This is the story of my life: I start a sewing project, plan for how long I believe it will take me, and it takes 3-5 times longer than I expect!
So although I promised via social media to post that mask making tutorial on Sunday, it’s now Monday, and I’m exactly this far on the first batch of masks:
They aren’t quite wearable yet! And since I’m taking pictures while I’m sewing them, that means the tutorial also isn’t quite ready yet.
But I thought I’d get started by posting the pattern and some basic instructions. Real tutorial coming next week!
I made this mask pattern myself. I didn’t intend to – I figured there would be a perfectly acceptable mask pattern online. I even downloaded a couple, and was like – no this isn’t going to fit, no that’s not gonna fit. LOL, who would’ve guessed, I’m too picky to use patterns made by other people. 😛
My pattern is completely unique in that the fit portion is done with darts. There are two darts for the chin, one dark for each cheek, and a dart over the nose. If you do a wire over the nose, there is literally zero gap anywhere with this mask, which is typically the biggest safety problem with homemade masks.
And I feel I should insert the obligatory disclaimer – this is not a medical mask, and it won’t protect from coronavirus like an N95 mask does. However, if you just want something to wear to the store, this style should work absolutely perfect for you.
To troubleshoot my pattern, I made a batch of 10 of them and had my husband hand them out at work and instructed him to have people try them on, then have every member of their family try them on. The pattern I’m sharing below will fit older teenager to adult. To adjust to fit larger or smaller within those ranges, you only need to lengthen/shorten the straps.
Here are the pattern pieces:
I included a box around the actual mask pattern so you can make sure your printer is printing the correct size! The box should be 8 x 10 inches.
If you’re an experienced seamstress, you might be able to make these just from this pattern. For everyone else, there will be a real tutorial coming this weekend!