Rhonda Bracey: At Random

A few Aussie friends outside Western Australia have reached out to me privately about the face masks I made for family oh so long ago back in mid-April. So, I’ll summarise it all here so that it’s in one place:

• Pattern: This is the Leah Day pattern I used: https://stmichaelw.ca/documents/2020/4/LeahDay%20Mask%20Pattern.pdf. It makes a three-fold surgical style mask (with a pocket for a removable filter medium), with either tape ties (for kids) or elastic (for adults). She has two pattern sizes (kids and adults), and there’s a video as well as written instructions.
• Fabric: If you’re making your own, quilting batik is best as it’s a high-weave cotton, followed by general quilting cottons, followed by everything else. When I say quilting batiks or cottons, I mean the good stuff, NOT the low-weave cheap fabric you can buy at the big store starting with S. Find your local quilt store/fabric shop and you’ll have a treasure trove of fabrics awaiting you! If you can’t find a quilting fabric store locally, then many do online orders, and I recommend two in Western Australia: Handcrafters House in Midland (https://handcraftershouse.com.au/; phone 08 9274 4955), who have an online shopping facility, and Craft Collections (Mummery Cres, Bunbury; phone: 0419 616 714). Further afield is Sew Gentle Era (Bridgetown), Cotton Rose (Vasse), and The Blue Box (Busselton)
• Other bits and pieces: I used chenille pipe cleaners (available at the S store in the aisle where they have the kids’ crayons etc.) cut in half for the wire inside the mask over the nose area, but you can also use stretched out paper clips (just remember to fold the ends in on both so they don’t pierce the fabric; use pliers to make that job much easier!). Elastic can be any type, as long as it’s fairly narrow (again, the S store has elastic), and tape for kids masks can be made from woven cloth tape (typically about 12 mm wide; the S store calls it ‘header tape’ and it’s kept near the ribbons in my local S store) or fabric strips.

Update January 2022: Who knew that two years later we’d still be needing masks? I found another pattern that’s easier to put together than the surgical-type one above, fits the face better, has 3 layers of fabric, a pocket for a filter, and can be easily scaled for men and children. There’s a YouTube video that gives good instructions for it too.

• Pattern: https://sewingtherapy.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/MASK-PATTERN-01.pdf
• Written instructions: https://sewingtherapy.net/diy-mask-with-a-replaceable-filter/
• YouTube video (better than the written instructions): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2B7Twkh2SI&t=9s