UPDATE: The CDC now recommends that everyone who ventures outside should wear a mask. That presents a great opportunity for costume shops to perform a public service -- in addition to making masks for healthcare, make masks for your community! Put them in a box in front of your store with a big sign saying that you are offering free masks to the public. Use fabric with fun designs to lighten the mood, and make some in kids' sizes, too. If you want, include your shop name or logo. Your community will remember your kindness when the crisis is over and people want to buy costumes again.
Whether you make masks for the public or healthcare, please register your efforts with the NCA 1,000 Mask Challenge so we can keep track!
ALSO: Click here to download a PDF with important tips on mask making, contributed by Alicia Wold, director of costume rentals for Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. This guide is based on Wold’s experience with masks that failed the initial sanitization at a local healthcare organization!
The NCA is sponsoring an effort to make 1,000 masks for medical personnel. The NCA 1,000 Mask Challenge acknowledges that many costume professionals are excellent sewers, and their skills can be put to use making these much-needed masks.
Can you help? Sure you can! Please follow these steps:
1) Click here to watch a video from Joann Fabrics that shows you how to make the masks.
1,000 Mask Challenge Logo
2) Click here to tell the NCA how many masks you think you can make. It's important for us to keep track of how many masks our members are making towards our goal of 1,000!
3) Once you have finished your masks, take them to your local Joann Fabrics store and they will donate them to local healthcare facilities in need. If there is no Joann Fabrics store near you, email NCA Executive Director Ed Avis at executivedirector@costumers.org and we will find a location near you that is accepting donations of masks.
4) Next, click here to tell us how many masks you made and donated.
5) Finally, we will publicize your donation to your local media so your generosity is recognized. We will also post information about the donations on our social media, and we will publicze the overall NCA donation to national media.
ALSO: Click here to download a PDF with important tips on mask making, contributed by Alicia Wold, director of costume rentals for Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. This guide is based on Wold’s experience with masks that failed the initial sanitization at a local healthcare organization!