SAGINAW, MI — Before the COVID-19 pandemic began, Amy Wisniewski didn’t know how to use a sewing machine.
Now, the painter and owner of Vintage 11 is using her newfound sewing skills to pay the bills.
In the months since the pandemic began and her custom in-home painting and refurbishing business was temporarily put on pause, Wisniewski has made and sold thousands of face masks to customers both near and far. She also donated approximately 250 masks to health care workers.
“I would never in a million years have thought I’d be sitting behind a sewing machine. That was something my grandmother did, you know? I was always intimidated by it and here I am,” Wisniewski said on a Friday afternoon in August as she was preparing to spend the rest of the day sewing at her home in Auburn. She was working to fulfill a 500-mask order out of North Carolina.
Earlier this year when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer shuttered schools and non-essential businesses in response to the pandemic, Wisniewski was a vendor at the Freeland Antique Mall, 5868 Midland Road, and had been working with clients on custom, in-home painting jobs. But the pandemic put the single mother of two’s business on hold and she found herself home with her school-aged children and no income.
What at first seemed like it would be a temporary interruption turned into a longer term dilemma.
“A week became, you know, a couple weeks and then a couple months,” she said.
As the novel coronavirus spread and face masks and other personal protective equipment were in short supply, Wisniewski’s cousin and business mentor urged her to consider sewing.
“I remember thinking, ’OK I’m going to give this a try,” she said.
She sewed her first four masks by hand and posted them on Facebook. Within minutes she had dozens of inquiries and requests. She bought a beginner’s sewing machine, watched a few YouTube videos and taught herself to sew. At first, she was making masks for close friends, then health care workers and others as word spread.
“It just sort of escalated and grew from there,” she said.
By August, Wisniewski had made more than 3,000 masks.
“Months later, I’m still sewing masks. I have a ton of repeat customers and I’ve been shipping them all over the United States,” she said. “I’m slowly getting back into painting, but it’s just been a great way to supplement (my income).”
Wisniewski’s triple-layer cotton face masks with adjustable ear loops are available in four sizes and more than 100 fabric options. She sells them for $5 to $8 a piece, primarily via Facebook and word of mouth. They’ll also be sold at Johnson’s Giant Pumpkin Farm, which opens for the season on Saturday, Sept. 12.
“I’m already stocked up on my fall fabrics and I’m already looking ahead to Christmas,” she said.
The Freeland Antique Mall reopened a few months ago and Wisniewski’s painting business is slowly picking back up, but mask making will likely remain part of her business model for the foreseeable future.
“I would have never thought this back in March, but here I am still making them,” she said. “I think until we have a cure for this and as long as we have to wear them I will keep making them.”
Find Vintage 11 on Facebook to learn more.
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