This Group Sews Masks For Healthcare Workers By The Thousands

Health care workers from Wellstar Cobb Hospital wear face masks stitched by Sewing Masks for Area Hospitals (SMAH) in April.

Courtesy of Sewing Masks for Area Hospitals

Kirsten Hawkins is one Atlanta co-founder of a new group called Sewing Masks for Area Hospitals, which is in the process of getting more than 10,000 masks to hospitals overwhelmed by coronavirus patients.

Many of these healthcare facilities are in metro Atlanta. But Hawkins said the group has expanded to a national scope since its inception in early March when a few strangers–with skills ranging from costume design to IT management–met on the Internet.

Hawkins said the team is also made up of more professional sewers from the American Sewing Guild’s Atlanta chapter, and other community stitch groups like Atlanta Sewing Style and Topstitch Stich Studio in Ponce City Market.