A quick face mask, or two

At the moment I see a lot of posts from my friends all over the world where they are making face masks. Face masks are not mandatory, and I have seen very few in use around here, but when an online friend in another European country kept talking about him being unable to find face masks to buy and having to make do with a tea towel bandana I reached out and offered to make one and post it to him. I made the masks some time ago, but I didn't want to post about them until I got confirmation that they had arrived, and it's obvious that with so much of the air traffic down the mail services are slower than usual.

I used the patterns and instructions that are available here.

I made two. They take quite a small amount of fabric, costwise it was more expensive to buy premade bias tape and cotton tape for ties.

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There are two layers of fabric, an outer good looking fabric and a plain lining. All the fabrics and tapes are made of 100% cotton, and before I started working on them I actually boiled them in a pot on the stove to make sure that they can be washed on high heat.

In hindsight it would have looked so much better if I had bothered to switch to white sewing thead

I used the male sized pattern, but when I tried it on myself I think it would be fine for me as well, so I think the pattern run a bit small.

The pattern calls for elastic to keep the mask on, but my friend wanted ties that he could tie around the head instead. They are attached like the elastics in the pattern, with one long piece of tape on each side, going out on the bottom and the top of the mask. There is a pocket for inserting a piece wire over the nose, to help with the shape, but I didn't add one since it would be easier to send them ifthey were totally flat.

All it all I could help a friend with 30 minutes of work. (I'm not going to start producing them in any way though, but if it's needed I know how to make one for myself in the future).