One of the projects we have been working on lately is making our own face masks. This design has been inspired by many different YouTube video and blog posts from other people who have also been making their own masks due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
DISCLAIMER: Theses masks will not stop you getting the virus but could act as a preventative measure to reduce the risk.
In this post we will take you through the steps of how we made them and will also include some YouTube videos below which are also easy to follow.
1. Cut your fabric to size, we recommend the following sizes for adults and children.
Adult Size: 16 x 8.5 inches
Child Size: 11 x 8 inches
2. Iron on light weight fusible stiffener (optional) and then fold lengthways and sew leaving about 4 inch gap for filter pocket.
3. Pre-neaten edges or top stitch.
4. Press fabric with an iron.
5. Add some elastic. We have used eighth of an inch flat elastic that we cut 6 inches in length. You may want to increase the length to 6.5 inches for men.
6. Pin elastic into folded and pressed edges.
7. Sew from corner to corner, back tacking to secure.
8. Turn to right side.
9. Press with an iron.
10. Insert an extra filter inside the pocket. This could be a folded paper towel, coffee filter or HEPA filter vacuum bag. It helps to add as an extra barrier to the outside air.
Fold the mask in half once the filter pocket is inside.
11. Open out and then press outside edges onto just pressed crease line.
12. Using creases as a guide, pleat, secure and then stitch in place on each side.
13. Press creases on both sides.
14. Cut a piece of pipe cleaner to 4 inches in length.
15. Use some pliers to bend each end to stop it from poking through the fabric.
16. Insert at the top of the mask.
17. Centre the pipe cleaner and then sew all the way round.
The pipe cleaner helps the mask to fit better over the nose to keep it in place.
Finished mask.
A few extra notes:
If making a mask for a child you may want to use ties to help keep the mask in place over the ears. You could use tape, ribbon or cotton jersey knitting ribbon. Insert in the same way as elastic and tuck inside whilst sewing, being careful not to catch it.
Elastic length for women: 6 inches
Elastic length for men: 6.5 inches
Please see the following YouTube videos below that we have found to be very useful when making these masks.
The next video is a very useful hack for simplifying the pleats in the mask.
We hope this blog post has helped anyone who is looking to make their own fabric face masks.
We do recommend doing your own research to find a style of mask that might be most suitable for you and suitable for the environment you intend to wear it in.
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