27 May 2020
Claire Pasquier Olcott decided to put her new-found free time to good use by dusting off her sewing skills to make hundreds of fabric masks for non-NHS workers.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
Claire Pasquier Olcott has made hundreds of fabric face masks while on furlough.
A furloughed RVN has been filling her time during the lockdown to good effect by making face masks for non-NHS workers to use during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Claire Pasquier Olcott, 51, from Deal in Kent, normally works three days a week, but was furloughed from her practice in Canterbury early on in the crisis.
When the world’s first mass lockdown kicked in – in Italy in mid-March – she decided to dust off the sewing skills her half-French Second World War evacuee grandmother Mary Hall taught her as a child and produce hundreds of fabric face masks for non-NHS workers.
Mrs Pasquier Olcott had seen face masks used regularly while spending nine years in Singapore – particularly during the SARS epidemic of 2003. Originally from France, she had also benefited from much European literature on fabric face mask sewing.
Her masks therefore comply with French standards agency regulations, and she describes them as a washable replica of the masks she wears at work.
Her teenage daughter has helped her set up a Facebook page called Maskeraid to show others how to make and wear the masks.
Mrs Pasquier Olcott said: “When you’re furloughed, it’s heart-breaking because you feel totally useless. As a nurse, you’re used to helping the community and sewing helps me to feel useful again.
“I thought there was a need for someone to make face masks for non-NHS staff and help others do the same. After that, friends and neighbours got in touch to ask me to make them some.
“A friend in the Royal Navy wanted one, too, as they were being sent to a US naval base and needed a mask to enter. I tried to make them in a suitable colour that matched their uniform.”
Mrs Pasquier Olcott has made hundreds of masks so far, spending around four hours a day, seven days a week sewing. She has supplied them free of charge to local care homes and charities, including Martha Trust, Catching Lives, Porchlight and The Rainbow Centre.
Sourcing material has been difficult, but Mrs Pasquier Olcott has managed to order direct online. Elastic has been more difficult to find, she admitted.
She added: “I’m currently working on a batch of 50. I’m paying out of my own pocket – as are the other ladies who’ve joined me – although if we’re asked for a batch of more than 20 or 30, we ask to be provided with good-quality bed sheets to make them with – two king-size can make 90 masks.
“The fact I’m able to stay at home and respect the lockdown while contributing indirectly to helping the front line is, for me, extremely important, and I’m pleased I can do this.”
