When the Stay-At-Home order began in Wisconsin due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Health Care industry announced a PPE shortage to deal with the pandemic, and all the disposable face masks were sold out for a while everywhere.
Community in Action
The past two months have affected a lot of people due to the loss of income and jobs. I was one of them, while I did not lose my job, my hours were reduced to 50% along with my salary. Many people had extra time and the need to stay busy and find a new purpose for fighting anxiety. Local sewing circles started to form, and members of the community volunteered their skills and materials to provide face masks for hospitals, organizations, and neighborhoods.
Why Homemade Face Masks
The CDC recommends using cloth face masks or coverings because it can help slow the spread of COVID-19 when used in public places. While homemade face masks are not as effective as the N95 filtration mask, they are considered an emergency backup in times of crisis.
Another reason to use a reusable cloth face mask is to reduce the amount of waste created by the disposable face masks.
Creating for a Cause
I found the group Creating for A Cause through Facebook; it is a local organization that gathered a group of artists and volunteers to help with this project. We have made together over 2,000 masks! Our group has donated to these organizations:
• One City Neighborhood
• Jewish Social Services
• Marc Inc
• First Nation Reservation in Utah
• Salvation Army
• Middleton Senior Center
• MOM Food Pantry
My contribution has been over 500 donated face masks! I shipped 200 face masks to my hometown in Mexico.
500 Face Masks Donated.
You can help to make face masks, too; this is a great activity that can help you channel your creativity while helping your community. And your whole family can participate in this project!
How to Start:
Search for a local Facebook Face Mask sewing group, and some will provide you fabric, elastic, or other materials. Each group has its own pre-approved face mask pattern that you can use. If you are in Wisconsin, you can join the Wisconsin Face Mask Warriors.
There are many free patterns available online, as well as video tutorials.
The patterns I used with my group were a basic face mask with elastic, and a fitted face mask with elastic. You can also modify the elastic and add ties, some organizations that work with kids prefer face masks with ties because you can adjust it better.
A Classic Face Mask Pattern
This pattern is the one I used the most because it was really easy and quick to make.
Materials:
- Sewing machine
- 100% Cotton Fabric, two different colors
- Thread
- Elastic
- Fabric Cutter and Scissors
- Measuring tape
Instructions:
1. Wash and press your fabric before cutting it.
2. You need two different fabrics to make one face mask; if the face mask is double-sided, it can help the user remember which side they had facing their mouth.
3. Cut two pieces of elastic of 6.5” each per face mask. This is a great job for kids to do!
4. Once you have all the pieces, pin the front and back pieces in-side-out, making sure the pieces of elastic are also pinned in each corner.
5. Sew a ¼” seam allowance around the rectangle, leaving about a 2” opening to turn the face mask right-side-out.
6. Make the three pleas on both sides of the mask and sew along the edge.
TIPS: If you are planning to make a lot of face masks, be sure to have extra sewing machine needles, I broke three! Also, clean up the bobbin area frequently since a lot of lint and debris can build around the feed dog area and jam the mechanism.
You can get as creative as you want when designing your face masks, check out some examples of fun designs other artists have created. For example, this is my good friend and fellow artist, Gabriel Ancira’s beautiful design, he is a very talented costume designer and a very skilled jewelry maker.
Have you done a DIY face mask? Please share the link of your favorite pattern or design in the comments!
If you are interested in collaborating sewing face masks to donate, please leave a comment so we can connect.
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