Since pulling his sewing machine out of storage the first week of April, Associate Professor of Linguistics Jack Hardy has made more than 400 face masks for friends (and friends of friends!) in the Oxford community, across the United States, and internationally in Ireland, England, and Germany. After Oxford College made the shift to remote instruction, Hardy realized, when shopping in local stores for necessities and groceries, that more face masks would need to be worn by community members to meet the goal of flattening the curve locally. 

Hardy took a sewing class in 2019 at an Atlanta shop where he learned the basics of sewing. Through trial and error in April, he refreshed his knowledge of how to use a sewing machine and taught himself how to make a reusable and sturdy cloth face mask. He focused on designing them to be comfortable, breathable, "cool," and most importantly, not to fog up glasses. Of his bespoke masks, Hardy says, “my primary research is on the writing of different academic disciplines. So, I wanted to celebrate that, and rather than only making tons of blue and yellow Emory masks, that I could make special academic masks for the faculty. So far, I’ve done biology, chemistry, mathematics, environmental science and geology, English, linguistics, language teaching, and African American Studies.”

If people insist on paying him for a mask, Hardy instead encourages donating to a local cause or organization like food banks, homeless shelters, or bail funds. If someone does want a custom mask, they can order 1 yard of their selected fabric and from that yard, he can make about 12-20 masks giving some to the purchaser and donating the others. He suggests spoonflower.com as a fun website that will custom print and mail fabric.