
Photo courtesy Rachel Brockwell
Clotheshorse Masks
When COVID-19 hit the greater Birmingham area, Rachel Brockwell learned how to craft reusable, washable face masks. They’re currently for sale at The Clotheshorse on Rocky Ridge Road.
Local college student Rachel Brockwell has been making hair scrunchies out of upcycled materials and selling them at The Clotheshorse since fall of last year with her friend Emily Liming. They call themselves the Party Badger Craft Co.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the greater Birmingham area, though, Brockwell has started using her sewing skills for a different project.
“With everything that was going on, we weren’t having a lot of scrunchie sales,” Brockwell said. “So Becky Sager at The Clotheshorse contacted me and asked if I would be willing to make some masks.”
The masks are reversible and washable. Making the masks has been slightly more difficult than making scrunchies, Brockwell said.
“I had to come up with my own pattern,” she said. “I looked up a lot of different styles of masks that people were making online, but there wasn’t one that I really thought I could do, so I took several different aspects that I liked and put them all together. I wanted them to be cute — I didn’t want them to look like stiff medical masks.”
The Party Badger Craft Co. currently sells scrunchies and masks styled for women at The Clotheshorse, located on Rocky Ridge Road. Brockwell said she plans on selling masks styled for men soon.
The Clotheshorse is offering curbside service or 30-minute private shopping windows during the COVID-19 pandemic. Visit shoptheclotheshorse.com for more information.