Quality masks, locally made!

It’s looking like this new fashion trend of face masks isn’t going away any time soon. So the questions we are starting to ask ourselves are: How many masks do I need? And what kind?

I bought some from Amanda Elias of Atelier Fiber Arts here in Verdun and I’m very satisfied. The elastic is thin and not too tight so it doesn’t bend your ears down or give you a headache. They’re made of 100% cotton, have a built in wire not just over the nose but almost the whole top edge to make them more airtight and even have a built-in pouch if you want to add a filter.

Amanda is a local entrepreneur I met through SouthWest Mission. She was involved in various projects there for at least five or six years. As it turns out, Amanda’s true love was sewing.

After coming through an Emploi Quebec Young Entrepreneurs program with flying colours, Amanda started her own sewing business. She would complete projects for people but also rented sewing machines to people to do their own projects, and offered sewing courses for all ages. She even opened a store on Wellington for a while but she found the administration side was too time-consuming and took away from sewing. So she took her business online a while ago and, with the pandemic, that has turned out to be a blessing. She turned her talents to facemask-making a few months ago and that is taking up all her time now.

Amanda will mail the masks to you at regular Canada Post rates, or she offers “porch pickup” from her place on Bannantyne. I used this option and it consisted of: ordering online and receiving a confirmation, then a second confirmation about 12 hours later that my order was ready for pickup. I then told her what time I could come by and she left the package for me in the mailbox. Voilà! No contact, and I even got a little exercise! The masks are cute and very comfy.

The cost is $18 a mask which may seem like a lot but it’s a competitive rate, and remember, they’re going to last a long time! Plus you get the warm fuzzy feeling that comes with supporting a small local business.

You can check out Amanda’s designs on her website here

Or follow Atelier Fiber Arts on Facebook here

Amy