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Pictured are some of Patricia’s Wittie’s finished homemade masks.
In ways large and small, the Snyder community is getting creative to help others during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Patricia Wittie is using her sewing skills to make homemade masks. She has donated masks to Cogdell Memorial Hospital, its physical therapy and rehabilitation center, as well as to people in other states.
“The physical therapy department are the ones that originally asked me to (make the masks),” Wittie said. “I have a relative that works there, so she asked me if I could make some. And then I just made about 80, and they shared them with the hospital.”
Wittie makes the masks out of 100 percent cotton fabric with lightweight interfacing layers inside for added air filtration, for a total of four protective layers.
“I researched on how to do them and did it that way,” she said. “It doesn’t take that long to make them. It took me a little bit to get started, but then I got into a routine.”
Wittie has been sewing since she was about 10 years old, and although she mostly makes quilts now, it was an easy switch to making masks.
“It’s just a pastime for me,” she said.
“I’ve been retired since 2003, and I had to find something to occupy my time. This has pretty much done it. A girl that I worked with got me into doing quilts and I’m kind of addicted now. I do quilts. I do alterations. I do a little bit of everything. My kids will request, ‘Mom, can you make this,’ and I’ll put it together. I’ve sewn for the public, made wedding and baby items.”
Wittie said that she had been collecting fabric for a rainy day, and her collection was large enough that she can continue to make fabric creations for some time.
“I’ve just gone through, basically, scraps of fabric that I had left over and that’s what I’ve used to make the masks,” she said. “I’ll keep making them as long as we need them.”
Wittie has made more than 110 masks so far. She said she may even make a few smaller, child-sized masks. She has been sending them to friends and family across the country in addition to the donations she made to the hospital.
“I sent 22 to Alaska to my daughter, I sent some to my son that lives in Ohio for his family and I sent some to my other son who lives in Pflugerville,” Wittie said. “I’ve got to make more, but I’m out of elastic. I’ve got some ordered, so when it gets here I’ll make some more.”