freesewing/sites/org/blog/bye-2020/index.mdx

---
authors: 1
caption: "A photo by <a href='https://unsplash.com/@onevagabond'>Paulo Silva</a> shows an empty Times Square in New York during the COVID pandemic"
date: '2021-01-10'
intro: "Aren't we all glad 2020 is over?"
title: 'The year 2020 was something alright'
---

Aren't we all glad 2020 is over?

Realistically, at least some of you, or your loved ones, got caught in the
absolute gut-punch that is the COVID-19 pandemic. Either indirectly through
lost income or other practical concerns, or directly by battling the virus
itself.

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I can only offer my sympathy, and the belief that things will get better. So
hang in there, and let me briefly take your mind of things by sharing some good
news against the bleak backdrop of the annus horribilis that 2020 turned out to
be.

##### The face mask tsunami

FreeSewing found itself — absolutely unexpected I might add — under the glaring
spotlight of international media this year. A tidal wave of attention rolled
over us, and while the peak lasted only a good month, the repercussions and
long tail of these events have shaped our entire year.

It all started in February when COVID-19 was starting to rear its ugly head in
Europe and the supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) started
dwindling. It seemed that face masks were going to be a big factor in trying to
slow down the spread of this disease, but they were getting harder to come by
every day.

So on February 28th, after some design and experimentation, we [published our
face mask pattern on freesewing.org](/blog/florence-face-mask/). Three weeks
later, we followed up with [a one-page PDF that people could share and
adapt](/blog/facemask-frenzy/).

We did not really want to be in the center of this, we just wanted to help
people make masks. But when [Forbes ran an editorial calling on people to help
out with the healthcare workers PPE
shortage](https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2020/03/20/calling-all-people-who-sew-and-make-you-can-help-solve-2020-n95-type-mask-shortage/),
we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a gigantic spotlight. The article
prominently featured FreeSewing, and linked to [our blog
post](/blog/facemask-frenzy).

At that time, there were few patterns available for face masks, and soon enough
a long list of other publications started running links to our pattern and
website. When I found [the instruction video that I made for the pattern
staring back at me on the website of the New York
Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/opinion/coronavirus-n95-mask.html),
it was a veritable oh-crap moment. Sure enough, in the month following the
Forbes publication, a million people descended on freesewing.org.

The sudden jump in visitors and users (not to mention patrons) made it clear
that I am a bottleneck of the project, and so in the latter half of the year
we've set out to [try and remedy that with some community
building](/blog/a-call-for-help/). On one hand it's slow going, but on the
other hand if I look at how vibrant the FreeSewing community is today, it
almost beggars belief that we did all of this throughout 2020. We now have
regular [contributor
calls](https://github.com/freesewing/freesewing/discussions), and [our chat
rooms are never empty](https://discord.freesewing.org/).

I hope to continue to fade into the background and let other people carry some
of the torches. Not because I don't want to work on this anymore, but because I
want to grow FreeSewing beyond what I can do on my own.

##### Black Lives Matter Since this is a look at 2020, I also want to pause and

acknowledge the **Black Lives Matter** movement and the ongoing problem of
systemic racism. It is an area where my background and genetic material makes
me ill-equipped to take a leading role, so here too I rely on our community for
guidance.

We are also expanding our efforts to provide patterns that work for all body
types, and I am particularly proud of how many of our users come to us because
our patterns help them project the gender of their choice.

##### We helped more people than ever this year On the practical side of

things, I have extended our book year with a couple of weeks so that going
forward, we will just follow the calendar years. With a couple of hours left in
this year, FreeSewing's revenue for 2020 clocks in at **10.736,82 euro**. That
makes 2020 and absolute bumper year, and it's more than all previous years
combined (2015: € 256.65, 2016: € 473.50, 2017: € 673.14, 2018: € 3162.14,
2019: € 4109.38).

As always, all of FreeSewing's revenue -- the entire 10.736,82 euro -- [goes to
Doctors Without Borders](/docs/about/pledge/).

I am truly grateful for your continued support and contributions. I feel like
in a very small way, we are able to apply some balm to the hurt that seems at
times omnipresent in the world.

Thank you so much, and stay safe

love joost