See Change Kilcandra

Across Ireland community groups and citizens are coming together to support each other and the most vulnerable people in their local communities. The Sew Change project has been established to assist people who own a sewing machine to produce masks for the most vulnerable in their communities. The project is actively including older people, through its partnership with Age Action, Third Age and Age and Opportunity. If you are an older person who has a sewing machine and would like to contribute to the community efforts to keep ourselves and each safe by making masks, this project can help you to help others.

How it works:

If you would like to volunteer your mask making skills, register below and the social enterprise called The Textile studio will send you a pack which contains everything you need to make 10 masks, including:

o Pre-cut fabric for 10 masks o Nose wire for 10 masks o Elastic for 10 masks o A self-addressed return envelope

Once you sign up, you can download the mask-making instructions showing you exactly how to make them
Keep 2 – 4 for yourself and your friends and family or people in need in your community
In the self-addressed envelope, send back the remaining masks
In association with www.irishrefugeecouncil.ie, we will distribute the donated masks to Direct Provision Centre. The goals is that every person in direct provision will have access to two masks.
If you would like another pack, you can just sign up again, just as you did the first time

The project will be running for one to two months and aims to produce 4,500 masks for older people and people in direct provision. As is becoming increasingly clear from research, masks can be effective in protecting people and communities. However many people cannot afford a high quality, washable mask. This project seeks to make these more widely available. This project is all about helping people to help others in their community. This project also shows that Irish people see community as including refugees and people seeking asylum. By being part of this project you are saying – ‘welcome, you are an important part of our community, be safe’.

On behalf of The Textile Studio, ChangeX and the Irish Refugee Centre, Thank you for helping to make Ireland a safer and more welcoming place! Register to get started here

How it works:

If you would like to volunteer your mask making skills, register below and the social enterprise called The Textile studio will send you a pack which contains everything you need to make 10 masks, including:

o Pre-cut fabric for 10 masks o Nose wire for 10 masks o Elastic for 10 masks o A self-addressed return envelope

Once you sign up, you can download the mask-making instructions showing you exactly how to make them
Keep 2 – 4 for yourself and your friends and family or people in need in your community
In the self-addressed envelope, send back the remaining masks
In association with www.irishrefugeecouncil.ie, we will distribute the donated masks to Direct Provision Centre. The goals is that every person in direct provision will have access to two masks.
If you would like another pack, you can just sign up again, just as you did the first time

On behalf of The Textile Studio, ChangeX and the Irish Refugee Centre, Thank you for helping to make Ireland a safer and more welcoming place! Register to get started here

Maria Fenlon

almost 4 years ago

Hi Patricia, I never got that pack after however I have been making some masks anyway like yourself for friends and family. Got a good pattern online and modified it a little. I use two layers of cotton with a layer of fusable interfacing (vilene) in between. It's a non woven fabric so works as a good barrier with the cotton. I have now run out of elastic though and vilene. You can use pipe
cleaners for nose wires.

Patricia Carraher

almost 4 years ago

Hi all I had intended making more masks for See Change with my own materials but unfortunately for the moment we can't do that. Hopefully we will have more information or be able to access more kits soon and continue on. In the meantime I am going to use the Sew Change template to make masks for people I know, especially those unable to make their own. I'll update when I have more information. See below part answer to an email I sent.

"Unfortunately masks made of different fabrics or without the wire won't be accepted".

Evelyn Carraher joined See Change Kilcandra a Sew Change group almost 4 years ago

Patricia Carraher

almost 4 years ago

Beautiful afternoon for sewing on the patio. Had to stop to make dinner and deal with an elderflower champagne explosion but all finished now and ready to go in the post. Quite simple, the worst part was the nose wire, it wouldn't stay in place as I tried to sew it in. In the end I did 3 sides of the rectangle, inserted the wire and then sewed it in.

Jacqueline Nunan joined See Change Kilcandra a Sew Change group almost 4 years ago

Frances Gill joined See Change Kilcandra a Sew Change group almost 4 years ago

Patricia Carraher

almost 4 years ago

Hi guys, welcome aboard. I have sent off for the kit to see how it works and then I expect to be able to make more masks with my own scraps. I read about this in the Irish Times. There is a direct provision centre in Wicklow town. I tried to join the welcome group by email a long time ago but never heard anything back. I do feel the direct provision system is not good for those involved so when I saw this I thought it might be a simple but good way for me to support those in direct provision.

Thanks for joining the group.

A Speller joined See Change Kilcandra a Sew Change group almost 4 years ago

Maria Fenlon joined See Change Kilcandra a Sew Change group almost 4 years ago

Olive O'Keeffe joined See Change Kilcandra a Sew Change group almost 4 years ago

Patricia Carraher joined See Change Kilcandra a Sew Change group almost 4 years ago

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Patricia Carraher

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