…my true love gave to me: some fun, patterned PPE!
(If you had asked me back when I started this blog whether I’d ever use the term “PPE” here, I probably wouldn’t have known what you were talking about. Oh, the times we live in…)
My friend Jeanette is considered an essential worker, and although I would sincerely hope her employer provides her with suitable equipment when she has to be around people, I wanted to do something fun for her. A writer, she loves all things vintage-typewriter, and when I saw this fabric at Marshalls this summer, I had to pick up a third of a metre – just enough for a mask or two.
They have the coolest fabrics there, honestly (that’s where my background came from, too). Earlier in the summer, I found this beautiful zodiac fabric and made my mom an Aquarius mask, and then found Leo and Scorpio for my dad and for Mr. Gummi Bear when I found the typewriter key fabric.
The original Aquarius mask (not pictured) wasn’t long for this world. On about her third or fourth time wearing it out, she bent and re-bent the nose wire so vigorously that it broke. This is probably also a cautionary tale about using dollar-store pipe cleaners as nose wires, but what do you have to do to it to break it so quickly? She also complained about the thin elastic I used for ear loops cutting into her ears; the fact that she requested that elastic specifically was irrelevant. Could I replace the wire and elastic? I thought about the amount of unpicking required, and decided it was easier to make her a new one. And hey, if she was getting a new one for Christmas, so were the others.
I used a sturdier wire in all three of them, and the elastic is this super-soft and springy, rounded stuff I found on Etsy. Just let them try and complain about sore ears!
Thanks for looking – Merry Christmas! 🙂
The Witty Child 
I work in a medical setting and even I was like PPE wtf is that (before covid). I do hope that wearing masks continues to be a trend though, people really should wear them when they are sick to prevent other people from getting sick. I wore one on my trip in January because I had a cough, and everyone looked at me like I was INFECTED or CRAZY. Like hello, I don’t want anyone else to get this cough!
Yes! It always used to strike me as so strange-looking when I’d see a picture from somewhere in Asia and people wear them like it’s NBD (whether for protection against poor air quality or not getting others sick), but after months of it I’m coming around. It’s really just a courtesy! And honestly, the first time I go someplace in public and don’t have to wear one, I’m going to feel a little naked.
Cute!
Thank you! 🙂