During the early days of COVID-19, one of my best friends, Melissa, reached out to me with a special request. She wanted me to make a special mask. The mask, she said, would be for Pauline.
“Who is Pauline?” I asked her. I had never heard her mention that name before.
Melissa explained that Pauline was her Great-Grandmother, a woman who had immigrated over from Ukraine around 1916. Pauline, Melissa shared, was only around 20 years old when she made the journey. After giving birth to her grandmother, Olga, Pauline fell extremely ill, and unfortunately, passed away.
The cause?
The Spanish Flu of 1917, aka, the first major pandemic.
One of the best parts of creating custom pieces for friends and family of course, is the satisfaction of bringing their ideas to life. In this case, however, it went a step further. This was less of an idea and more of a tribute. Back in the time of the Spanish Influenza, there was little known about public safety and mask wearing. The science, of course, wasn’t there yet. And as many immigrants did not speak English well and had to work to put food on the table, a warning about the flu wasn’t going to keep them home and quarantined.
I wanted to create something that followed best practices for masks, so I created a mask that would cover Melissa’s nose and mouth, with room to breathe. To give it an old fashioned look, I made long ties for her to knot the mask behind her head. Remembering a detail about Melissa’s grandmother’s house (one of the guest bedrooms had beautiful yellow flowered wallpaper), I found a unique, faded yellow fabric.
As a final touch, I embroidered “PAULINE” on the bottom side of the mask.
Here’s what Melissa had to say about the final product.
“I’ve asked Amber to create custom pieces for me before, but nothing with this much personal significance. I felt like she read my mind when choosing fabric. Even the embroidery looks like an old-fashioned signature. This was such a special piece and it was incredible seeing her bring it to life.”
You can read more about Melissa’s story in her post on Medium.
