By Bernie Bell

I’m not good at making things.  I’m good at mending – I can do a mend that you can’t even see – but I’m not good at making things. In needlework at school, I made a skirt which ended up with a seam running diagonally across the front, when the sewing machine ran away with me.  And this was pre Vivienne Westwood.

But, I wanted to make a mask for Mike.  I stay home, just walking out from our house, in the countryside, where, if I meet folk, we have the space to keep our distance, and shout hello to each other, so I don’t really  need a mask. Mike only goes out once a week, to the Stromness Co-op for shopping – he says the Stromness Co-op is very well organized and is doing it right.  Still, Nicola Sturgeon has now strongly advised that folk wear a mask, when in a situation where there are a number of people, and real distancing could be  difficult – such as shopping.

If we ordered masks, we wouldn’t have one in time for this Saturday’s shopping, so I decided to try to make one.

I don’t have bits of material lying around, as…I don’t make things!  I found the tie-back of a curtain, which we don’t use. I unstitched along one edge of it, and opened it up. I then brought the sides in, and sewed them. Then I added elastic, and made….a terrible mess!!! Mike patiently tried it on – it gaped at the sides,  didn’t fit, was just….wrong.

He suggested that I could kind of tuck the sides in a bit, but then, it was too tight at the back. So, I reluctantly gave up on it.

He’s going  to wear my ‘Yasser Arafat’ scarf instead – as long as the folk at the Co-op don’t think he’s robbing them!

Yasser Arafat meets Peaky Blinders

I think, all in all, unless you’re good with your needle, and know exactly what you’re doing, it’s best to buy proper face masks.

I can’t make things – but I can dance my ass off!