I’ve seen lots of conflicting info about making cloth masks for hospital use. I’m not making any for donation since it seems none of my local hospitals need or want a cloth mask at this time. But I read this article on Wired about “universal masking”–i.e., everyone wears a mask, any mask, outside the house, even when they’re healthy–and how it helps:
“…homemade masks made from tightly woven yet breathable fabric are the best option and certainly better than nothing. A piece of cloth will never be as good as a manufactured filter, but it can still smother the brunt of a cough or sneeze and impede other people’s respiratory droplets.
[…]As we move closer to a phase of the pandemic in which people are allowed to mingle again but there is still no vaccine—and therefore still a chance of new outbreaks—universal masking may become even more imperative.”
So I decided to make some masks for us.
Doc is the one who leaves the house for our grocery runs so he got to be the guinea pig:
Because he is the best sport, he let me make his first mask from scraps of his cat shirt–and then put on the cat shirt for the mask’s outing. The lining is scraps from another cat shirt:
I used a pattern from Craft Passion which comes in sizes from kid to adult man and makes for a very nice finish on the inside. There’s also an option to leave an opening to insert filter (I didn’t do that here, but you could). This sewed up in about 20 minutes and took a mere 12 inches of fabric–super fast and easy.
Cloth masks aren’t a substitute for social distancing or not going out in the first place, but when we have to leave the house, I feel a little better about it. Also, think of the possibilities for coordinating your mask with your outfit! We’ll always have FASHUN, even in a pandemic.