With recent CDC recommendations to wear cloth face coverings in public, people are scrambling to make masks for themselves, others, and to donate to medical facilities. So I made a handful for myself and my husband, and close (read: nearby) friends and family that could drop by for a porch pick-up. And then I must have had too much caffeine because I offered masks to our mobile vet (South By South Vets). Many friends and followers on social media asked about patterns, measurements, and supplies used, so I’m sharing those resources here.
Of course I need to disclaim that I am not a medical professional, master seamstress, or a wizard. For official guidance, particularly in this case, do adhere to CDC guidelines: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/index.html
The dozen or so I made for my close friends and family, plus the 60 that I donated, are the pleated non-surgical cloth masks that can be worn over an N-95 respirator or by themselves. I used the We Can Sew It pattern from the Million Mask Challenge Facebook page. I simplified the dimensions for myself and also downscaled the basic pattern for kids:
- Adult: 9″ x 7.5″
- Kid large: 8″ x 6.5″
- Kid medium: 7″ x 5.5″
- Kid small: 6″ x 4.5″
The materials that I had in my supplies were cotton quilt fabric, 1″ and 1/2″ wide twill tape, double- and triple-fold bias tape, 1/4″ wide elastic, 1/4″ and 1″ wide grosgrain ribbon, and 16 and 18 gauge wire. I burned through my elastic and bias tape stash, 16 gauge wire, and all but depleated my grosgrain ribbon…and I would like very much to see my chiropractor after all that sewing.
All masks were sewn at the top and bottom with right sides together, then turned right side out. All masks were pleated with two pleats, evenly spaced. For the masks with the elastic ear loops, I cut the following lengths of elastic and bias tape for the sides:
- Adults: 11″ elastic, 4.5″ bias tape
- Kid large: 9″ elastic, 3.5 bias tape
- Kid medium: 7″ elastic, 2.5 bias tape
- Kid small: 6″ elastic, 2″ bias tape
For the masks with the ribbon or bias tape for ties, I cut 1 yard each side. Dwindling my stash, the double fold bias tape went first, so I then had to use 1″ wide twill tape on the sides, and when that was out I just stitched the 1/4″ wide grosgrain ribbon to the raw edge of the masks, turned in, stitched again. Whatever works, right?
For the masks that I made friends and family, I stitched bias tape or twill tape on all 4 sides of the wire. But for the masks that I donated, I left the bottom right corner open per the We Can Sew It pattern.
In total, I’ve made 84 to date. I’ve exhausted my supplies and myself. If you have supplies on-hand and would like to make masks of your own, check out these two great resources for sew, no sew, pleated, or fitted masks:
CDC: Use of Cloth Face Coverings to Help Slow the Spread of COVID-19
And if you’re donating masks as well and didn’t know about Tieks’ generous and thankful gesture of giving gift cards to those donating 25 or more masks, find out about that here: https://tieks.com/sewtogether
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