Someday a couple of years from now, someone will open a cardboard box at the back of a hospital storage room and say, “Hey, what are we gonna do with all these masks that we don’t need?” Some of those masks will be mine.
All research indicates that a cotton mask doesn’t really protect much without a filter. It’s just one notch better than nothing. News varies about the filters that go into the masks. Some say to cut up furnace filters. Others say no, the furnace filters contain bits of glass – you don’t want to breathe that in. A few say to cut up vacuum cleaner filters. Coffee filters. Blue shop rags. All of the articles claim that their recommendations are based on reliable research.
I use fusible interfacing, which scored at least as well as coffee filters in one article and which, as it happens, I have. I also figured out how to build in a pocket so that whoever ends up using the mask can add their own filter.
Across the US women are making these masks – the media are doing stories about them. It’s like knitting socks for soldiers in WWI or sewing shirts for them in WWII. This time, we’re trying to help the medical teams. Elastic is hard to come by because all of us mask-makers have bought it out. I started making mine with ties.
I wish I could say my motives are entirely altruistic, but really, I make them mostly to feel useful at a time when I’m being told I’m elderly and should stay home. It gives me something to do besides watch TV and spend too much time on Facebook.
Last night four of us got together at church to serve meals to people, part of an ongoing community program. It was wonderful to spend a couple of hours around people, working, joking, sharing news, making sure everyone is OK. I came home and made another mask, but the task felt stale. I was grateful to realize I had to stop for the night: I’d run out of interfacing.
But this morning I bought more. I ran into someone I know in the fabric aisle at Walmart. She is getting ready to make masks, too, now that everyone is supposed to be wearing them. It was so nice to have someone to talk to. I indulged myself by offering some tips.
So I guess this self-quarantine is starting to wear on me. Even we introverts need human contact now and then.
Carla, I may be a bit behind the curve here, but could you supply the directions you are using? I tried using those provided by Kaiser Permanente, but they don’t provide as wide coverage as yours. I like your idea of fusible interfacing. That’s something I have on hand.
Laura, I started with the pattern I got from Deaconess Hospital.
https://www.deaconess.com/How-to-make-a-Face-Mask/Documents-Mask/Mask-Information
I’ve modified this pattern. I add 4 inches of florist wire over the nose. To make a filter pocket, I stitch a 4-inch buttonhole into the side that goes by the face, measuring about 1 1/2 inches from the top. Also, I read a request from a nurse: make one side different from the other, so that it’s easy to tell which side goes out. Apparently sometimes they take the masks off and put them back on again quickly, and anything that helps avoid confusion is welcome.
There are about 20 research articles on face masks. Who knows why the Surgeon General didn’t really want to talk about them before last week. If you use 100% cotton quilting fabric and create a double layer, the masks filter 70-79%–about as good as a disposable medical grade surgical mask. Adding in a filter layer offers more protection. We’re doing good work. The NY Times ran a story on all the research last weekend.