My Favorite Mask Pattern So Far…

More and more people are making masks these days and there are so many patterns out there to choose from! 

When my cousin who works in Labor and Delivery in an area hospital asked me to make her some masks, I did a little research to find out what would work best for her.  I wanted something that gave a lot of coverage and would cover her N95 mask underneath, and something that would be easy and comfortable to wear, and use supplies I had on hand (because there is no elastic to be had anywhere!).  These masks fit the bill (or your face, rather).

You can download the free pattern on her website here.  She also has a video and instructions with pictures.  

I took pictures as I made a mask, and so I thought I would share a post with those pics and a few tips for assembling the mask!

Step 1: Download the pattern from jennifermaker.com

Step 2: Assemble your supplies

• good quality cotton fabric, or pillowcase material
• cotton t shirt fabric
• twill tape or ribbon for ties
• pipe cleaner
• fabric marker or Frixion pen

Step 3:  Prepare pattern and fabric

After cutting out the paper pattern pieces (I used the medium for an adult female, and she said it was a good fit and fit well over her N95 mask), it’s time to cut out your fabric. You will need two pieces of the outer fabric (the cotton fabric) and two pieces of the inner fabric (the cotton t shirt fabric). It’s not as important with the inner cotton t shirt material, but with the outer fabric, either fold your fabric in half and then trace your pattern, cutting out two mirror image pieces at the same time, or if you trace one at a time, make sure to flip your paper pattern upside down on the second one you trace so that you end up with two pieces that are mirror images.

Step 4: Sew the large curve on the inner fabric and on the outer fabric.

First, take the outer fabric pieces and place them right sides together. Do the same for the inner fabric cotton t shirt pieces.

Your seam allowance on this project is 3/8″ and since we are sewing on a curve, I recommend marking out your seam allowance with your seam gauge and connecting the dots so you have a nice line to sew on. Do this on both your outer fabric and your inner fabric pieces.

Pin along the edge you are going to sew, and sew right on your line. Note: on the cotton t shirt material, don’t start right at the top edge. Because it is a knit material, the machine may not want to move forward and may get stuck. Try starting maybe a centimeter in, then backstitching to the beginning to avoid that problem, then continuing on the line as normal.

Now you will have an outer mask and an inner mask. Press open the seams – it’s tricky because it is a curve, but just try your best!

Step 5: Attach ties to the inner fabric piece.

On the right side of the inner fabric (seam is facing the table), measure 3/8″ from each corner and make a mark.

From your twill tape or ribbon, cut 4 pieces that are 18 inches long.

(Side note: if you don’t have twill tape or ribbon, you can also make a tie out of a scrap of fabric – cut a strip that measures 1 1/2″ x 18″ and press it in half lengthwise so you have a crease running down the whole length. Open it up and then one side at a time, fold edges in to the center crease and press. Then fold that in half and press, and sew down the open side the whole length.)

Line the raw edges of the ribbon or twill tape with the edge of you fabric at the lines you marked with the ribbon going to the center of the mask.

Sew close to the edge forward and backward across each tie end to baste in place. When you are done on all four edges, it will look like this:

Step 6: Sew outer and inner fabrics together.

The trickiest part about this is making sure not to sew the ties into your seam. On the jennifermaker.com website, she suggests laying all four ties so that they hang out of one side. That is what I did, and it worked well.

Start by lining up the center seam and pin it. (Remember, we are putting right sides together here.) Work your way around the three sides lining up the edges and pinning it in place. Leave one of the short sides open (this is where all the ties should be hanging out of).

Next, on the wrong side of your outer fabric, using your seam gauge, mark out a 3/8″ seam allowance around three sides (you will be leaving one of the short sides open for now). Yes, you could do this before you pin it (and it would probably be easier!).

Sew all the way around the three sides on your lines.

Step 7: Clip your corners

Step 8: Flip right side out.

Step 9: Attach wire over nose.

We are going to be sewing a channel that we will later thread the pipe cleaner piece into. Adding this really helps this mask to have a more secure fit over the bridge of the nose.

First, cut a 5″ piece of pipe cleaner.

Fold the edges in so that there aren’t any sharp pointy edges poking out. Center it on the center seam of the mask. On the outer fabric side, make a mark on either side of the pipe cleaner so you know how long your channel will need to be. (Double check to make sure you are marking the top part of the mask and not the bottom part where your chin goes!)

Now measure and mark 1/2″ from the edge, making a line connecting your two end points.

This is going to be the line you will sew on to make the channel for the pipe cleaner piece.

Make sure your pieces are as flat as possible and the top seam is right on the edge and sew along your line.

Use a chopstick or a pencil between your two layers of fabric to open up the channel, especially right where that center seam is. You may have to work at it a little bit to find the opening but it is there!

Insert your pipe cleaner piece into the channel and center it between your two end marks.

Sew on the far end mark to close that end off.

Then sew the other end mark the same way to enclose the pipe cleaner in the channel.

Step 10: Sew the open end closed.

Fold the raw edges in and make sure your ties are lined up nicely. Pin in place. Sew close to the edge.

Step 11: Topstitch around the bottom edge and other side edge to help the mask keep its shape better.

Topstitching is simply sewing close to the edge – it looks really nice and it will help the mask to hold its shape, especially after washing. This just needs to be done along the long bottom edge and the other side edge.

And now you are done!!!