LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Sew Cute By Katie's shop in Louisville had to close because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It's a non-essential business that made most of its sales from face-to-face purchases. But owner Katie Bertrand is still sewing, only now she’s making a new product, non-medical face masks.

“That is not anything I’ve ever done or been in my wheelhouse to do,” Bertrand said.

To help pay the bills while store lights are off, Bertrand started selling face masks online a few weeks ago. They are now her number one product, but noticing the need and demand she also shares how she makes them on her YouTube channel, Sew Cute By Katie .

“It’s very easy for me to teach you online because even if you can’t do it when I am going to do it live, you can watch it later and you can rewatch it to learn.”

The first video shows how to make a non-medical face mask in less than 15 minutes. Posted only a week ago, it now has over 54,500 views. 

“So that just tells you, even my little YouTube channel, people are in need,” Bertrand told Spectrum News 1.

Bertrand’s friend and seamstress Diane Small, lives in Washington state. She used the pattern and made a mask live on her business’s Facebook page.

“When I saw her video I thought this is so simple and easy that we can teach even a novice person that really doesn’t sew a lot, how they can make a difference in their community,” Small said. 

Comments led to Bertrand’s second YouTube video, how to make a face mask with a pocket to insert a filter.

“I mean it’s just amazing that in the middle of a crisis pandemic you know that I can be able to reach people that are in need that would not know about me or my business or anything else, and this is a resource that I am able to provide,” Bertrand said.

She posted her latest how-to video on making a mask out of necessity.

“So elastic is kind of like toilet paper, really hard to get,” Bertrand said.

So instead fabric is substituted to make the elastic ties that go behind the ears with a face mask.

“You kind of just have to get resourceful. If you’re out of one of your resources, you know, there is always more than one way to make something, usually. You just got to, you know, get a little creative and figure it out,” Bertrand said. 

Her next YouTube tutorial will be on how to make a face mask with monogrammed letters to personalize it. 

if you’re interested to make some face masks for you or your community, visit her YouTube page . If you’re interested to buy one of her face masks, visit her store.