Hey, I did the same thing at the end of March, except I ordered mine from Stromberg’s (because I was already ordering some other things from them). Ours will be Freedom Rangers if all goes well.
And the masks look great, btw. I’m hoping to have my daughters (18 and 13) make some today to hand out to our neighbors. I think they might be going to mandatory in public in our area soon. Did you use a particular pattern or did you just make your own?
Hi- how did you store your seeds? Some of my seeds (lettuce in particular) have germination issue after one year in room temp storage.
Thanks
I dont think any seeds should be stored at room temp. Store in refrigerator.
I like to store mine in the freezer. I haven’t had issues with them waking up.
These are some guidelines. I would do one to test and see how it generally fits on the person you plan to make them for.
I make the rectangular folded one from Joanne. The one with fabric ties takes too long to make, and I don’t think my husband can tie them securely. They don’t sell the 1/4" elastic anymore. I cut two 3/8" strips along the sides of the 1" elastic,and pull off the loose strings until it is stable before sewing, 7 inch long for men and 6.5 inch for women. I wear glasses, so instead of the 6" by 9" rectangle, I increase the 6" to 7 " , it gives some extra fabric to stay over the nose and under the glasses. I just make the pleats bigger so the finished size would be about the same.
Thanks! 
@Kate6b all of my seeds are kept in a box on a shelf in the basement. It is a finished basement, not particularly damp but not dry either. It was not my intent to see how long they keep, just didn’t want to throw them away, maybe use the following year. However, years passed and there they were.
Wow, your volume is impressive there. What pattern are yours from?
I’ve worked pretty hard to do about 30 masks, mostly for family and friends now that CDC is recommending wearing a cloth mask in public. It seems to me like the new etiquette when going to a store is that you wear a mask, for the comfort of other shoppers and the people working there, even if you are not that concerned about yourself.
I’m still at about 30 minutes each for the simple pleated style. I try to spend an hour or so after dinner most nights sewing masks. Though Sunday night I was up until 2am trying to power through orders to mail for family!
Regarding mask patterns. I did a few from this place:
The man size one with a soft stainless nose wire and head elastics (as opposed to ear loops) is about the best one I have done for me so far, but it is still not that good. It is ok if I am not wearing glasses but fogs them up if I am. See picture below. This pattern took a while to sew and is a little more challenging which is fine if you are just doing your family.
The other major style is the pleated surgical mask style. We did a few like this, which is wicked easy:
Here is my wife wearing one.
We are doing the two layer with pocket opening for an extra filter layer, since our local hospital website about donated cloth masks requested that feature.
My problem with the above one is that I don’t really like having the pocket opening right in the middle of the back, and I like the option of head elastics or ear loops, and the possibility of resizing the elastics for different people if needed. So I went to a style that wraps a strip around the right and left edges to make a sleeve to pass the elastic through, rather than having the elastic sewn in. So the one I am closest to now is this one:
Though instead of using a folded long piece of fabric to make inner and outer layer, I am sewing together two smaller pieces so I can use different fabric on the inside and outside.
I’ve also experimented with piecing the front, both to utilize smaller bits of fabric I have around (this is an awesome way to use those up!) and to add an interesting design element. Here are variations on a style we are calling ‘red stripe’. I like it, but my wife and kids think it looks scary…? They say I look like a comic book villain with one one.
Here are some batches I mailed out to various family member groupings yesterday.
Kudos, Holly!
The masks look great!
Wow, you do great work!
I love all of your fabric designs and that is impressive work!! I was using the FU Face mask, very similar to the first one you tried because the Medium size covers the N-95 mask. There was a fear that we would need to reuse N95s here in CA like NY/NJ and so that’s the one I set out to make. Thankfully, I’m not hearing that it won’t come to that here and that hospitals now have received enough N95s to last us through this. The FU Face Mask - https://freesewing.org/docs/patterns/fu/
Now onto masks that we can all use in our personal lives during this time. I also tried several pleated patterns similar to yours, until a local SF company put out a beautiful origami-like pattern that I really enjoyed making and wearing! Here is is: DIY Cotton Face Mask
I would highly recommend that you give this one a try! This is the one I’m making for myself and family/friends now. It does a beautiful job of covering the mouth area while leaving space to breath, but also shaping around the nose and chin without pulling. The origami folds that make up the nose and chin area are also super adjustable for each wearer. You can increase the fold or decrease it depending your face size and my glasses also dont fog up with this one. It is a little complicated to make at first but I am confident that you have the skills!
They’ve updated the pattern just a bit since they first put it out. You’ll see that the ones I’m making (photo
below) have loops for the straps, but in their new pattern on their site, they’ve added a built in method for the straps. A medium-weight fabric, like a lightweight denim works best for this. I’m using a white medium-weight denim like material -
You can also add a paper towel or a coffee filter inside to increase its efficacy. Here’s a photo:
I don’t have a sewing machine,so some of these face masks were made in the first video,with doubled shop towels(ToolBox brand),listed on the second website.bb
@bonitapplebump, thanks for the mask info, photos, and link. I still have a lot of fabric cut for pleated masks, so will be making more of those until I use that up. A fat quarter is almost exactly two masks. Or, since I have white inside and color outside, two fat quarters makes four masks. I’m using 100% cotton bedsheet for ties now. It seems like ties take more work than the masks, but I think they are more snug and rewash-able more than elastic.
I think I will try that origami fold mask next, maybe with quilting fabric and white inside / color outside, and see what happens. It’s a nice looking design. Not steaming up glasses would be good.
@Bear_with_me I’ve been growing a lot of older seeds this year, too. Glad to have them and I’ve found most grow well for quite a few years.
I finally got the online 1/4" elastics. The quality is really bad. I tried to make one mask. I was tired so I touched the elastic a few times with the steam iron. The elastic was deformed right away. Luckily I found some 3/4" elastics locally. I just cut them in half lengthwise and remove a few loosed strands before sewing. Seems like the 1/4" that they sell now is not good for repeating uses. By donating money, my sister got some very well made by a nurse. Her direction is to only wash by hand with hot water and soap, and hang to dry. I machine wash mine in steam cycle and dry in dryer, no need to iron after. They are still fine after a few weeks. My kids like them because of that.
After a while, if some of the lints from the dryer stick to the cut side of the elastic, I use a small piece of scotch or masking tape to touch and remove them.
i havent washed my hands wore any mask yet since the beginning and im not worried. if its GODS will so be it.
As I understand, washing hands is a good habit, whether there is a crisis or not, especially for people who works outside a lot like us. The simple kind of masks we are making at home will not protect us from getting sick. Their purpose is to hopefully protect other people that we may meet. I really don’t care if I won’t wake up tomorrow, but I do care if I make someone sick or even die because of my refusal to do some preventive actions.
@moose71
I am not questioning your faith. We all express it differently.
When my kids were little, they watched some of the Kids Praise! videos given by one of my friends. One of my favorites was the saying “Do your best and let God do the rest”. It has been my motto since then. I have done a lot of things I regret. Now I try to “do no harm” if I can. I think that saying applies to everyone not just the medical doctors.
