As the Coronavirus pandemic hits Los Angeles we need to wear face mask or cloth on our faces. But we’re not allowed to use the ready-made face masks for the medical professional which is fair. How can you make a face mask without a sewing machine?
If you have tape, a stapler, safety pins and can get to a dollar store you should be able to do make a weeks worth of face masks quickly and easily.
Now, we are being told that we could wear a scarf
around her face or some kind of cloth. My first thought is I wanted something very stylish and I had some beautiful silk. I used ruching, folding and with fine hand sewing and elastic which looks lovely but was not fast or easy. I will have to hand washed too!
Yesterday, I went out looking for materials to make a mask The first thing became apparent it’s hard to find elastic because sewing stores are not open. I was however able to find very soft, stretchy open weave elastic headbands three for a dollar. As far as fabric goes I wanted something that was stretchy. Most advice says that a non-woven fabric is good for water and particle collection. The problem with woven fabric is that ravels and has to be sewn. Non woven fabric has stretch to it.
I found electrostatic dry floor wipes with electrostatic charges used for picking up dust off the floor. My belief is that the electric static material will also hold water droplets and bits of dust. .
The nice thing about the electrostatic dry floor sheets is that they are just about the right size to make a mask.
For the first versions I realized that they are using staples on my N95 mask which I bought over a year ago when OSH went out of business and is now too dirty to use. I was able to find my stapler, thin masking tape and I also had double stick tape.
For those who are not crafty, I wanted to develop a process that would take not very long.
Staples, Tape and Stretch Face Mask (Time to make approximately 5 minutes)
1. The first step in making the mask is to take one sheet and put folded or thin double stick tape on the top and the bottom. What the tape does is it makes it like a seam it gives it a little more strength to stand up.
2 . Put another sheet on top of the bottom sheet and it will stick to the tape.
3. Then you fold the first fold about 3/4 of an inch and staple it. The next fold and the next gold and staple it for total of four folds. Most of it face masks have folds folds in them. If you can only do three, that’s probably okay.
4..Then staple one stretchy headband onto the mask on each side, and apply masking tape to the back of the staples to protect the face.
To wear this version of he easy-staple face mask, open up the headband and put the headband around your ears. The masking tape is against the face. If you prefer you can use sterile bandage tape (if you have it available.)
How to Make a Totally Sewing-Free Mask with Safety Pins (Time to Make 2 Minutes)
I was able to find a few large safety pins. I think you could also use diaper pins.
The same steps apply to prepare the electrostatic sheets.
1. Apply the double stick tape on the top and the bottom of the sheet.
2. Attach the second sheet.
3. Make four folds.
4. Instead of staples, take large safety pins, have the point go through the folds on each side with the hasp of the pin on the outside.
5.Then you can take the loose headband annd put it in the safety pin.
When you are done with the mask, you can remove the safety pin and the headband and reuse the headband to make more.
Quickie Face Mask with Almost no Sewing Time to Make 1.5 Minutes (Depending on Skill Level)
If you have a large needle and yarn I have a almost no-sew version. .
The same steps apply to prepare the electrostatic sheets.
1. Apply the double stick tape on the top and the bottom of the sheet.
2. Attach the second sheet.
3. Make four folds.
4. Take a large needle threaded with yarn and sew the folds in place leaving three to four inches of yarn on each side to tie to make ear loops. If you prefer you can tie the yarn behind your head in that case leave at least ten inches on each end.
What I like about the yarn is it’s already got a bit of a stretch to it and it holds nice.
Make sure that you use fabric or wipes that do not have chemicals on them, read carefully the package.
I think that a long line of hot glue would work to give a texture to the top and bottom instead of the double-stick tape.
Also know that with this material once you want to glue it or tape it you can’t take it apart. I’m also thinking that these can be decorated.
Hopefully, there are other people on the planet who also have safety pins. Safety pins make it very easy to make things and to stay in place plus also you can remove the safety pins if you want.
Since I live alone and I know I am not sick, I plan to save the masks and see if I can use them later to dust the furniture. One of the early versions didn’t work out well, so I used it to dust the lamps.
If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments below.
Please stay safer and at home. Since COVID-19 is contagious when there are no symptoms covering faces is good precautionary measure.