Masks are a part of our daily lives now, and that's a really good thing. There are lots of studies and circumstantial evidence indicating that widespread mask wearing is vital to slowing the spread of Covid-19. Lucky for us, it's an extremely easy and noninvasive* thing to do - CERTAINLY worth the prevention of thousands of needless deaths.
*Assuming you are over the age of 2 and do not have a medical condition that precludes you from wearing one
Unfortunately, a lot of those masks end up in the ocean, or on city streets where they raise safety concerns. Reusable cloth masks, especially if sourced from discarded textiles, can provide a low-waste solution.There is an interesting comparison of climate change impacts of single use vs reusable masks here.
We've been in this situation for a while now. Chances are, you have your mask situation figured out. But in case you are considering switching from single use to reusable masks, are in need of a new batch, or are making some to donate, here's the mask pattern I have developed over the last few months (based on a lot of other people's patterns).
There are two features I added that I really like:
Instead of attaching to the corners or feeding through channels on the sides, the "strap" goes all the way around the mask, through channels at the top and bottom. That way, if you tighten the straps a bit, the whole mask cinches around your nose and chin. This gives you a slightly better fit without having to incorporate any metal.
This issue is exacerbated by the cinching described above, but I was noticing that most of my masks left a lot of space open on the sides. I added a single pleat on each side to combat this.
You'll need:
Old clothes - You want to use a fabric that is breathable but able to block droplets.T-shirt cotton works particularly well. For the mask in these photos, I used T-shirt material for the inner layer and leggings for the outer layer.
Scissors
Sewing machine and thread (or you could do it by hand)
Some semi-stretchy cord to make the straps. I'll be using the strip of fabric from the seam of the leggings, which I talked about in a separate post. You could also use tights yarn, hair ties, or just a plain old piece of string or yarn.
A pattern printout for the basic shape: try this one from freesewing.org
Mine do not have a metal nose piece but you can add one if you want
Instructions
Step 1: Cut out 4 shapes for the body of the mask. I used the template from FreeSewing.org's facemask pattern (and the first few steps of this tutorial are very similar to theirs). You need one front/back pair for the inner layer (in my case, white T-shirt fabric), and one front/back pair for the outer layer (in my case, black leggings fabric).
Step 2: Pin the two inner layer pieces together with the inside surface facing out (if it matters). Sew along the front curve. Repeat with the two outer layer pieces. You can press the seams if you like - I usually just trim down any excess.
Step 3: Unfold both and pin the outer layer and inner layer together, again with the outside facing in. This means that the seam you created it Step 2 will be visible. Sew along the top and bottom of the mask. Again, feel free to press or trim the seams as needed.
Step 4: Flip the mask right-side out so that the seams are all on the inside. Then, sew along the top and bottom edge again, leaving about 1/2" of space. This is going to be the channel that you feed your straps through.
Step 5: Close the hole between the outer layer and the inner layer along the two open edges. I do this by folding in both sides and stitching between the two channel seams. Don't close the strap channel!
Step 6: Select your strap/elastic material and thread it through both channels. This a very similar process to re-threading the string that has come out of a hoodie. There are lots of ways to do it, but the one I find easiest is to make a big needle out of jewelry wire, thread that through the channel, and use it to pull the strap back through in the other direction. Thread the strap through the top and bottom, tie the ends together to form a loop, and trim as need.
Step 7: Add a pleat to create the desired fit. I usually just measure this off of my own face and test it once pinned to make sure it feels comfortable.
Step 8: You're done! If you're making the mask for someone other than yourself, make sure you sanitize it and package it thoughtfully. Otherwise, remember to continue social distancing and to wash your mask after every use.
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