Covid Shopping Mall

July 4, 2020 8:15 AM

During the Winter Solstice holiday season, there's a shopping mall. There are MeFites and MeFi-affiliateds who make masks. Perhaps we could support them? There are mask questions on Ask.Me, so there's a market.

If no Pandemic Mall, please post here if you are a mask-maker, or have other Pandemic Merch to offer.

posted by theora55 to Feature Requests at 8:15 AM (25 comments total)

Sure -- people can put their links in this thread first.

(Making a dedicated store-link-page requires frimble time. They're not available right now, I don't know how much time this would take and there are other projects on the list they need to address first. We can get started with collecting the links in here regardless.)
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:25 AM on July 4, 2020

Yep! Here it is.
posted by Flannery Culp at 10:12 AM on July 4, 2020

Regardless of where the links end up - and I 100% agree with LM that there are other, more immediately important frimble tasks right now (and work the rest of the mods are hopefully engaging in as well) - I hope there are folks who put up links to their face mask sales here as I'd love to buy some. Thanks for suggesting it, theora55!
posted by DingoMutt at 10:28 AM on July 4, 2020 [2 favorites]

Hippybear, I asked for a Pandemic MeFi Mall. Making it available would require some effort that is not available at this time. No reason MeFites can't use it for masks, but it may not get found. Since Lobster Mitten has said it's not imminently available, could we encourage mask makers to list stuff here for now? There have been some ask.mes.
posted by theora55 at 10:32 AM on July 4, 2020 [2 favorites]

Well, let's start here, and when someone has time maybe they can bump mask listings to the top of the mall page and add an alert about it. I recently bought some "handmade" masks on Etsy that turned out to be mass-produced and child-size so would like better, more trustworthy options.
posted by Flannery Culp at 10:43 AM on July 4, 2020 [1 favorite]

Yeah let's just make the existing Mall full time, I think except for adding a link in the header, everything else is something mods could do?
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 11:02 AM on July 4, 2020 [5 favorites]

During the Winter Solstice holiday season, there's a shopping mall...

Hemispherist
posted by Thella at 2:53 AM on July 5, 2020 [4 favorites]

I would like a mask with the word "argue" printed all over it.
posted by JanetLand at 7:19 AM on July 5, 2020 [2 favorites]

...no links to masks yet in the thread... staying tuned...
posted by amtho at 4:11 PM on July 5, 2020

Hey! I make masks! They’re pretty comfortable and people seem to like them! You can visit my Etsy shop via my site at selvageandneedle.com. You can also mosey on over to Instagram and order a custom mask there. I have over 100 fabrics to pick from. I can do adult, child large (although some small-faced friends have picked this option), and child small.

They’re Olson style masks with a filter pocket and two layers of quilting cotton. Straps are behind the head soft elastic.

I’ve got a bit of a backlog so turnaround might be a couple weeks, because they’re all made by me in my “home studio” (aka spare room).
posted by itsamermaid at 8:31 PM on July 5, 2020 [9 favorites]

+5 points for the nicely designed masks, -1 for making me sing (clap clap clap clap) 🎶 deep in the heart of Texas 🎶
posted by Flannery Culp at 7:31 AM on July 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

So you’re saying no one told you life was gonna be this way?
posted by itsamermaid at 10:15 AM on July 6, 2020

Well, it certainly hasn't been my day, week, month or even year.
posted by zamboni at 12:11 PM on July 6, 2020 [2 favorites]

So this is one of those weird MeTas that opened, there was an early mod comment (frimble isn't available, unclear what that means in terms of timeframe) and then a few suggestions and then no follow-up for two days (holiday weekend, but still). I assume LM has this in her Recent Activity, but it's not clear if there will be more follow-up or it will just drop off the page. My impression is that decisions about dev time happen more or less at weekly staff meetings so I guess I'd like to know if this is on anyone's todo list? There are a few directions it could go:

- Revive the Mall and make it year-round
- Folks put links in this thread but not amplified anywhere which might be a dead end
- Some other store option

Something else?
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 1:45 PM on July 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

Sidebar?
posted by mightshould at 2:20 PM on July 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

I’ve added my designs to masks in my Redbubble shop - something for everyone I hope!
posted by mikepop at 2:30 PM on July 6, 2020 [6 favorites]

The Mefi Mall is live, people can submit if they want and we can approve in the normal process. There isn't a special category for covid stuff but it can go under one of the existing categories.

I should've been clearer about this in my opening note -- I think bigger Mall changes aren't something we can prioritize now. It's a reasonable suggestion and we've talked about similar things in the past, but there are a lot of more important things happening that people really want us to make progress on before doing other things. Adding new categories to the Mall or changing where it's publicized etc -- anything that requires frimble time -- is necessarily going to be on the back burner for now.

But thank you for suggesting it theora55, and for now this thread is a good place for people to post their shops etc.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 2:47 PM on July 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

I don't have a shop but I do make masks. If any Mefites are looking for something please let me know - I make 100% cotton pleated masks with either a filter pocket or a sewn-in filter (double layer of silk chiffon or single layer of silk charmeuse), with nose piece pockets and options for how you want your elastic. I can do both adult and kid sizes. This is a hobby/mitzvah for me, so if funds are tight please memail me. I'd love to help where I can.
posted by athenasbanquet at 2:09 PM on July 7, 2020 [6 favorites]

It would be nice to add this to the sidebar.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 9:44 AM on July 8, 2020

Done!
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:51 AM on July 8, 2020 [3 favorites]

Mrs. Cowlick has been sewing masks and selling them here: elainecl.com/face-masks-all. They're double layered cotton, washable masks with a pocket for a replaceable filter.

There's a discount code SUMMER20 for orders over $50.
posted by cowlick at 7:32 PM on July 8, 2020 [1 favorite]

There isn't a special category for covid stuff but it can go under one of the existing categories.

*crosses arms, taps foot on floor in gesture of disappointment at everyone in the thread, the cups hands to mouth and bellows...*

MaskMe, surely?
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:31 PM on July 8, 2020 [4 favorites]

hoyooooooo
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:32 PM on July 8, 2020

I made this mask a few weeks ago...
posted by Mchelly at 2:51 PM on July 9, 2020 [4 favorites]

I've been making double-layer cotton pleated masks with nose wires and adjustable ties. And I wear my own masks at work every day, so I can vouch for them being comfy and not sliding off my nose like half the masks my customers come in wearing. Memail me if you need a few!
posted by nonasuch at 1:42 PM on July 10, 2020 [2 favorites]