Sewing simple cotton masks

[horsewoman]

@CS maybe it depends on the head form, but I can tie the upper ribbon pretty high up the back of my head, without utilizing the ears at all.

The advantage of the pictured headband method with the button is that the hair is nearly put away. I often catch myself that I want to put flying hairs out of my face because they tickle.

OTOH the headband needs to sit pretty tightly on the head to hold the mask firmly. This would surely cause me a headache after a short while.

[jennypenny]

The woman in this how-to video uses a piece of a soda can for the nose clip.

[Sclass]

Oh yeah now that is brilliant. So many things around we can use. I’ve been saving up heavy disposable bread pans I get with poppyseed cake.

I got the Sellars brand ToolBox blue towels. Apparently these and the Zep are hard to find after being mentioned as good filters. They claimed Scott brand weren’t as good and those can be found easily. So many lessons about markets in this pandemic.

I’ve learned more about these mask materials. They all seem to be nonwoven polymer fiber mesh. There are a lot of things made this way, like cheap shopping bags. The problem is finding one that is actually tight enough to catch particles as they random walk through the pores. Apparently the blue towels do that well. The ones I bought ($2.40 a roll) don’t let much light through. Yet they are breathable.



I’m going to make some replaceable filters for my fabric masks using these. They’ll also work well as filters in the 3d printed masks.

[Alphaville]

re: blue towels the roll in my toolbox was thinner than expected so i’m cutting squares into 4 pieces each, which fit just right before the nose +mouth

[paretotime]

I made some masks to send to family in Asia a little more than a month ago (when there were still materials available locally, and people were still scoffing at using masks at all). After some experimentation I found diymask.site for a Hong Kong pattern. The site has now been overloaded or offline for a few weeks but it had a good tutorial I adapted. Very similar to the one Sclass and Horsewoman did - but it used a metal strip in their kit and had elastic ear holders as well as fabric tape straps, and a filter pocket. The site also showed how effective different filter materials would be.

I did not have the kit (and thus no metal strip), so I tried wire, cut aluminum from cans and a few different things. The winner was a folded piece from an aluminum can. Cut the piece 10 cm x 2.1 cm and fold twice to make a 3 ply thickness 'wire' that is 10 cm long and 0.7 cm wide and cut off the sharp corners. (I did use a piece from a used N95 mask on one, which was very effective but I almost broke my needle sewing the channel closed when I got a little too close.)

The pieces are cut the same as the ones Sclass used, but cut 4 (2 lining and 2 main fabric) and the lining is about 1 cm shorter. When you hem the top and bottom edges, you make the top hem of the main fabric wide enough to slide the metal in - then sew little lines on either side to keep it in place. Attach the elastics at the corners in between lining and main fabric (wrong sides together), and then turn right side out. Next step is insert 66-70 cm of either stitched bias tape or strings made of cut t shirt material (0.6 cm wide) into each side between the layers along the side seams that hold the front to the lining and sew a seam that makes a channel along each side for your long bias tape straps to be held in place but still be adjustable to tie behind your head and neck. Last step is to sew a little box at the bottom centre of the mask to secure the front and lining together so when a filter is inserted from the top it will stay in place.

[saving-10-years]

Thanks, the diymask.site appears to be working. Found I could only download JPEG versions of patterns (not PDF versions) but otherwise good.

[Sclass]

Who would have thought the pandemic would exhaust the world supply of 1/4” wide elastic band.

I’ve been tinkering with substitutes.

Strips of bike inner tube. Big O rings from oil filters. Rubber bands tied to nylon shoelace. Metal springs tied to nylon shoelace. Veggie bands tied to nylon shoelace. Strips of old dress socks.

I’m kicking myself for throwing out a pair of my wife’s stretchy jeans. I thought “this isn’t real denim, they’re denim colored yoga pants!” She dumps stuff regularly and I rescue but I passed on this stuff. Strips of stretchy denim would make awesome mask ties.

I also passed on her old bras. I could really use the elastic now.

I’ve run out of shock cords from old fleece jackets now. That was one of the better materials. Getting it on the roll is tough. I wonder if they sell it at the hardware store?

[ertyu]

Change from elastic that attaches to the ears to cloth straps that tie behind the head. long ago, jacob posted a mask pattern which showed how to make sure the ties stay secure. the lower ties go up and tie on top of the head, pulling the under-chin part of the mask close to the skin. the top ties tie at the back of the head, keeping the top of the mask close to the nose.

[Sclass]

This article was posted today in business insider. It compares some of the available mask materials. Kind of an eye opener.

https://www.businessinsider.com/the-mat ... ing-2020-4

I ordered some Filti from their website. It was a bit pricey but I figured if I was to work hard sewing masks I had better put some good filter material in it.

There is a 10% discount code: mppmask

http://www.filti.com

This brings up a funny point. I bought 50’ of elastic shock cord for $12. And I got enough Filti to make a few dozen masks for $40. Conventional N95 respirators were dirt cheap at Christmas and I feel guilty throwing money down for these things. Especially since I have a pile of 3M and North P100 half mask respirators in my shop. But then again, I’m at home all day for the last month spending very little money. I paid my credit card bill and was stunned to see the balance as 1/3 the monthly average over the last year. So I figure I can live a little and sew some more effective masks than my shopping bag fabric ones.

[jennypenny]

I ordered some Filti a bit ago but it hasn't come in yet. Now that it looks like DS will be wearing masks for a few months at least I'm willing to put some more money/effort into making his masks as good as I can get them. Luckily, he's used to wearing them.

I'm out of wire and substitutes. It's funny ... Michaels craft store has twist ties for $.99 a package but I don't want to go to the store and I don't want to pay shipping on a $.99 item.

Currently, I like the pleated pocket masks that have a single long tie that is a loop on one side of the mask and ties at the other. That way I can untie the part around my head but the loop at the other end keeps the mask hanging around my neck. I take it off when driving and it's easier to let it hang.

The elastic hurts some people's ears. I saw one woman make a fabric strip with buttons towards each end, and she used it at the back of her head and tucked the elastic around the buttons on the band instead of around the ears. I'm going to try that when I have time. It reminded me of my old orthodontic head gear.

I saw a recommendation to use double-sided tape to secure the mask to your face. That sounds irritating but I get why it's useful for securing the mask. I'm going to try the adhesive strips off of band aids and see if that feels significantly more secure.

I still haven't figured out a way to get DH's [duck dynasty style] beard completely into the mask. I'm working on modifying an Olson-style mask with longer wings and a pouch underneath to catch the beard. He needs it for work so it has to look marginally professional. I haven't been able to talk him into trimming it back.

blah, blah, blah ... you can tell what I've been working on this week


eta: My next project is figuring out how to sew lightweight gloves. We've been wearing our winter gloves but it will be too hot for that soon and I don't want to use up our rubber gloves.

[Sclass]

Wire substitutes I’ve found around my home:

Disposable bread pans
Soda cans
Big paper clips
The metal strip in a hanging file folder
Soup can lid cut in strips
Cheap hanger wire - must be really flimsy dry cleaner’s hanger
Residential electrical wire
Coffee bag tie
Steel strips in gutter from street sweeper
Stems from wife’s fake plants (ssshhhh!)

It’s everywhere we just have to get creative.

I have my filti order confirmation marked as received...I was wondering how long I’m going to wait. I’m still waiting for my shock cord from Shenzhen. I’m surprised how timely items from China have arrived.

As for the ear strap thing there are innovative people doing this. Basically the strap behind the head you mention.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4267359

[jennypenny]

The metal strip in a hanging file folder

Bingo!! I have tons of old empty file folders.

First I scrounged up every possible container in my house to do as many seedlings as possible. Then I started taking old clothes out of closets for masks. Now I'm going to take the metal strips out of all the old files. It's like playing Junkyard Wars in my own house.


I found tons of easy tutorials for gloves. Cosplay to the rescue.

[horsewoman]

I've tried the metal strips from folders, the rather sharp edges irritated my skin pretty fast.

[Sclass]

Yeah...I had trouble sewing the flat wires down where I wanted them to go. Somehow the flat rod wants to follow a contour of the mask that isn’t in the best position. I noticed some of the 3m n95 masks have a metal nose bridge shaped like an “M”. Or maybe it’s a “W”. Forming the metal in advance and then gluing it down with hot glue may solve this issue.

Round wire was easier to snake in and bend around my stitch lines. The flat one is somewhat constrained in the degrees of freedom that it can be bent. I’ll have to look at some of the conventional masks and see how they’re done.

Right now I’m collecting heavy paper clips from my old tax returns. They can be straightened out into a formidable wire.

[jennypenny]

I'm having trouble with those wires as well. I think I'm going to rework our masks to make a pocket for the wire instead of sewing it into place. That way I only need a handful of pipe cleaners. When I'm done, I might try hammering out those wires from the folders to see if I can make them easier to use.

[horsewoman]

https://m.facebook.com/groups/opensourc ... lsupplies/

Stumbled over this Facebook group with a lot of mask related posts. There seem to be lots of 3D printer user in the group!

[horsewoman]

And another link, apparently combining cotton with silk or chiffon is a good thing. And it might look really swanky, too! :)

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pres ... u8Ga-wBe48

[Laura Ingalls]

@sclass
Most bras become “old” precisely because the elastic isn’t elastic anymore. Probably not any loss.

My mom has sewed enough masks for the whole county (only a small exaggeration ).

I like the Olson mask with hair elastics as loops. The other style she has made doesn’t fit as well and I end up touching it to keep it on.

[Sclass]

Isn’t there some wire in the bottom rim of a bra?

I like the Olsen mask. Looks like a good pattern.

Just got my Filti. It is thinner than I thought but I guess it has been vetted by the BI piece. Looking forward to sewing a few masks. I’m going to use shopping bag polypropylene as the outer shell and sew the Filti in as the liner. I figure after a few days of use it can be disposed of. The pocket filter thing idea looks like an opportunity for leaks. I’ll just sew it in as an internal layer and dump the mask. For disinfection I’ve been just letting my fabric masks sit a week on the mantle. Sunshine treatment may be good too.

I 3d printed some exhaust valve filters for my 3m 6000 respirator. I felt guilty exhaling my breath out the big valve in the front. I was going to design a snap on filter for Filti cloth but there was already one for free download on thingiverse. This may come in handy if a respirator isn’t considered a viable face cover since it doesn’t protect others from your germs. I know, nobody even cares about these details. I do wonder about the people wearing N95 masks with the valves in front in the hospitals.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4311836

I was tempted to 3d print some snap in exhaust valves for the fabric masks. I wear glasses that fog up when I exhale. But the valves have that issue in that they don’t protect others even though they improve breathing.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4285895

Kind of an ethical dilemma. I want to make a good mask but half of the job is keeping my germs in my mask.

[jennypenny]

@sclass -- Have you used the filti yet? Do you think it could take an iron? I was going to sew it into the lining of the masks, but now I'm wondering if I should just cut it to size and put it into the filter pockets.

It's so expensive, I'm afraid to experiment on it.