The Mask Makers: Episode 1 - Sewing in a Crisis
This episode is the first in a three-part mini-series about people who made masks during the early days of the pandemic in Vermont.
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Meet Vermont’s Mask Makers
“The CDC said maybe you should wear a mask, but no one had a mask…
”
In spring of 2020, face masks were one of the few tools we had against covid-19, and you couldn’t buy one. Anywhere.
When hospitals started calling for homemade fabric masks amid a world shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), people with sewing skills in Vermont and around the world responded. In early April when the CDC changed its guidance and encouraged all Americans to wear a mask in public, sewers quickly expanded to sew for family, friends, and neighbors. At a time when anyone who could was asked to stay home, this work was one of the few active ways for individuals to help keep others safe.
Mask Maker Serenity Smith Forchion of Brattleboro
In this three-part mini-series we’ll explore the pandemic experience through the voices of some of Vermont’s mask makers. You’ll hear how and why they joined the sewing effort, learn about the Great Elastic Shortage of 2020, and explore how they expressed themselves creatively through the masks they made (what, you didn’t have a mask with spikes on it!?).
The Mask Makers is co-produced and co-hosted by material culturalist and mask maker Eliza West.
“We had the audacity to do for ourselves what needed to be done. ”
Sewing in a Crisis
In Episode 1 we explore the experiences of a handful of Vermont mask makers, learning about how mask making became an outlet for anxiety, while also forming an essential part of Vermont’s efforts to stem the spread of the virus. We also consider the complexities of mask makers earning money, or not, in exchange for their labor and the pressure some people felt to join the cause.
Bonus Bits - Episode 1
A bulk mask order in process at Shapeshifters in Brattleboro
Early pandemic resources on mask making
PDF and video instructions for how to sew a “Deaconess” mask
Vermont mask makers in the news
The Franklin County Mask Project made a commemorative quilt to raise money for mask making supplies
Vickie Lampron, heard in this episode, was part of the Green Mountain Mask Makers group
The Lyric Theater in South Burlington converted their theater workshop into a mask making space.
“On the Mend” blog - Nancy Bell, heard in this episode, keeps a blog about her work as a seamstress (among other things!) She made several posts early in the pandemic that feature her mask making experience:
Why Mask Makers?
Through our Listening in Place project, the VFC started documenting people’s experiences during the early months of the covid-19 pandemic. Part of this effort included collecting photos of people wearing their homemade masks. As we saw it, making and distributing masks to address the shortage of commercial personal protective equipment (PPE) in spring of 2020 was one of the ways that Vermonters were staying connected and taking care of each other.
A year later, as the pandemic seemed to be easing here in Vermont, our staff started seeking ways to process and reflect on the collective pandemic experience to date. Realizing homemade masks are now a ubiquitous part of pandemic life, we chose to talk with some of the people who had been making those masks.
In the summer of 2021 VT Untapped host Mary Wesley and co-producer Eliza West interviewed 15 mask makers across the state. We talked with a range of people: a variety of ages and backgrounds, as well as people with a variety of connections to the mask making effort. Everything from the person who got their sewing machine out of their closet to make a few masks for friends and family, to the owner of a small, local craft store that supplied the materials for almost 10,000 masks.
For a full list of interviewees click here. See below for a list of the people featured in Episode 1 - Sewing in a Crisis.
Interviews from this episode:
Erin Aguayo was interviewed by Mary Wesley via Zoom on May 27, 2021
Jennifer Matthews was interviewed by Mary Wesley via Zoom on June 18, 2021
Matte Brittenham-Jones was interviewed by Eliza West via Zoom on May 23, 2021
Nancy Bell was interviewed by Eliza West via Zoom on June 7, 2021
Eli Coughlin-Galbraith was interviewed by Mary Wesley via Zoom on June 11, 2021
Tammy McNamera was interviewed by Eliza West via Zoom on May 31, 2021
Serenity Smith Forchion was interviewed by Eliza West via Zoom on June 23, 2021
Vickie Lampron was interviewed by Mary Wesley via Zoom on June 11, 2021
To access the full recordings please contact the VFC Archivist.
Music in this episode:
Cello music by Dave Haughey
Guitar track: “Goodshake” from the album Ya Know, Ya Never Know by Pete’s Posse
The Mask makers: Episode 2 - Community and Collaboration
The Mask Makers: Episode 3 - Masks and Identity
Other VT Untapped Episodes
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The views and opinions expressed by interviewees are their own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Vermont Folklife Center.
This episode of VT Untapped has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
