Masks for Grandkids

Last year I made masks but did not blog about them. I felt sewing them was for the good of the community and not necessarily a work of art nor a creative endeavor. When my daughter-in-law Carrie asked me to sew a few more for her kids, I found myself scratching my head trying to remember how I did them – in what styles and in what sizes. This blog post is to help me remember for the future. I surprise myself sometimes how often I refer back to a blog post to jog my memory about some detail or time frame.

Pleated Masks are more time consuming but that is the style I prefer to wear. Personally I like the pleated style because it does not cling so close to my face. I made ten of these, five each in two different sizes for my Southern California grandkids. Since this grandson is about to turn three, I made sure I picked prints that would appeal to either gender. The pink and purple ones I'd made previously for his two older sisters are hardly something a macho three-year-old boy would wear. From top to bottom there are sailboats, farm scenes, carnival ride tickets, polka dots, and scraps from the Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt called Munch, post dated 4/13/20. Here are the masks before I inserted the elastic at each end. They were based on the following URL. https://www.instructables.com/AB-Mask-for-a-Nurse-by-a-Nurse/

I left off the long ties since for the kids just slipping them over their ears is easier  – they do not have to stand still as long. At each end, instead of extending the ties, I made ½" wide casings to feed through elastic that, once adjusted, could be tied off to size. This is how my last efforts at 100% sizing fits a six year old child.

I made them in two sizes and this time was wise enough to label what it was. I printed out the pattern at 1" = ⅞" and 1" = ½" and labeled them with a dry erase marker 88% and 50%. I learned the hard way that dry erase marker does NOT come out of fabric, no way, no how. Google it and you will see I am right. It is a great choice for markings that will not fade.

Here are my notes for the pleated masks. I can get two masks out of a fat quarter, one of each size.

Round Masks are much quicker to make and I think perhaps the kids might prefer them because they are more minimal. I made twelve of these, four fabrics in each of three sizes. Sort of – I could only get two of the peach paper doll print, so the third, the smallest, is pink. The recommended size for a child size is 9" but again I think this is a bit large for a young child, especially those that are pre-school and kindergarten age. I made these based on a 7", 8" or 9" circle. I folded the corners over ¾" leaving a roomy channel for the ¼" elastic. Again I was wise enough to label the size, this time as the diameter of the starting circle. The round masks can be made from scraps and do not require a fat quarter. (Hmmm... ironic, since they are made from quarter circles...). I used this YouTube tutorial for the round masks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OEAimq9_Lw 

Here are my notes for the plate style masks. I made them from square scraps folded in quarters rather than trying to find plates of the correct diameter.

Since I am social distancing and staying staying out of stores, I ordered elastic from Amazon for these masks. It only cost me $10 – for 100 yards! What does 100 yards of ¼" elastic look like? Not bad. Here is it compared to a spool of thread and a pencil. It also fit nicely on a cone thread holder my son-in-law Jeremy bought me one Christmas. I used a generous 20" for each mask so I already have consumed over 12 yards (22 x 20"@36"/yd = 12.22 yards). I also sent off an extra 10 yards so I have used up almost 25% of the 100 yards already. I will have it for a while, but it is far from being a lifelong commitment.

Once I'd fed the lengths of elastic through each casing, I packaged the masks up to ship off to Southern California along with two zip lock snack bags containing five yards each each white and black elastic. Yup. I stuffed all that into the smallest size priority mail flat rate shipper. They do nest very well. They are on their way to my grandkids. I will just have to imagine any smiles hidden from view behind the masks. Aah, but I can still get a hint from the twinkle in their eyes.