotton and need not be pre-washed. The hospital will wash the masks to their standards after they get them.
There are two tubs sitting outside Grounds at 174 S. Main St. for people to deposit the finished masks. Wicks said they’ll probably let them sit in there for a few days before pulling them out.
Those lacking the sewing skills can participate by cutting out the 6-by-9-inch rectangles and dropping those off. “We can find someone to sew them up.”
The directions are simple. Wicks teaches beginning clothing construction and design at Bowling Green State University. She structured the online tutorial the way she would for her students. “It’s very simple not, complicated at all.”
She’s also told her students that if they have a sewing machine available, they could make masks, and it would be counted as credit for the course.
The masks will be two layers, no interfacing is needed. That can complicate cleaning them. And they need not be white, just 100 percent cotton. Have fun, Wicks suggested.
Because elastic is getting hard to find, some will need to be tied on with cloth strips for now.
“We’re waiting for those tubs to fill up and get the masks out to the people who need them as fast as we can.”
