By Dave Bellomo

For local seamstresses, Florence Welshans, and her daughter, Nicole Warner, making masks to help the community is a family affair. For Welshans, owner of Flo’s Sewing, Alterations, and Embroidery located outside of Jersey Shore, it was seeing the lack of masks available to those that truly needed them that motivated her to take action. “When proms and weddings began to get canceled, I knew there would be a need for more masks.”

Welshans has been in the business of sewing for over 35 years, but she has been sewing her whole life. Before starting her own business, she worked at several local bridal stores over the past 22 years doing alterations to wedding gowns, prom dresses, bridesmaids’ dresses, and other formal wear.

She was already set up with materials and equipment, but making personal protective masks was not something that she had done in the past. So, she turned to the internet and taught herself how to make them by watching videos online. “It makes me feel good to help somebody. I’m not doing this to make money. I also want to mention that lots of area seamstresses in the area are stepping up to help.”

Welshans said her husband, as well as her good friend, Tanya Brewer, have also helped quite a lot with the project.

Welshans does all of this while being allergic to dyes in fabric and ink but powers through making hundreds of masks even though she must wear a mask herself while working.

Her masks have been sent all over, including Florida, Colorado, Washington State, and Illinois. Not to mention all over the region for workers at places such as Penn State University, Geisinger Jersey Shore Hospital, and nursing homes, and the Tiadaghton Police. She has also provided many masks to professional truck drivers that work for companies such as Fed Ex, Walmart, and UPS. “I send them to whoever needs them.”

Her daughter, Nicole Warner, also wanted to get involved. Warner’s regular full-time job is as a librarian for Penn College, but she is also an avid seamstress herself and regularly attended craft fares. In addition, she belongs to many sewing groups on Facebook. When the pandemic began to escalate, she noticed that while many people were sewing masks for healthcare workers, there was very little being done for people that were deemed “essential” workers that still had to go into their job on a daily basis and were put at risk for infection.

“I saw a lot of conflicting information online regarding the effectiveness of creating home-made masks. So decided to look into it.” Warner said. After quite a lot of research, she moved forward to sew masks for those in need. “I put a post on Facebook that was shared quite a bit and began getting contacted for orders.” Warner makes masks for family, friends, and people in the community at no charge.

Warner’s husband Phil, a web developer at Penn College, and her two children, Hunter, 11, and Booker, 6, also are very involved. “For my kids, it’s sort of a Home Ec. project; they help with things like ironing and cutting the elastic. My husband, Phil, makes mask extenders, which help to keep the elastic on the masks from rubbing your skin by 3D printing them.” said Warner. Florence also gets to spend time with Hunter and Booker as they Facetime her while she stitches away.

While she does not charge a fee, Welshans and Warner will accept donations to help pay for more materials.

She noted that ‘angels’ have been dropping off fabric, and elastic and that the Susquehanna Quilt Guild has been supplying supplies as well. She even had someone donate a roll of pennies to help out.

To contact Florence Welshans regarding masks, she can be reached at 570-745-3313 or found on Facebook under Flo’s Sewing, Alterations, and Embroidery.

Nicole Warner can be reached at 570-971-6076 or on Facebook under Coolie’s Quirky Quilts & More.

While the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) now recommend everyone wear a face mask in public to help slow the spread of COVID-19, they also make recommendations both for the construction of home-made masks as well as how to wear any mask.

According to the CDC:
Cloth face coverings should—
• fit snugly but comfortably against the side of the face
• be secured with ties or ear loops
• include multiple layers of fabric
• allow for breathing without restriction
• be able to be laundered and machine dried without damage or change to shape

In addition, the CDC warns not to place cloth face coverings on young children under age 2, anyone who has trouble breathing, and people not capable of removing the mask themselves. Also, cloth face coverings should be washed regularly, and people should be careful not to touch their face or eyes when removing their face mask.