10 Minute Face Mask

Posted on by Steph

Now, I’m the kind of morbid jackass who has been playing Plague Inc. for years now (damn you, Madagascar!) and even without a mastermind such as myself actively evolving a virus, this shit is scary.

And I’m tired of repeating to nimrods that every time you go out, even for essentials, you reset the 14 day window.

So have a face mask. It took me longer to write this post than make this mask. I could increase it up to 15 minutes if I was arsed to pull out the iron and press each fold.

Which I should have done, but didn’t.

Because it’s my project, and not yours.

STUFF YOU NEED

  • 2- 7 to 9″ long pieces of 1/8 inch (3mm) braided elastic (I could even go down to 6″, but I have a small head. It fit over the hubby’s beard with the 9″ elastics)
  • 2- 8 or 9″ wide by 6″ pieces of lining fabric (I use quilting/ craft cotton) (Mine were 5.75 x 9″: why? Because that’s the size of the scrap I had and I couldn’t be arsed to dig out something else).

OTHER TOOLS

  • Fabric/ sewing pins
  • Sewing machine
  • Thread (fucking duh)
  • Scissors
  • Marking pen or chalk

CLIP THAT SHIT DOWN

You could pin them too, I just couldn’t be bothered to fiddle with it.

Clip the two right sides together with the elastic sandwitched between them.

Baste the sides so the elastic doesn’t go take a hike.

Like so.

START SEWING

Sew all the way around leaving an opening to turn the work. Trim the excess and the corners.

Sew the opening shut.

OPTIONAL:

  • Deal with anxiety about idiots who don’t wash their hands properly.
  • Wonder if the distance you could shoot one of these at another person using the elastics meets minimum social distancing range.

Mark each side 1.5″ from the bottom.

Create a small pleated fold about 1/4 to 3/8″.

If you’re not a lazy asshole like me, this is where you would press the small pleat..

Mark another half inch up from the first pleat and start another pleat at that point.

Repeat this 4 times.

Again, if you’re not being a jackass, this is where you should press these pleats down before sewing.

SEW THE PLEATS

It’s easier to work from the bottom so you’re not working against your pleats, but hey, you do you, you paste-eating dork.

10 minutes later, you have a mask. There are cleaner ways to sew these and if you’re making a bunch for a hospital, you’d probably want to add a layer of flannel between, clean up the edges more, press them, etc.

But then it wouldn’t take 10 minutes would it?

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