Obligatory mask making!

I'm going to make a confession - I hate making masks.  I'll admit that I did not rush out and sew masks for charity along with everyone else - neither did I sew masks to sell.  In fact in the early days of this pandemic I only made a couple masks - one for each of the family in fact.

The original masks that I made were done using this pattern.  I used mask 2 regular size I believe, but instead of putting the elastic through the side of the mask I actually ran it across the top and bottom of the mask making for a snug fit under the chin and over then nose.  I also didn't use elastic but made rouleou straps that tie behind the head and neck.

I made one for my son out of camouflage cotton on the outside and plain green cotton inside, My daughters is made from a cotton with yellow spots and hedgehogs on both inside and outside.

Our one and only outing during April and May - to pick up our Hedgehog.

For myself I made a plain blue cotton mask with a orange gingham cotton inside.  For my mask I added a strip of fleece over the nose to thread a pipe cleaner through just to get a better fit over the nose.

These fit fine but it was a pain having to tie them up each time we put them on so I then came up with the idea of serging a knit fabric to the top and bottom of the mask in a loop around the neck and the head.

I made another mask with a bright metallic print batik fabric outside and and blue double pane check fabric inside and used a poly lycra fabric to make two circles of fabric and serged these onto the top and bottom of the mask.  I also added an extra strip of fabric over the nose to hold a nose wire.

This seemed to work, but the mask was now too short for some reason so my chin kept slipping out if I wanted to talk or open my mouth at all, so I added an extra strip  of fabric under the chin about 1"wide in the center tapering out to nothing at the sides. 

We made do with these masks for a good couple of months - the kids were rarely outside the house (or our backyard) so didn't really need masks that much it was really just for me who needed them for grocery shopping and delivering meals on wheels.

But every time I wore mine I realised something just wasn't right.  Mainly around the nose.  I find that if I pull the mask up over my nose it starts obstructing the view from my eyes, but if I pull it down so I can see it doesn't sit over the nose properly.  I knew I needed to change the shape around the nose, but I just wasn't sure how.  I started looking at different mask patterns online - most of them are the same basic shape, either pleated (which I tried once and hated immediately), or the shape I was already using, but there were a couple of other origami and darted type masks that looked interesting.  

I decided to try and make a pattern myself.  I started by cutting a larger rectangle of fabric.  It was about 14" wide by about 8" high.  I held the fabric up to my face and started taking tucks to try and get it to fit nicely.  I started with two darts, one on either side of the nose.  I then added darts on either side meeting up with the nose darts to create a nice big box around the nose.  Finally I added another dart under the chin to get the mask to fit nicely around the neck.  I sewed these darts in place and pinned on some elastic to hold it in place and then I just needed one more modification, a little extra room at the top of the nose so I basted an extra piece of fabric on and now I had a pattern that fit me beautifully. 

I made up an actual pattern,

 Cut it out of a metallic print batik.

For the lining I actually used an old T shirt. I sewed up the two layers separately then put them together right sides facing and sewed along the top and bottom edges.  Turned it inside out through the sides then top stitched top and bottom and serged the sides to neaten them up.

I then used a strip of the T shirts hem and top stitched it over the nose on the inside to make a casing for nose wire.  I found some old jewellery wire and used that over the nose, wrapping the ends in duct tape so they don't poke me.

To finish off the mask I just turned the sides under to make a casing.

I then made another rouleou loop that goes up from the bottom of the left side casing, around the back of the head and down the right side casing and is then tied behind the neck.  This is good as I can slip the top strap off then pull the mask along the loops and pull the neck strap off without undoing it which is nice.

I really like the way this mask fits - it doesn't obstruct my view at all, its super comfortable and easy to wear without fidgeting with it.

Now I just needed to figure out what fabrics to use.  This has always been my biggest problem,  finding real data on how different fabrics work as masks is hard.  I found one study early on but the fabrics were things like Tea towels, scarf etc, these could be made out of anything.    Up till now I had just been using whatever cotton fabrics I had on hand since cotton seemed to be best, but then  new data was released that showed that a combination of cotton and poly chiffon or silk was actually the best. 

So I needed to make a few new ones.  I made the kids a new mask with an outer cotton of their choice, inner plain cotton and an internal layer of silk in the original style, then because they said it was too hard to breath through that I made them each a two layer cotton mask in the new style (I figure better a mask they will wear with two layers than a three layer mask that they keep taking off).

For these I got really lazy and just cut strips of 1" wide knit material for the straps. 

Then for my husband and myself I made 4 layer masks with two layers cotton and two layers poly chiffon.

I managed to stuff up the last one so the chiffon is on the outside not the inside but oh well I'm sure it works just as well. 

I also came up with a way to make adding wire for the nose more easily.  I created a new pattern piece that basically follows the shape of the nose, cut two of these out of the inner layer fabric.  Sew the two layers together along the bottom then sew it to the outside of the inner layer with top edges matched.  This means that when the mask is turned inside right it sits against the inner layer and can be topstitched in place leaving an opening on either end where you can insert your wire.

 

I probably need to make a few more of the ones with chiffon as it turns out that is really easy to breath through and the kids do need more if they go back to school, but I can only do so many at once - they are just so boring.