Giselle Williams didn't know how to sew. But she did have a family heirloom sitting around the house-her great-great-grandmother's Singer sewing machine-and wondered if it could be put to use to help others during the pandemic.

It all began when the COVID-19 pandemic brought Giselle's Colorado hairstyling business to a halt in Arvada. She noticed the growing army of sequestered mask-makers and decided to put her free time to good use-but she never learned how to sew and thought she didn't have a sewing machine.

That's when she remembered the 100-year-old treadle machine. It is so old that it doesn't even use electricity. Instead, the 1922 Singer Model 66 "Red Eye" is powered mechanically by a foot pedal pushed up and down by the operator's foot. It was being used as a piece of decorative furniture in her guest room.

After decades spent idle, it definitely needed some work, so Giselle's husband Darin set his mind to restoring it. After many YouTube videos, a good cleaning, fresh lubrication, and a new leather drive belt, the couple had a functioning sewing machine. Then Darin got to work teaching Giselle to sew.

As young boy, Darin spent summers with his grandmother who was a seamstress and learned to sew by sewing hand puppets with her fabric scraps. He used his skills and taught Giselle how to thread the machine, wind the bobbin, and sew a straight stitch.

"I haven't used a sewing machine since my grandmother taught me back in the 1970s," Darin said. "I looked at this old thing and thought, 'Well, it's fundamentally probably the same.'"

Indeed it was. (See the video below…)

Together, the couple found a face mask pattern and purchased fabric to begin prototyping. They also received donated fabric from friends, family and neighbors to support the effort. After a few days practicing, the team officially began their mask-making operation. Their first requests came from local healthcare providers and a distillery that was producing hand sanitizer for first responders.

Since those first weeks, the team has ramped up production and has provided more than 450 masks to churches, restaurants and businesses across Colorado. They have received requests from frontline workers as far away as Japan and Thailand. Currently, the team is at work producing another 50-75 masks to be sold at-cost at the Fetch Markets at Stanley Marketplace in Aurora, Colorado.

Since hearing about the couple, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) has recognized the service of Darin Williams, a U.S. Air Force veteran, and chose him to serve as a spokesperson for the VFW's #StillServing campaign, which is asking America's veterans and their friends to share ways in which the vets are still serving their communities even after leaving active duty.

We know Giselle's great-great-grandmother would be proud-and an active-duty member of their team devoted making masks for frontline medical workers and essential employees around the world.

Need more positive stories and updates coming out of the COVID-19 challenge? For more uplifting coverage, click here.

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