What to look for in a Reusable Home Made Face Mask Pattern

Words I never thought I might write. But as it looks increasingly likely I may find myself making masks, I thought I'd do the research first. Many of us have our suspicions that some of the WHO advice about not using them, is mainly to protect precious stocks for health workers. That doesn't stop us thinking - maybe I'd like to make my own. You can find the results of my research and my first 6 trial masks in this post (including the one that, for me, was 'the winner'). Be warned, that is quite a long post! But I've tried to pick out the essential points here.

I am NOT a health worker, nor have I any qualifications in virology. I just want to do what I can for my family. So I'm not going to give you all the recommendations about whether you should or should not wear a mask and when, how to put a mask on and off, or how to wash it - you can read that elsewhere. (However, the last link suggests it might be as effective to just hang it outside for 3 or 4 days, then all the virus will be gone!) My post is purely about making masks. (This web page covers some of these above points with respect only to disposable masks.)

 Here are some of my trial masks.

So let's get into what is important.

Home Made Face Masks - a Review

Has anyone else found themselves overwhelmed by the enormous number of tutorials and patterns for face masks that have sprung up in the last few weeks? This has increased  especially since the CDC in the US started to recommend wearing them. As at the time of first writing this, mask-wearing other than for professional medical and caring staff has not been recommended in the UK, but that may change. So I decided to do the research now, and be prepared for a time when I may need to make masks for our own and family's use. (We have a Vulnerable Person in the family.) Because there are so many different patterns, ideas, and styles around, I wanted to try several out and find out what works best. And I hope my research may be useful to others, too.

From this you can deduce that I am not currently making these for hospital use. Our hospitals have not yet put out a general / national request for home-made masks, although locally and on a smaller scale this is starting to happen. The Facebook Group Scrub Hub is bringing together groups around the country starting to make scrubs, and some of these groups are also making masks and other items. I am also in a local group, Sewing 4 Kingston, in Kingston / Surbiton in Surrey, making different versions for key workers - these use a different set of patterns for masks.

To read my review of face mask patterns and tutorials for home use, read on. It's a long post, so if you want a quick answer, read the first paragraph then skip to the end.

Scrap busting

We've all been finding ways to cope with lock-down. Enforced staying at home made me do a lot of tidying up, and I realised in the process that I had lots of off-cuts and scraps in need of using, donating or throwing. Some of the more usable pieces went to my neighbour's daughter, who was also at home for the duration, and who I knew was keen on sewing small bags and the like. Some has been "date-stamped" and is in a box marked - 'Throw if not used by the end of 2020.' And some pieces were crying out to have something done with them NOW. More on how to make all these if you click on the headings.  

Hairbands

These have been a good way of using up leftover bits of knit fabric. I've mostly made these for the grandchildren, but since my own hair isn't getting cut right now, I've also found them useful to keep my hair out of my eyes.

Coffee cup covers

The idea of these is to have a hands-free way of carrying round our multiple use coffee cups, when we go places with the children and grandchildren - that's when we can do that again. These were made from little scraps of double-sided ready-quilted fabric.

Bean bags

Another lock-down idea to help entertain the grandchildren. I made 10 each for each family.  I had to post empty bags for one daughter to fill, as sending them already filled by post would have been very expensive. For the family who live locally, I filled their bags and my daughter collected them from the doorstep. It wasn't as easy as it may sound, as, at the time, there was a serious shortage of dried beans, in fact pretty much all dried goods, for which demand had been very high at the start of lock-down. So they were filled with an odd combination of bits and pieces to give them a bit of bulk and weight. They used up more scraps of cotton and polycotton, each side of each bean bag being a 5" square. 

Appliqué ID for boot bags

I do keep a few very small scraps (fewer now!) of fabrics I like, that I can use to make appliqués. We had new boot bags which were identical, and rather than have to open them each time to find our own, I thought I would make an ID for each with our initials. Appliqués can be made using some quite tiny bits of fabric.

Trainer pants

Another good way of using up some scraps of knit fabric, together with some scraps of fleece. With a period of enforced social isolation, it was proving a hassle to get nappies for Youngest Granddaughter, Ada, so the decision had been made pretty much to speed up her training in using what the rest of us use. But living in a flat with no garden, there was potential for the occasional accident. Hence a need for more trainer pants - three of the pairs I made are here.

Birthday Crown

Some scraps of satin, and lining fabric, made this little crown for my grand-daughter's third birthday.

Face masks

I'm still trying to perfect face masks. Up till now, we'd been told not to bother, largely to protect supplies to key workers, we think. But it looks increasingly that we will later be told we need to wear them, as one of the features of coming out of lock-down. With a world-wide shortage, and the Third World undoubtedly having the greatest future need, home made masks seem an obvious solution. So I'd like to be prepared, by having a trial run. I've made about 7 different styles, most of which only need scraps of about 8" x 8". I've now gone through the scrap box more carefully, and picked out fabrics that could have at least an 8" square cut from them, putting these in their own labelled bag. The body of the masks are mostly cotton, or cotton and flannel, some with a layer of sew-in interfacing, but some scraps of knit fabric may prove useful to make ties, as the shortage of elastic increases. The link to my mask patterns review is here, but I've also written another post with my reflections on the main things to look for in a mask pattern.

The result is my fabric stash boxes are now much tidier, and it has to be said, much reduced, too! What remains is now in separate bags: one that has pieces large enough to make masks, one with bits of knit fabric, one with pieces from which I could get smaller squares (6" or 4") for quilt making, one with bits of silk and lining fabric, and so on. This will save me from having to rifle through the whole box looking for something that might be useful.

So now, with a tidier workroom,  I feel less guilt about returning to making clothes for the kids.