No, I'm not trying for a Jane Austen effect...well, I suppose I was being rather too Mr.Collins-ish in trying to compose a clever sounding title for this blog post.
Hubby asked me the other day, "There's a group of ladies at the local BV group that are forming a mask making team for the VA hospital. V asked if you might be interested in joining."
"I'm interested."
So, it started. My phone number got added to the Mask making Whatsapp group, all due welcomes and then the messages started piling up. 'See this mask video." I tried sewing something similar to that as a test. "No, not that one. We're doing this one!" with links to more masks and stringent instructions. "Will we get fabric and elastic?"
"Yes, we will supply that.""Wait, some of you will have to sew ties, not enough elastic for all."
So much back and forth. While waiting for the fabric, I made another sample mask of the preferred pattern, and kept posting vanity messages showing off the masks I made, to keep up with the Joneses on the group, who had been posting photographs of their samples. At the risk of sounding boastful, I must say that my sample photos were quite well received.
Or maybe not, that's just the nature of these groups. We post something, and the main arbiters of fashion have to mandatorily Ooh and aah over it, to encourage people to keep posting, or the group goes into the oblivion of unrefreshed chats.
D-Day arrived, all materials had been cut and were getting ready to be dropped off. "I can make 30", offered one lady, "I can make 20", said another. "I will make 10." chimed in yet another. I offered to make 10, figuring that since there were about 20 ladies in the group, 250 masks seemed like a reasonable target for the overall group.
I spent some time placing out the mask paper pattern on some fabric that I had, trying to estimate what might be the optimum layouts and the maximum number of masks we could extract from each yard of fabric. I didn't hesitate to post the gory details of estimated yardage and masks in messages to the group, along with reminders to factor in seam allowances that were missing from the pattern, pre-wash and shrinkage. It might have been useful for the newbie sewistas, but I'm sure that at least a couple of seasoned clothesmakers must have rolled their eyes in annoyance at my impertinence.

I had thought that I would get a couple of yards, enough for 7-8 masks, but opened my mailbox to find a heavy bundle of fabric. Me and my loudmouth, I thought- it had gotten me a bunch of 6 individually cut yards.
The actual cutting and sewing of the masks was, to me, fun. The only tedious part of it was making ties, but even those settled into a Zen-like activity, once I had all issues with having to constantly refill bobbins of thread worked out. My mini-one-woman assembly line was operational and churning out masks by the dozen ( or at least, a couple of dozen.)
Meanwhile, the messaging group kept posting more messages. "Finished 6 masks, need more fabric", someone pleaded. " Finished 15 masks, have 2 yards, what sizes do you want", came from an experienced sewing maven.

Yikes, I must up my game, haven't finished more than 10 masks yet, I thought. But then, what of the mechanics of these groups that triggers the inherent competitiveness of human nature? I slowed down and thought about it. No, it's not time to set off a mask race, just to focus on finishing one's allotted quota of material in a reasonably timely and well-stitched fashion. I ended up making a grand total of 25 masks.
Was this a vanity project that I had undertaken? Something to showcase the skills acquired but not frequently on display, now converted to a 'Let's help first responders and the frontline of the battle against the virus' with our undervalued home crafts? No, that's not a vanity project which does nothing but promote the vanity of the person who does it, since this did produce something useful for healthcare providers who need the masks.
So, is it a virtue to help? To be clear, what I saw and participated in the group seemed to be more about virtue signalling. Yes, we are helping, but we are also, in the process of partaking in these group dynamics, proclaiming to others that we are the virtuous, putting our sewing skills to good use and providing for people in dire need of the protection in this upside down world.
It's motherhood at its all-embracing
and vanity-satisfying best.
(
Sorry, fathers are uninterested in this mode of virtue signalling!)