Sewing with Covid Fingers… #SewingProjects with #DollClothesPatterns

On a mottled turquoise blue background, we see a smattering of bodice garment pieces in white and pink scattered around a miniature Anna doll (from Disney's Frozen).
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

These are the projects I’m working on.

I don’t know if you can tell, but those are some awfully tiny little doll clothes. Teeny tiny! Itsy bitsy!

And…

I have covid again. Ugh. At least, it’s the form of covid that I always seem to get. Whenever my husband gets covid, I get… something.

I’m one of those weird freaky people who gets “covid toes” and “covid fingers.” Some of us who get this weird skin rash will test negative for covid, so it’s not… well at least the doctors can’t be sure it’s even related to covid.

But it’s something. I guarantee you. It’s not nothing. Take a look.

Here’s my left hand. It looks pretty normal. Zoom in. There’s nothing strange about it.

Chelly Wood's left hand holds a tiny pink doll bodice garment piece. The hand itself is a healthy pink color with no patches of dry skin.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Now compare that to my right hand. Again, zoom in. Look at that weird scaly skin thing that’s going on:

Chelly Wood's right hand holds a tiny white sewn bodice back. If you zoom in on the hand, you will notice the skin of her fingers is somewhat dry and scaly and cracked. There's a bit of a whitish mottled color to the fingers as well.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

This time it’s not too bad. In the past, the skin cracked and the fingers turned a weird bluish color.

My doctor tried to tell me I was having a reaction to hand sanitizer.

But if that’s the case, why is the rash only on my right hand? And my right FOOT

Yes, it’s called “covid toes” because you get it on your fingers and your toes.

Right now, where I live, there’s a resurgence of the corona virus. I’m a school librarian. I work with children. Most of them are not immunized, and very few people in Idaho wear masks. (I guess it’s a republican thing.) So I can be 100% sure I’ve been exposed to at least some children with the disease.

I mean, most classroom teachers are exposed to 25 or 30 kids — maybe 100 to 120 kids for secondary teachers — but we librarians are exposed to ALL of the kids at our schools. At my school, that’s about 500 kids and staff members.

This photograph shows the Chelly Wood doll (a Spin Master Liv doll that has been repainted and had its hair dyed grey to look like the real doll clothing designer and school librarian, Chelly Wood) holding up a tiny handmade miniature book. she wears a checked librarian's apron with large pockets. She holds up a tiny book and stands before an audience of very small, child-like dolls. Behind her is a librarian's circulation with piles of books on it. Farther back in the photograph is a wall-sized (in 1:6 scale) bookshelf with dozens of colorful books on the shelf. The bookshelf appears to end at a little nook, and in the nook stands a bust of William Shakespeare (also in 1:6 scale). The watermark on the photo reminds us that this picture comes from ChellyWood.com, which offers free printable sewing patterns and tutorials for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns and tutorial videos showing how to make doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Every time the disease comes through our state, I get this scaly hand thing. I’ve been tested for covid multiple times now, but it has never come back positive. Never. Not even once. But I get this skin thing on the fingers of my right hand and the toes of my right foot.

That can’t be from hand sanitizer because I don’t put hand sanitizer on my foot. And if it was from hand sanitizer, I’d get it all the time, not just at times when covid is running rampant through our school and community.

Anyway, I’m kinda congested too, with typical head cold symptoms. So although I have been making tutorial videos for my YouTube channel, I’m afraid you may notice that my right hand looks sort of scaly from time to time.

Sorry everyone. That’s just me and my lovely covid fingers!

My voice will sound a little raspy in this week’s tutorial video too. Again, I offer my apologies.

In case you’re wondering, yes, I’ve been immunized. And yes, I wear my mask at school. Of all the teachers/staff at our school, I probably wear my masks the most.

The image shows the doll representing Chelly Wood, the doll clothes designer, YouTuber, and blogger, wearing a hand-made cloth face mask. Behind her on the wall of her sewing room is the URL where you can download her free printable PDF sewing pattern for a child's cloth face mask, an adult's cloth face mask, and a cloth face mask to fit a 14 inch, 15 inch, 16 inch, or 17 inch doll: ChellyWood.com
Visit ChellyWood.com for free printable sewing patterns to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

But that doesn’t keep me from getting the… hand thing. Whatever it is. My husband and I both call it “covid fingers” or “covid toes” because we’ve seen how it seems to come and go with the virus.

It’s not very painful though–just a little itchy–and I never seem to get a bad case of the virus either. So those are blessings.

There is a down-side to sewing with covid fingers though; when sewing by hand, the thread gets caught on my scaly skin. When I’m filming a tutorial video, that’s especially aggravating.

But hey, I’m not going to let this get me down! I’m going to rise above the panic of a pandemic, and continue to sew my teeny-tiny little doll clothes. Because it’s FUN.

And by golly, I’m going to share the results of my creative projects, for all to see… even if you have to see my scaly hand sometimes.

I’m looking forward to making something for Anna or Elsa to wear, using this adorable little pink Easter Egg fabric. How cute is that?

The image shows a tiny pink bodice cut-out from pink Easter egg print fabric.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

Feel free to leave a comment.

How has covid affected your sewing projects? Have you been sewing your hearts out because of lock down? Have you made masks for local health care workers?

And do any of you experience covid fingers and/or covid toes? Am I the only person who seems to only get covid fingers and toes on the right, but not the left side? I’m really curious!

Do I have any health care workers out there among my followers? And are you finding time to sew amid the craziness of the pandemic? Best wishes to all of you. Stay WELL.

 

10 thoughts on “Sewing with Covid Fingers… #SewingProjects with #DollClothesPatterns

  1. Yes, you do have healthcare followers, I am one of them.. I am a nurse, and there have been some cases with what you are experiencing with the covid after effects.. sometimes can affect people that they can’t do everyday little things.. like your hands swelling up to 3x their normal size that you can’t even hold a cup, or feed themselves..and pain!!

    I do view your site often, especially when there is a doll to be dressed that is an odd size, that I can’t find patterns for… and I love that you have basic patterns that can be used to create ANYTHING!
    I too enjoy sewing, it’s my relaxing getaway… I have made masks for people and have brought over 400 to work, sent some to Africa when the pandemic hit there.. so I would say u have made over 800 at least, total.. also made and passed out to the state police and local police, with appropriate fabric.. also for the ED dept I where I work, I used appropriate fabric print for 1st responders.. also scrub hats… so, ya, I have been busy… now making bears to donate to “dolls of hope” for the children in Ukraine.. so, ya, I am busy…

  2. Oh no–so sorry you have Covid again! Happy for you that it is a mild case. My husband and I never felt ill but seemed to have a lot of allergies and because we live in the country and in a rural county, the first testing was 60 miles away so we did not get tested at the height of the pandemic. Now we have the home testing kits.
    I look forward to your posts and videos–they are always a “sunflower to brighten the day!” I just had to comment about the darling photos of “Chelly Wood Librarian” and all the “school kids.” So very cute! I love setting up dioramas with my Barbies, Little Miss Revlon, Tammy, all from the ’60’s, and a collection of newer Barbies and designer Kens. Thank you for lovely and positive posts!

  3. Chelly, try using fish oil tablets, it sounds as though you’ve depleted your omega 3s, fish oil will protect your skin, it has cured the eczema I always got in the summer. Just a thought……

  4. Bless your heart! I never had that problem with Covid but I believe you. I hope something helps. Have you tried oatmeal baths? They have helped me over the years when I had chicken pox and hives.

    1. I haven’t tried oatmeal. I’ve tried a number of different lotions. The ones that work best are Vaseline (not the lotion but the ointment stuff) and the Seaweed Bath Company’s body cream. But neither of these is 100% effective.

      I’m allergic to lanolin, which is in a lot of skin products, so I’m kind of limited on what lotions I can use.

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