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So I’ve been watching the various controversies over people making homemade facemasks go by and such, and I’ve also seen enough stories that actually, yes, it would be wise for the average person to just– wear facemasks when they go anywhere, so I decided I should start making as many masks as I can. I don’t think my work will be good enough to donate to any institutions, though if I master the craft of it I’ll certainly look into it– but I’m also thinking about the long-term here.
It’s going well, I’m using this Instructable, I have great materials– I’ve gone with a three-layer mask, with linen on the interior for its superior moisture resistance, a bamboo-cotton blend muslin I bought forever ago in the middle that’s very tightly woven and also antimicrobial, and then a decorative quilting cotton on the exterior largely to make it really really obvious which is the clean side and which the dirty side of the mask– but my holdup is elastic.
I own at least one skein of 1/4″ elastic, I know I do. I bought it relatively recently and used some of it for a project involving signs for the farmer’s market. I know what it looks like, and I don’t know where I put it. i’ve gone through all of my supplies. I don’t know where it is. It’s probably at my sister’s house.
I could make ties instead, but that’s rather labor-intensive and i also know that I will not wear a mask i have to tie as much as I would one I could just put on. I also know I’d rather have the elastic go around my head, as the ear loops tend not to hold up because my glasses push them off.
Today’s experiment is going to involve repurposing hairties. I think I can get a standard elastic hair tie to go around my ears. Alas, not the back of my head. i’d use twill tape but all my twill tape is 1/2″, which is far too large. Another option is to make bias binding out of t-shirts, which is stretchy– I bet I could get that to work. Anyway, I’m not going to buy more elastic, because I think there’s already shortages.
So– once I figure it out, I’ll definitely post about how I did it. Hair ties or old t-shirts is definitely the way I’m going, though.
(Ah, here’s a post about using bindings on a knit garment (the binding part is like halfway down the page, they’re talking about neck openings but whatever)– it seems you don’t have to cut jersey on the bias for this so maybe I’ll try that. I have so many partial t-shirts I’ve cut up for other things, this would be a perfect way to use that, but would it be stretchy enough to put a mask on? I’m thinking of binding the entire exterior edge of the mask and then continuing the binding to act as the elastic, so– this is a heck of an experiment and will probably turn out janky but usable, is my hope, and if I need three masks per person in my household, there’ll be a lot of opportunity to use a slightly-janky mask, don’t you think?)
So I’ve been watching the various controversies over people making homemade facemasks go by and such, and I’ve also seen enough stories that actually, yes, it would be wise for the average person to just– wear facemasks when they go anywhere, so I decided I should start making as many masks as I can. I don’t think my work will be good enough to donate to any institutions, though if I master the craft of it I’ll certainly look into it– but I’m also thinking about the long-term here.
It’s going well, I’m using this Instructable, I have great materials– I’ve gone with a three-layer mask, with linen on the interior for its superior moisture resistance, a bamboo-cotton blend muslin I bought forever ago in the middle that’s very tightly woven and also antimicrobial, and then a decorative quilting cotton on the exterior largely to make it really really obvious which is the clean side and which the dirty side of the mask– but my holdup is elastic.
I own at least one skein of 1/4″ elastic, I know I do. I bought it relatively recently and used some of it for a project involving signs for the farmer’s market. I know what it looks like, and I don’t know where I put it. i’ve gone through all of my supplies. I don’t know where it is. It’s probably at my sister’s house.
I could make ties instead, but that’s rather labor-intensive and i also know that I will not wear a mask i have to tie as much as I would one I could just put on. I also know I’d rather have the elastic go around my head, as the ear loops tend not to hold up because my glasses push them off.
Today’s experiment is going to involve repurposing hairties. I think I can get a standard elastic hair tie to go around my ears. Alas, not the back of my head. i’d use twill tape but all my twill tape is 1/2″, which is far too large. Another option is to make bias binding out of t-shirts, which is stretchy– I bet I could get that to work. Anyway, I’m not going to buy more elastic, because I think there’s already shortages.
So– once I figure it out, I’ll definitely post about how I did it. Hair ties or old t-shirts is definitely the way I’m going, though.
(Ah, here’s a post about using bindings on a knit garment (the binding part is like halfway down the page, they’re talking about neck openings but whatever)– it seems you don’t have to cut jersey on the bias for this so maybe I’ll try that. I have so many partial t-shirts I’ve cut up for other things, this would be a perfect way to use that, but would it be stretchy enough to put a mask on? I’m thinking of binding the entire exterior edge of the mask and then continuing the binding to act as the elastic, so– this is a heck of an experiment and will probably turn out janky but usable, is my hope, and if I need three masks per person in my household, there’ll be a lot of opportunity to use a slightly-janky mask, don’t you think?)
