Rowena Hunt has a long crochet stint ahead of her, with 100 ear-savers ordered in the last 12 hours. Photo / Warren Buckland
Rowena Hunt has a long crochet stint ahead of her, with 100 ear-savers ordered in the last 12 hours. Photo / Warren Buckland
With face masks being mandatory in many public spaces, the accessory is quickly becoming a hot commodity in the region.
Various New Zealand-made apparel brands have expanded their range to now include their hot take on the face mask, such as Hills Hats, Aotearoad and Earth Sea Sky.
However, reusablefabric masks are not only a way to match your face to your fit - they are also a sustainable option to the disposable face mask, can be made with upcycled materials, and their purchase supports local home-operated businesses.
Rowena Hunt is a Hastings-based teacher who has diversified into crocheting ear-savers since last year's lockdown, to ease the strain of mask-straps on people's ears.
Hunt's crocheted ear-savers are a face mask's best friend. The small crochet slings have button attachments to catch elastic mask straps and prevent the irritating of fabric and elastics on people's ears.
The idea came from a friend of Hunt's who works in the medical field and complained to Hunt about the irritation caused by wearing masks all day on her ears.
"My friend was not the only one who was feeling the irritation of wearing a mask each day, all of her workmates were then wanted one," said Hunt.
Hunt said that her creative endeavour is not about making money but making people more comfortable. Hunt's ear-savers have taken off on Facebook's Marketplace, where she is currently selling the mask accessory for $4.
"In the last 12 hours I've had about 100 orders and I'm trying not to panic thinking about how I'm going to make them all. It's gone a lot crazier than I anticipated, I think because of the stricter masking regulations under level 2" she said.
Rosemary Anne Powell of The Dressmaker Hawke's Bay models her home-crafted face mask. Photo / Warren Buckland
Rosemary Anne Powell, the seamstress behind The Dressmaker Hawke's Bay, similarly turned to mask making during last year's lockdown and has been refining her design since.
When not working as a machinist at Kathys Drapes in Napier, Powell has been stitching up 10-16 masks a day from her home on the Napier-Taihape Road to sell online.
"I started making the masks last lockdown. I had an original pattern that I designed and have been adapting it since with feedback from customers," Powell said.
"I follow WHO regulations, which say face masks need to have three layers. The masks I make have a cotton, layer, then a non-woven filter from PVC material and a decorative fabric on the outside," she said.
Powell makes the masks to order and lets her customers choose their preferred fabric and sizing, which range from small to extra-large, but can be altered for personal design requests, such as extra length for beard coverage.
Elise Cox and Deidre Morgan of The Sewing Room at their mask-making headquarters in Havelock North. Photo / Warren Buckland.
Two Havelock-based machinists, Elise Cox and Deidre Morgan, who operate clothing alteration and dressmaking business The Sewing Room have also extended their range to include WHO regulation face masks.
"We've been perfecting our face mask recipe since the first lockdown and continued ever since. There's been a bit of ebb and flow in demand, but masks have become more popular since the recent move to level 2, with more people have been phoning in requesting masks" Cox said.
The machinists use scraps from alterations and rescued fabrics for their masks, which means their face coverings come in a variety of colours and patterns.
"We have lots of bright florals and paisley prints, as well as several more neutral tones," Cox said.
The Sewing Room also offers sewing classes on Saturdays, for beginners to the more advanced, for members of the public keen to give making their own mask a go.
