Upcycled & Vintage Fabric Masks With A Story

Vintage fabric with a story

I mentioned in my profile and my ABOUT page that I have a sizable fabric stash.  Between my late mother and myself, I have a closet full of all kinds of fabric.  This fabric pictured above is special to me.  But it is time to share with you.

If I make a face mask from vintage fabric, or I upcycle it, I will let you know in the description.  But this little mask I made for myself has a story:

The exterior psychedelic fabric is a polyester cotton blend jersey knit that my mother bought YEARS ago.  I believe it is well over 30 years old and STILL in excellent shape.  The colors are extremely vibrant and the condition of the fabric is amazing.

The masks I make from this fabric and the complimentary fabric shown below are both vintage AND upcycled.  Mom could never figure out what to do with such a loud fabric. So it was stored in her closet for years.  Until she found its purpose as hand sewn covers for the framed artwork I sold.  

Back in the day (1990's) I was following my passion for photography.  I specialized in hand-tinted black and white photography.  And yes, they were done by hand. My art photography career took place in the days before Photoshop became what it is now. But I digress. In order to sell my work, I had to join the art fair circuit. That was what we did back then to sell artwork.  I had work in galleries, and I created a line of greeting cards and prints, but in order to do the juried art fairs, you had to have all original work...no prints.  Yes, that rule has changed, but back then I had to lug framed and unframed work all over the country. 

Seeing my need, she made a bunch of groovy frame covers in all shapes and sizes.  They were incredible and protected the work very well.  Each of the framed pieces was wrapped lovingly in these psychedelic covers and stored in very clean bins.

When I culled the collection of works that did not sell, I saved all of these covers and stored them in my fabric stash.  Yes, they have been properly washed and the fabric is still going strong today.

Here's me modeling the red/pink version in my office/sewing room:

   

Shop the MaskForAFriend Etsy Store to see more groovy face masks.