WE CAN DO IT!

PLEATING JIG

I made a cereal box contraption for folding evenly spaced pleats, last week, but this one looks much better!  

QUICK WAY TO MAKE BIAS TAPE

Here's a slick trick that looks like quite the time-saver!  If you don't have one of those Clover bias tape gadgets or a tape making attachment to your sewing machine (or even if you do!), try this.  It's amazing--no strip folding, no pressing (unless you want to), and very fast!  And remember, for masks, you don't need the ties to be bias.  Width of fabric works great.

WHAT WE'VE BEEN SAYING

This is from a nurse, posted elsewhere:

I need to offer some advice to mask makers. I am a nurse and a sewist who is currently wearing homemade masks daily now. I have seen lots of patterns and adaptations. Some of the masks being donated are sadly unusable.  

1) only quality cottons. We are getting masks made from fabrics that are satiny, loose weave or nonwashable fabric. 
2)don't put a filter in--let us decide what filter to use. Masks that have a variety of "filters" including coffee filters and paper towels cannot be washed.
3) Keep it simple. Masks that are quilted or embroidered are compromised. There are now a million needle holes in the fabric for contamination to pass through.
4) we do appreciate the masks! Supplies are extremely limited. A well made simple mask can literally make a terrible day tolerable. Thank you for your support!
My additional comments from 40 years of experience.
A. Back needs to be a different color fabric so there is an identifiable front & back. For example a solid color cotton for back works well.
B. Elastic loop for ears only are very uncomfortable after wearing a while. 100% cotton T-shirt ties work well for ties.

BUTTONS!

As the nurse stated above, health care workers who wear the mask style with elastic that goes around the ears say their ears ache after a while.  Some some people are sewing buttons to 2"-3" wide headbands and they can hook the elastic to those.  Here's a tutorial on how to make your own headbands out of knit.  There are others--just google!  And if you need t-shirt type cotton knit fabric, let me know.

I found this simple idea on Facebook.

Here's another idea--a crocheted, sewn, or grosgrain rectangle with buttons or aluminum can pull tabs,  to wear at the back of the head and hook the elastic to.  Such creativity.

I'll be happy to get any of these that you make to distribution points.  

NICE LITTLE VIDEO

Here's a CBS Sunday Morning feature on mask makers.  Wouldn't you like one of those cutting tables?

MASK KITS AT PEACEHEALTH

Some of us have picked up, sewn and returned mask kits to the Riverbend Annex on International Way.  They're very quick and easy to make.  I'd heard that the surgical wrap fabric used was being cut and kits prepared for us by a local company.  Here's an article about that.  

WHICH MATERIALS WORK BEST?

This New York Times article rates them.  I'm currently using batiks, with their high thread count.  

NARROWING DOWN THE CHOICES

I've tried and tweaked so many mask patterns!  I want something that has an opening for the wearer to insert a filter, has ties rather than elastic (for ear comfort), and a good fit at the bridge of the nose.

I've now narrowed it down to two I prefer, and I use batiks at least on the outside layer.  

1.  The Belgian pattern is great, and my latest tweak is to create the opening in the back by making the front fabric longer and the back shorter (still the same  combined total length), so that the two horizontal seams connecting them (at both ends) both end up on the back, rather than the top and bottom.  Then I leave a 3" opening in one of the seams (for inserting the filter) and have that near the bottom on the back. There are options for what you use to mold the mask around the nose. Something that doesn't rust can be inserted and sewn in place.  If your choice is something that rusts, you'll have to leave an opening in the casing so it can be removed for laundering.  See "3 Types of Nose Thingies" below.

2.  My other favorite is one Glenda shared with me, that her Corvallis guild uses.  It fits very nicely on all my testers' faces, thanks to darts, top and bottom.  And because the darts shape it, it doesn't need a stiffener for the bridge of the nose.
Here's the link!

WHERE?

Feel free to drop your masks off at my house.  I have a plastic tub on my driveway porch, for that purpose.  And of course, there are many other places.  Here's a link that suggests several locally.  

I urge you to also check out this active Facebook group of area mask makers: 

The Seamsters: Facemasks for Health Care in Eugene-Springfield, Oregon

If you go to their page, be sure to read the announcements!

Attachments area

3 TYPES OF NOSE THINGIES THAT ARRIVED THURSDAY

Ellen of the Central Oregon Chapter suggested these garden ties to me, I ordered more of the covered paper clips that I've bent and used before, and these strips of aluminum (no rust!) were donated by a Portland Chapter of the SMART sheet metal union members and contractors.  I received several hundred of them, and would love to share with our mask-making volunteers.  Does anybody have any ideas/equipment for  efficiently rounding/grinding the 4 corners?  Do any of you want to take on that responsibility, perhaps a non-sewer, a spouse, a bored teen?

GAME CHANGER

Many of us have been dismayed to learn how much in hospitals is discarded after a single use, because that's more cost- and time-efficient than sterilizing for reuse.  This couple has come up with a way to sterilize 80,000 masks a day.  

VIDEO

This is a must-see video of how simple mask-making is!  Guaranteed smile-maker.