Banburyshire woman launches handmade face mask making business - Flossy's Fabulous Facemasks

Kay Stevens started her business called Flossy's Fabulous Face Masks several weeks ago after spending much of the lockdown working with a group called 'MC All Stitched Up,' a group of volunteers mostly based in Middleton Cheney who have been making face masks by hand for the vulnerable and key workers in the community.

Kay said: "I'm a domestic cleaner so I couldn't work after lockdown started. So I started making face masks.

"We started out making masks for the vulnerable and charities."

The group 'MC All Stitched Up' has now grown to more than 80 volunteers from all across the region. The group has recently made 730 face masks to be sent to the children's wards at the Horton General and the John Radcliffe hospitals.

She said: "They're for the children and their visitors to wear at hospital."

It was after helping launch the 'MC All Stitched Up' group that led Kay to start her own face mask making business.

In just a few weeks she has already made and sold nearly 1,000 face masks.

The face masks have also been sold to people all across the UK from Cornwall to Wales and Ireland.

She said: "Flossy's gone to Westminster too. There's a national journalist who wears a Flossy face mask at Westminster. It's an Italian fabric that goes in Italian shirts."

Some of the most popular patters have included skulls and Day of the Dead (popular with teens), along with music notes, poppies, and sheep.

She also has several child friendly fabrics for masks from Harry Potter themed to unicorns to Thomas the Tank Engine.

The face masks are £5 for adults or children. Ten per cent of all Flossy's earnings will be donated to provide aid to the suffering children in Yemen.

Kay said: "It's been absolutely manic because I'm still trying to run the charity side of it through 'MC All Stitched Up.'"

She uses a face mask design loosely based on the pleated surgical mask.

She added: "The main difference is the elastic goes all the way around the head, and that gives you a much more comfortable and better fit. The front of it has a banded filter. The front pleated part also comes with a second filter.

"They're perfectly safe to use. They're also washable and reusable."

Kay has also done several corporate orders for five to six companies who bought the face masks for their teams of employees.

She added: "The design we use is very much a collaboration of the team with MC All Stitched Up."

Anyone interested in buying a handmade face mask contact Kay through the Flossy's Fabulous Face Mask's Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/Flossys-Fabulous-Face-Masks-103325414717862/*A message from the Banbury Guardian Editor:

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