Mask-making becomes a passion for Barnwell grandmother


BY TREVOR BUSCH insight magazine


Anderson decided to make proverbial lemon- ade.


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Early on during the lockdown period in April, Anderson heard stories emanating from the United States about shortages in protective masks, and realized it wouldn’t be long before demand arose closer to home. She started making masks for members of her immediate family, but soon recognized interest would not be confined to close relatives. “Anyone could make them, and there was a


pattern you could make online.And I thought ‘Oh my goodness, if it’s that close that they need masks,then we’re going to need them here.’So I got online and found a pattern — I have three families that live in the States, and I wanted to make them masks. So that’s really where it started.”


12 - insight magazine september 2020


hen a global pandemic delivered us all lemons in early 2020, rather than stew in her home, local Barnwell resident Carma


Before long,Anderson was being inundated


with requests for masks, and donated materials began rolling in. “I only thought I’d make a few masks for the


family, and then others wanted it, and people donated elastic — elastic was the hard thing to find, it wasn’t in the stores they were all out of elastic — so people donated that, and donated fabric. I had quite a bit of fabric from scraps of quilts. So it’s really been fun, because it helps others,and helped me.” Anderson,who turned 88 in May,has had a


life-long passion for sewing so it seemed only natural that mask making would become more than a hobby during COVID-19’s new reality. Each mask usually takes her about 35 minutes to complete. “Ever since I was a kid, I love sewing, and I’ve done lots of different kinds of sewing, and love doing quilts. Finally with so many scraps of fab- ric I was making quilts for shelters,and comfort quilts for TANGO (Taber Assisting Nations through Global Outreach) wherever they were


going. I just like to sew. I sewed all my kids’ clothes through the years. So sewing has been a pleasure.”


While initially reluctant to charge anything


for her masks,Anderson is taking her proceeds and donating them to various charities. “I said I don’t really want to charge for them, but whatever I get,we’ll just put it towards a charity, because I don’t really need it.And I couldn’t go out and spend it anyways. So that’s how it happened.And it’s also been a bit of a social thing, too,because people phone and want to know if they can come and see some, and so I’d put some on tray and put it outside on a table and they’d come and look at them, and see something they like.” Carma acknowledged the support of her daughter-in-law, Lindsay Anderson, has been critical in making the mask-making campaign a success in handling the sales and distribu- tion. Lindsay posts the masks on Facebook, and reports that within hours all are usually spoken for.


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