AN Ingleton WI member has raised almost £250 for charity by sewing facemasks while self-isolating.
Margarite Dunn has used up ten reels of cotton and 60 metres of elastic to make more than 65 masks which she has been selling in aid of the Great North Air Ambulance Service and St Teresa’s Hospice.
Mrs Dunn, who farmed at Ingleton with her husband Brian before they retired to Gainford, started making the masks in June, well before they became mandatory when visiting shops because of the coronavirus crisis.
She said: “The Gainford lot were doing bags and I thought I should do something.
“I started knitting toys for the children’s hospital but I couldn’t make enough. So, I thought I could do masks.
“I made some inquiries and got a pattern emailed to me,” she added.
All of her masks are double layered and have wire sewn into the seam so that they can be bent into shape around the wearer’s nose.
Mrs Dunn, who also enjoys painting and has sold some of her work at Gainford’s annual art exhibition, started sewing as a young girl.
She said: “I had a lovely infant teacher who taught me hand-stitching.
“My mother and grandmother also sewed. I picked up quite a bit along the way.
“I enjoy stitching, and painting.”
She added that she chose to support the air ambulance and hospice because “they both do good work and provide a valuable service”.
She thanked her daughter Julie Lunn who has been of great support during her isolation and has been collecting the materials needed to produce the face masks.
