The Oh Sew Crafty Witch!

As we are starting to emerge a little more from lock down, many are understandably still being very cautious in the hopes of avoiding a second wave of the Pandemic. One precaution is to wear a face mask, mandatory in some places, not here yet (April 2020) but worth wearing for extra protection.

So, as I love crafting, I thought I would do a little research and then make some myself. There are loads of different free patterns on the internet. I discovered that the most effective home sewn masks are made from a tightly woven cotton (you shouldn’t be able to see through it) with a bonded iron on interfacing on the inside of all the layers. I also create and insert a little metal strip over the nose to ensure a good fit. You can also make them in different sizes to suit different people.

So I started with a couple of small and medium ones for my granddaughters, which turned out better than I expected. I then had a go at making one for myself. Perfect!! You just need to hand wash them in warm soapy water, rinse them out and hang them up overnight and they will be ready for the next day. I am not making them to sell as they are quite time consuming and there are huge quantities for sale on line at much cheaper prices than I could get all the material for, not to mention the postage and time on top of that.

But ……. I am making a couple for my friends grandchildren (should the material I bought on line ever arrive!) and I am making a couple for a colleague. Then I thought it would be a good idea to make one each for my Mum and her husband, who are both in their late 80’s! With that in mind I have been slowly accumulating some decent cotton fabric, printing off patterns, finding suitable metal for nose strips and hunting down different things I can use for ties.

Yesterday my Mum sent me a text asking if I could make her and hubby a couple of masks each. Ok, I hadn’t planned on making that many but it would make sense as they might not be able to wash and dry them very quickly. I text back to find out what size they wanted and gave very careful instructions of how to measure from your nose to under your chin.

I got a message back this morning to say they are both definitely 15cm (same as me so about average) and her hubby now thinks they would like 3 each!! Urgh! Ok. So I spent the morning going through my fabric boxes looking for suitable material, with a suitable pattern and colour for both ladies and gents. I then matched up fabrics with backing fabrics and cut out about 10 masks, all of the same size as requested (it should be about the right size for my colleague too. So that’s 6 for my Mum and her hubby and two each for myself and my colleague.

Each mask has 4 pieces, so I cut out 40 pieces of fabric. Each piece of fabric also requires interfacing, so I also cut out 40 pieces of interfacing – just had enough! I had never planned on making this many and after a while my neck and shoulders began to ache. I had a break for some lunch, came back, ironed on all the interfacing and started sewing all the sides together to form the front and backs…….

It was at this point that I got another text from my Mum. Can you make Hubby’s about half an inch bigger !!!! Errrrr what ?? After a quick panic and distraught look at all my part made masks, I have decided that I will just go ahead and finish them anyway. I have reasoned that my hubby can fit into the mask I made for myself so I can’t see that her hubby won’t be able to, especially as there is not an ounce of fat on him. It’s the measurement around the head that has the most difference. So I’m quite sure that if I make them with soft ties they will fit perfectly well. Secretly I think her hubby is maybe just wanting a slightly bigger one as he is the man of the house 😉

My hubby has a bigger head then me, and even though it doesn’t look like it would be, the basic face size is very similar. I have got him to try one of the new masks on and they fit him just fine, so I will carry on and finish them all. So, back to the sewing machine I go ….. anyone any good at shoulder massage?! 😀

Update: I found some more interfacing and after another measure up on hubby’s face, I did make the larger masks after all. Plus I made several for my son, daughter-in-law and older grandchildren so none went to waste !! Also if you are making your own. Soft round elastic works best to hold them round your ears in comfort.