It has been a while since I was feeling ~crafty~, but a rainy day seemed like the perfect time to pull out my sewing machine and my little bin of fabrics I’ve been accumulating. A couple years ago, I bought a bunch of these crafting squares when they were on sale. (I might have had had plans to turn them into pillow covers…but who can say.) What better time than a pandemic to finally use the things you’ve been saving for a rainy day?
I made myself four new masks using this pattern. (The medium fits me fine.) I used cotton fabric for both layers. Add some thick copper wire leftover from a forgotten beading project and some strips of stretchy fabric left from a hem job, and I had the necessary items to make some fabric masks. Here you can see what the two layers look like when they are pinned together, right sides together. I followed the instructions almost exactly and they turned out very well!
After a little bit of trial and error, I discovered that, first of all, folding aluminum foil over repeatedly will not create something firm enough for a good nose clip, and second, the separate long ties at the top of your head and the back of your neck really only work if they’re elastic. So I stuck with the ear loops.
I ended up with three masks that I feel good about, plus my original attempt (which will be a spare until I add ear loops to it). There is a fair amount of space between my nose/mouth and the fabric, so I feel confident that they will be easy to breathe in. All in all, pretty fast and easy to make, and definitely a good use of time!
