Face Masks

My house has cleared out of people, most things are closed due to Covid 19, so I should have lots of time to quilt right? Wrong. I haven't quilted at all this week.

I started out the week making one each of several patterns of face mask.

DH is an Emergency Room RN, and the hospital is low on masks. I know no homemade mask is going to be as effective as an N-95, nor do I expect it to be, but if it were your husband, would you rather he wear a homemade mask, or have none? 

Overall, most of the nurses on his unit seem to prefer masks that tie. The ones that hook on your ears can make your ears hurt, especially since so many nurses, including DH, work 12 hour shifts. 

 

Here is DH with his favorite of my prototypes. He also liked the white one with ties, which is the Fu mask. The mask he's wearing in the photo is similar to dozens of tutorials out there, but I did make a couple of changes. Most of the tutorials are telling you to cut a 6" x 9" rectangle to start. I had one of his paper masks, and I realized it is actually 6.5" high, so I cut 6.5 x 9 inch rectangles. I added a layer of non woven interfacing to the lining fabric, so it's actually three layers thick. Also, I added a wire in the top of the mask binding. The wire allows the nurses to bend the wire around their nose and makes the mask better fitting. A real medical mask uses a flat wire, about 2mm wide x 4". I couldn't find any flat wire, so DH and I settled on 18 gauge aluminum jewelry wire which he cut and folded back at the ends to eliminate sharp edges. I stitched vertically through the top binding on either side of the wire, so the wire won't shift around too much. 

I sent him to work with this box of masks today, and they are all claimed now. 

These are the masks I made today, not as many because I was busy all morning getting some boxes ready to mail. When the grandkids can't come for the Easter egg hunt I had planned, I'll send the Easter egg hunt to them!

These are the masks prepped to sew up tomorrow. When I get these finished, I'll have made about 50 masks. Whether or not I make more than that depends on what happens from here. I know I'm not the only one making masks, so I may not need to make more, but if this lasts a while and the supply of commercially made masks doesn't get sorted soon, I may be making more. 

My plans for next week have changed drastically. We were going to see our newest granddaughter.

 

She was born this week, and DS the Younger and DDIL just live about five hours from here. If things were normal, we'd absolutely be there, but nothing is normal right now, so no matter how much we'd like to see this newest addition, we're going to have to wait until things calm down. 

Unfortunately, even her daddy had to wait to see her! He had a cold so the hospital wouldn't let him in. Thankfully DDIL had her mother able to go in with her, so she wasn't alone. I'm so thankful for that! 

DS the Younger is happy to have his wife and baby daughter home now! I got to video chat with them, and I don't think this little miss's older brother has a clue as to what she is, or why she's taking up daddy's lap.