I’m back (as promised) with that mask making tutorial! This is a plan for a double layer mask that fits extremely well. I’ll have some pics of myself wearing it soon. ^.^
And now… let’s just jump into it!
Materials
To make this mask, you’ll need the following:
- A pretty outer fabric, 100% cotton
- A soft inner fabric, 100% cotton or silk (I’m using cotton gauze, which is nice and soft against the skin)
- 1/4” elastic – braided, NOT knit (knit elastic can be scratchy at the back of the ears)
And of course, a sewing machine and thread that matches your fabric.
Recommended Materials and Tools
These items aren’t absolutely necessary, but I recommend having them:
- A rotary cutter and a rotary cutting mat
- Cardstock (to print the pattern)
- A 1/16″ scrapbooking hole punch
- Plastic twist ties (the easiest way to do the nose wires!)
- Antibacterial wipes (to make a removable/interchangeable filter.)
Step 1: Prepare patterns
Here are the links to both patterns, or you can view and print the images in this post.
Cut out both patterns. Take your hole punch, and punch the outer pattern. If you don’t have a hole punch, you can use sharp scissors, and twist to make a hole. For the two spots marked by the nose, poke holes, then cut with scissors so that you have two slits to mark.
Step 2: Cut out
Cut out your inner fabric. Cut out your outer fabric pattern from your pretty fabric, and mark the dots, and the lines at the top. You can use a fabric chalk pen, or even a washable marker will work for this step.
Cut out two strips of elastic, as follows, depending on which size mask you wish to make:
- 7″ – XS
- 7.5″ – S
- 8″ – M
- 8.5″ – L
- 9″ – XL
I find that most women wear S or M, and men wear M-XL.
Step 3: Sew nose area
Take your outer fabric, fold in half, and sew the nose seam. You’ll be sewing from marked line to marked dot in this step. This helps get the nose portion at a more exact angle.
Take your inner fabric, and fold along the top at 1/8″, twice. Pin, and sew.
Open up the nose seam, and press it flat.
Step 4: Chin Darts.
Lay your fabric pieces on top of eachother, right sides out, like so:
Fold the inner fabric so that the first chin dart touches itself, and you can just see the dot you made on the outer fabric. Fold the outer fabric along the same line in the opposite direction, and pin.
Repeat this step on the opposite side.
Sew both of these seams – lining up at the 3/8” point on your sewing machine. I did smaller selvage than the standard 5/8”, to keep the finished mask from being too bulky. When you’re done, fold the fabric back out again, and topstitch them, like this:
Step 5: Cheek Darts
Repeat Step 4, but with the cheek darts this time, folding first the inner, then the outer fabrics down so that the darts touch, and pinning them, like so:
Sew them, and again topstitch them:
Step 6: Bottom Edge
Fold at 1/4 inch twice, and then pin the bottom edge of the mask. Pin the center first, and then the outer edges. (The resulting seam will be straighter that way.)
I don’t yet have pictures of this step. I found out that my husband had to wear a mask to his job before I was finished with my first batch of masks, so I had to hurry thru this step and forgot to take photos! I will do so next time I make them. 🙂
Step 7: Top Edge
The top edge is done just like the bottom, but it’s a bit trickier. You’ll need to center the twist tie over the nose seam, and pin it in place, starting at the center. Then when you sew, you’ll need to really muscle it into place to prevent it from sliding out from under the foot while you sew. If you have a spring action guide foot for your sewing machine (it’s a foot that’s designed to sew things that are really thick on one side, and really thin on the other side) this will make it easy, but that’s kind of a specialty item! You can do this step with a regular foot by going really slowly and carefully.
(Again, no pictures. I will fix this soon!)
When you have both top and bottom complete, your finished mask will look like this:
There’s a gap between the outer and inner fabric at the nose. This is to create a pocket where you can add a filter. To create your own antibacterial filters – get a pack of skin safe antibacterial wipes. Dry them out, cut them to 4″ x 3.5″ and insert them in the pocket. The wipe will peek out just a tad over your inner fabric, which makes it easier to exchange.
Step 8: Elastic
Next step is to attach the elastic. To do this, pin it 1/4” from the edge like so:
If you have a serger, the next step is super easy! Serge both sides, attaching the elastic, and finishing the edge. Fold your serged seam in, tucking the string ends, and pin like this:
Then sew it down:
Or without a serger, you’ll pin the elastic exactly as shown above, but instead of serging, the next step is to first sew, then zigzag stitch the elastic, as shown in this sketch:
Fold the edges down twice at 1/4”, and pin, and sew.
And your mask is complete!
Aaaand finally, great news for those who aren’t interested in sewing any masks – I’m offering these for sale:
They’re very limited, since I can only make a few of them here and there when time allows. I try to make a few each weekend – so if you click the link but it’s sold out, I’ll be restocking soon.
