With the CDC saying that everyone should wear a face mask when going out, I decided to make some for my girls.
I spent 2 days trying out different patterns to make face masks for my family located in different states. I have one daughter serving in New York as a missionary, and is in one of the fastest growing areas in the hot zone. I finally came up with this easy no pin pattern for making N-95 face mask equivalent masks using high count cotton fabrics.
I studied the reports on which fabric is best and they stated that any high quality high thread count cotton fabric with a piece of flannel inserted in between two layers of the cotton is as good as the N-95 masks. The fabric needs to be above 180 thread count. Many higher quality sheet sets are higher thread count so if you wanted to make some, you could purchase some high quality high thread count pillow cases and use that fabric if you can't get to a fabric store or can't tell the thread count on fabrics at the fabric store.
I tried different pleating, as I watched other peoples suggested methods for sewing face masks, but found them to be difficult and thick to sew. I couldn't get the pleats to sew evenly and they were thick. I remembered making some children's hooded towels with some unique folds in them years ago and thought that maybe I could do that similar type of fold in the masks to get them to lay flatter and be easier to sew.
I finally tried that method and ended up making the masks quickly and easily without the issues of the other many masks I tried. I also saw they have some with pockets that you can place in an extra filtration in them, but they still need to be washed between each use so the thought of needing to have extra filter pieces made it seem much more work intensive for the sewer and the user.
I wanted something that would be easy to wear and use as well as easy to wash. I made some masks with just the two pieces of cotton fabric, and then I made some with the flannel inside the masks two cotton pieces, for my daughter to wear on an airplane. The other masks would be fine for stores or where she won't be in close contact with anyone for more than a minute at checkout possibly.
If you have any questions about sewing these masks, feel free to ask. I made about 50 of these in a day so I could send them to my girls living away from me.
I made the measurements of the main masks for adults 6 inches by 9 inches and sew that into a tube sewing the longer seams and turning it right side out, by folding the shorter edges into the tuck I show in the video, I would then just hold it while stitching the edge as I held the fabric into the tuck.
I used a zig - zag stitch near the edge to hold the tuck into place. I then would use cotton binding / edging to make the straps. They are 30 inches long on each side. I did fold and hem the edges of the cotton ties to make sure they wouldn't fray as they are washed.
It was fast to sew all the straps at the same time, all the long tubes at the same time, then the folds and straps on at the same time if you are making lots at the same time.
Make sure that when you wash them, you put them into a delicate washing bag so that the ties don't get wrapped around the other items or rip in the washing machine. If you don't have a delicate net washing bag for the washer, make sure you tie all four straps into one bow before washing the mask so the straps don't get stuck into the working parts of the machine. My delicate net bag was old and ripped in the washer and all the masks got knotted together and took me over an hour to pull apart. If you only have a few of them, you can put them into the dryer together and the dryer balls kept them from getting into knots while drying.
If you look at the pictures, and watch the video and still have questions, feel free to ask. I used an old dress and some scrap fabric and also made some reversible fabrics using different colors on each side of the mask so you can have it match outfits or just have one fun side and one solid side. I show this in the video as well.
Stay healthy and have a blessed day!
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