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Post by prettyprettypaper on Apr 3, 2020 2:02:19 GMT
There is a wonderful group on FB with tons of info for those sewing masks. Please check it out! Million Mask Challenge
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Deleted
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May 17, 2024 21:10:52 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2020 2:12:47 GMT
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Post by Patter on Apr 3, 2020 10:20:07 GMT
I have heard that these masks don't actually keep the virus out, as much as stop you from touching your face and transferring the virus, and if you are a carrier, but asymptomatic, prevent you from releasing the virus. There are so many different stories and no actual proof (studies) of the effectiveness of the masks. If you are sewing for medical personnel it is more to protect/preserve their PPE equipment. If you are sewing to protect yourself, you may want to try different sandwiches to determine your comfort level. The link Patter posted looks promising. I think so too. We are staying in as much as possible. We got groceries last Friday (pick up), and we won't get them again until we absolutely need them. BUT when I do go to pick them up, I will wear a mask. I figure I would rather wear one I made and find I didn't need it then not wear one and need it. Make sense? My theory--can't hurt!
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GiantsFan
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,294
Site Supporter
Jun 27, 2014 14:44:56 GMT
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Post by GiantsFan on Apr 3, 2020 14:34:17 GMT
Thanks for the link . I plan on making masks this weekend for DH and I. (and the rest of my family in case they ever decide to take this seriously!)
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schizo319
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,030
Jun 28, 2014 0:26:58 GMT
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Post by schizo319 on Apr 3, 2020 15:05:49 GMT
I did a simple rectangular mask (doubled and pleated with an opening for additional filtration material). I happened to have some ribbon to use as ties, so I used that because I had seen where someone said that the sanitation process is hard on elastic. I did not use wire/pipecleaners because I was also afraid of rust, although I think the pattern could be modified to leave a "pocket" to add/remove the pipe cleaners.
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Post by malibou on Apr 3, 2020 15:07:35 GMT
Are they breathable? You don’t want anything that is waterproof because it won’t breath. Yes, I've been holding it over both my nose and mouth and I can breathe just fine, and that's using it as it comes out of the package, so the 'fabric' is actually 2 layers. Does anyone know how tight the weave must be in order to keep the virus out? Patter posted this above. It says a thread count of at least 180. Fabric testing
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Post by lisacharlotte on Apr 3, 2020 15:37:41 GMT
I've been reading about the best materials, etc. I think for someone who cannot get special material, pillowcases are a good fabric option, double layer, and you can use a folded Kleenex as a filter.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 17, 2024 21:10:52 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2020 15:56:09 GMT
I did a simple rectangular mask (doubled and pleated with an opening for additional filtration material). I happened to have some ribbon to use as ties, so I used that because I had seen where someone said that the sanitation process is hard on elastic. I did not use wire/pipecleaners because I was also afraid of rust, although I think the pattern could be modified to leave a "pocket" to add/remove the pipe cleaners. I saw where some just sewed three side of a piece of twill tape to make a pocket for the pipe cleaner/wire. ETA: Updated 1st post with answers to various questions.
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Post by papercrafteradvocate on Apr 3, 2020 18:13:42 GMT
elaine , the instructions and pattern are in the link below the video.
This is the pattern that the nurses and doctors here liked the best. I made prototypes and sent them, they gave me feedback, I tweaked it some and I’m sticking with it.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 17, 2024 21:10:52 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2020 18:39:10 GMT
elaine , the instructions and pattern are in the link below the video.
This is the pattern that the nurses and doctors here liked the best. I made prototypes and sent them, they gave me feedback, I tweaked it some and I’m sticking with it. Please share what tweaks you made. 🙂
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Post by scrapcat on Apr 4, 2020 12:27:01 GMT
Does anyone have an opinion or info if stabilizer in the mask helps keep its shape? Also is it porous enough for air flow? Or I wonder if it would act as a filter. Would a coffee filter work too as a filter? So many questions from this novice seamstress.
I also found I had some diaper cloth cotton, not sure if this would be good as I guess it’s “absorbent”?
I am just making this for grocery store runs, not medical purposes.
I am torn between the ties and elastic hair bands... maybe I will just try both?!?
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 17, 2024 21:10:52 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2020 1:13:03 GMT
Does anyone have an opinion or info if stabilizer in the mask helps keep its shape? Also is it porous enough for air flow? Or I wonder if it would act as a filter. Would a coffee filter work too as a filter? So many questions from this novice seamstress. I also found I had some diaper cloth cotton, not sure if this would be good as I guess it’s “absorbent”? I am just making this for grocery store runs, not medical purposes. I am torn between the ties and elastic hair bands... maybe I will just try both?!?
Bumping for you to see if someone can answer.
After realizing that the fabric I have wasn't 100% cotton, I had to go back to the drawing board. Ordered fabric from Joann's only to wait 2 days to have them cancel so I'm back to square one and will try another order today. Is there another site that pea are successfully receiving their orders from in a reasonable amount of time?
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Post by papercrafteradvocate on Apr 5, 2020 1:43:56 GMT
I’m frustrated that I listened to JoAnns and other chatter about the mask fabric.
I had gone on a Saturday and hubby and I bought 150+ yards of fabric to make masks, with flannel backing.
Then after cutting it, JoAnn employee tells me “they” don’t want flannel. I bought it anyway since it was cut.
Sunday, 2 others & message board had said no flannel, so I worried all night, called sister, she said she wasn’t using flannel either.
So Monday, I went back to JoAnns to purchase upwards of 75 yards of 💯 cotton fabric for backing to replace the flannel.
And now flannel is the preferred choice, even if it’s warm.
So, now I have 75 yards of solid 100% cottons. I cut the flannel for my backing.
I’ll probably get more flannel and make plain ones with all the extra cotton.
But geez!!!!!
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 17, 2024 21:10:52 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2020 1:56:03 GMT
papercrafteradvocate, we can't even go into the store. They only offer curbside pickup here and it's a 2-3 day waiting game to see if they'll actually be able to fulfill your order.
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Post by papercrafteradvocate on Apr 5, 2020 2:07:42 GMT
papercrafteradvocate, we can't even go into the store. They only offer curbside pickup here and it's a 2-3 day waiting game to see if they'll actually be able to fulfill your order. That sucks!! I live 30 minutes from the Joanns HQ and they are open. I’ve tried to order for curb pick up, and the system just crashes. I’d prefer to just pick up!
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Post by scrapcat on Apr 5, 2020 2:19:43 GMT
Does anyone have an opinion or info if stabilizer in the mask helps keep its shape? Also is it porous enough for air flow? Or I wonder if it would act as a filter. Would a coffee filter work too as a filter? So many questions from this novice seamstress. I also found I had some diaper cloth cotton, not sure if this would be good as I guess it’s “absorbent”? I am just making this for grocery store runs, not medical purposes. I am torn between the ties and elastic hair bands... maybe I will just try both?!?
Bumping for you to see if someone can answer.
Thank you. I ended up making 2 masks, the Antwerp pattern & the pocket one. I only tried the pocket bcz I thought it may be easier to slip on with elastic. The instructions were a bit confusing, and I ended up with double layers on pieces, so it’s like 4 pieces thick. I can still breathe so that’s fine. The Antwerp pattern was quick and easy, although the straps need to be a tad longer.
I am making another one for my SO combining the two, using the face piece from the pocket pattern, but just layering two pieces with ties like the Antwerp pattern.
I am just using cotton I had, quilters cotton. This isn’t medical use, just doing errands & following the new suggested guidelines.
The Antwerp pattern is a little loose between my nose and cheek, so I may consider folding a piece of floral wire in there when I go out to pinch it a bit.
I know it’s not full proof, but it makes me feel better!
And I did this all on my little Janome machine that I normally use for paper and little crafts. I’m going to try to continue making them with what I have on hand if anyone in my family wants one & to have spares.
Thank you for the links!
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Post by crazy4scraps on Apr 5, 2020 5:34:54 GMT
Does anyone have an opinion or info if stabilizer in the mask helps keep its shape? Also is it porous enough for air flow? Or I wonder if it would act as a filter. Would a coffee filter work too as a filter? So many questions from this novice seamstress. I also found I had some diaper cloth cotton, not sure if this would be good as I guess it’s “absorbent”? I am just making this for grocery store runs, not medical purposes. I am torn between the ties and elastic hair bands... maybe I will just try both?!? I’ve been making the AB masks that are two layers of cotton fabric with no stabilizer because the instructions don’t call for it. As it is, the places where the pleats are sewn in on the sides are already pretty thick especially once you sew on the binding. These masks don’t have the pocket for a filter. There was a good article I linked yesterday on one of the threads about someone testing the filtering properties of various things and one thing that did work reasonably well was a couple layers of the Toolbox brand of blue shop towels (the Scott brand didn’t work well at all, FYI) that are sold at Home Depot among other places. If you are making a style with a pocket, that might be an option to look for. This material isn’t built for repeated washing though, so it wouldn’t be something I would permanently sew in place. I’ll also add that I spent several hours cutting and prepping fabric to make some masks for my family members now that our governor has recommended that everyone wear a mask when people go out in public. I tweaked the AB instructions a bit by ironing all of my binding strips for the ties into bias type material thinking it would help to speed the sewing of the binding and ties, and it really did help quite a bit. I also made all of my binding strips 2” wide instead of 1.5” wide (so the finished tie is 1/2” wide vs. 3/8”, and that tiny bit of extra width made them SO much easier to sew and sew on to get a nice, clean flat binding on the edges of the mask. I was using yardage so I didn’t have to piece together all those short strips, ain’t nobody got time for that. But, OMG, it was quite the onerous task ironing all the strips in half and then in half again first. I still recommend doing it, but if I end up making more masks than what I have cut out at the moment, I’m going to invest in one of the bias binding tool things that you just feed the strips through to prefold it into the right shape as you iron. I probably spent more than an hour doing just that to iron the strip materials for ten masks. And finally, as for elastic vs. ties, people who are wearing the masks regularly are noting that the elastic hurts their ears over time, so that was why I went with a pattern for masks with ties instead of elastic. The ties will hold up better over time to repeated washing. Also, it turns out I have way more fabric in my stash than elastic anyway, so ties it is for me.
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muggins
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,861
Jul 30, 2017 3:38:57 GMT
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Post by muggins on Apr 5, 2020 5:59:22 GMT
I made 20 pleated masks a few weeks ago to donate to our local hospital. I didn’t think the fit was very good so I’m using this pattern fir fitted masks. www.craftpassion.com/face-mask-sewing-pattern/There are 4 sizes age 3-6, age 7-12, teen/women and men. I’m using a ton of batik fabric I bought in Bali a few years ago. I’m making them like an assembly line and it’s very easy. I’ve now run out of thin elastic, but I have some twill tape and can make bias tape. What’s nice about this pattern is that there is a channel on each side to thread the elastic or tape so it’s not sewn in. So you can change to ear loops or head ties very easily. You can also remove them for washing. I gave some masks to my friend today with ear loops attached, but gave her a few yards of twill tape in case she found head ties more comfortable: I’m making a lot of these for our local grocery store workers. I’ll just give them the masks and they can make their own ties out of strips of t shirt fabric, elastic, etc. Whatever works for them. Top tip - I saw someone had cut up thin strips of stretchy ace bandage from the dollar store to use as elastic!
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muggins
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,861
Jul 30, 2017 3:38:57 GMT
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Post by muggins on Apr 5, 2020 6:12:56 GMT
Does anyone have an opinion or info if stabilizer in the mask helps keep its shape? Also is it porous enough for air flow? Or I wonder if it would act as a filter. Would a coffee filter work too as a filter? So many questions from this novice seamstress. I also found I had some diaper cloth cotton, not sure if this would be good as I guess it’s “absorbent”? I am just making this for grocery store runs, not medical purposes. I am torn between the ties and elastic hair bands... maybe I will just try both?!?
Bumping for you to see if someone can answer.
After realizing that the fabric I have wasn't 100% cotton, I had to go back to the drawing board. Ordered fabric from Joann's only to wait 2 days to have them cancel so I'm back to square one and will try another order today. Is there another site that pea are successfully receiving their orders from in a reasonable amount of time? I just placed an order at Joanns today. What a pita. I have two stores near me and most of what a wanted wasn’t available at my closest store, so I switched to the other store where it was all available. Then when I checked out it said most of it wasn’t available at that store so I had to go through each item again and switch it to that store. The only item that want available at either store was a spool of white thread! Hmmm, I don’t think so. I’m hoping they don’t cancel my order.
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Post by moretimeplease on Apr 5, 2020 6:13:10 GMT
Does anyone worry about the needle holes created by the center seam in the shaped masks?
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 17, 2024 21:10:52 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2020 15:45:42 GMT
I just placed an order at Joanns today. What a pita. I have two stores near me and most of what a wanted wasn’t available at my closest store, so I switched to the other store where it was all available. Then when I checked out it said most of it wasn’t available at that store so I had to go through each item again and switch it to that store. The only item that want available at either store was a spool of white thread! Hmmm, I don’t think so. I’m hoping they don’t cancel my order. I placed four more orders last night. It took forever just searching for items that are supposedly available at my location. If they get cancelled, I’ll give up as it’s not worth trying a third time.
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Post by dualmaestra on Apr 5, 2020 20:53:00 GMT
Besides Joann's any other locations to buy fabric? I cannot put fabric in my cart online. I've been calling the store all morning and it's busy. I have no fabric
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Post by flanz on Apr 5, 2020 20:55:18 GMT
Thanks for your fab update in OP!
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Post by flanz on Apr 5, 2020 20:58:12 GMT
Does anyone have an opinion or info if stabilizer in the mask helps keep its shape? Also is it porous enough for air flow? Or I wonder if it would act as a filter. Would a coffee filter work too as a filter? So many questions from this novice seamstress. I also found I had some diaper cloth cotton, not sure if this would be good as I guess it’s “absorbent”? I am just making this for grocery store runs, not medical purposes. I am torn between the ties and elastic hair bands... maybe I will just try both?!? I’ve been making the AB masks that are two layers of cotton fabric with no stabilizer because the instructions don’t call for it. As it is, the places where the pleats are sewn in on the sides are already pretty thick especially once you sew on the binding. These masks don’t have the pocket for a filter. There was a good article I linked yesterday on one of the threads about someone testing the filtering properties of various things and one thing that did work reasonably well was a couple layers of the Toolbox brand of blue shop towels (the Scott brand didn’t work well at all, FYI) that are sold at Home Depot among other places. If you are making a style with a pocket, that might be an option to look for. This material isn’t built for repeated washing though, so it wouldn’t be something I would permanently sew in place. I’ll also add that I spent several hours cutting and prepping fabric to make some masks for my family members now that our governor has recommended that everyone wear a mask when people go out in public. I tweaked the AB instructions a bit by ironing all of my binding strips for the ties into bias type material thinking it would help to speed the sewing of the binding and ties, and it really did help quite a bit. I also made all of my binding strips 2” wide instead of 1.5” wide (so the finished tie is 1/2” wide vs. 3/8”, and that tiny bit of extra width made them SO much easier to sew and sew on to get a nice, clean flat binding on the edges of the mask. I was using yardage so I didn’t have to piece together all those short strips, ain’t nobody got time for that. But, OMG, it was quite the onerous task ironing all the strips in half and then in half again first. I still recommend doing it, but if I end up making more masks than what I have cut out at the moment, I’m going to invest in one of the bias binding tool things that you just feed the strips through to prefold it into the right shape as you iron. I probably spent more than an hour doing just that to iron the strip materials for ten masks.And finally, as for elastic vs. ties, people who are wearing the masks regularly are noting that the elastic hurts their ears over time, so that was why I went with a pattern for masks with ties instead of elastic. The ties will hold up better over time to repeated washing. Also, it turns out I have way more fabric in my stash than elastic anyway, so ties it is for me. My preference for binding was to buy from an Etsy seller. She sells 50 yard spools. I've gone through first 7 spools and ordered 9 more. I'm cutting rectangles and supplying cut binding for masks and they are mostly being sewn by others. Etsy seller is something like Queen of Binding. Two thumbs up here. I ordered on a Friday and had it on Monday.
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Post by scrappinfuzzylover on Apr 5, 2020 21:51:27 GMT
Anyone making masks and selling them on Etsy? I am an essential worker (work in veterinary medicine) so I need them to wear them at work. Thanks!
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Post by flanz on Apr 6, 2020 0:26:13 GMT
Does anyone worry about the needle holes created by the center seam in the shaped masks? Yes, I'd def like to hear more about this aspect...
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seaexplore
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,423
Apr 25, 2015 23:57:30 GMT
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Post by seaexplore on Apr 6, 2020 0:30:46 GMT
Anyone making masks and selling them on Etsy? I am an essential worker (work in veterinary medicine) so I need them to wear them at work. Thanks! I don’t sell on etsy but I’m making/selling. Right now I’m 6 masks from being caught up on orders. I’m the slowest crafter EVER! 🤣
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Post by flanz on Apr 6, 2020 0:58:46 GMT
One other question. I'm planning to order more fabric. Short of going to the store and feeling each fabric, does most 100% cotton fabric work? Yes, however batiks or Kona is best because they’re tightly woven. That said, batiks and Kona have the same color on both sides, so if you go with those, I’d recommend a white fabric as a interior liner. 100%
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Post by scrappinfuzzylover on Apr 6, 2020 1:07:05 GMT
Anyone making masks and selling them on Etsy? I am an essential worker (work in veterinary medicine) so I need them to wear them at work. Thanks! I don’t sell on etsy but I’m making/selling. Right now I’m 6 masks from being caught up on orders. I’m the slowest crafter EVER! 🤣 How much? What type of masks? Elastic or tie? Thanks!
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Post by elaine on Apr 6, 2020 1:50:34 GMT
Besides Joann's any other locations to buy fabric? I cannot put fabric in my cart online. I've been calling the store all morning and it's busy. I have no fabric I’ve been buying cotton fabric for masks from this seller - YourFleece - on Amazon and the fabric always arrives within 5 days. I’ve been very happy with them and have placed 3 different orders. www.amazon.com/s?me=A3S7XL46N1VO7I&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DERBe sure to search in the storefront for cotton fabric as they also sell fleece - which you don’t want. They have a lot of fun patterns.
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