I have fallen way down the mask sewing rabbit hole. I’ve made dozens and given them away to friends and family, and I have a stash I’ll be donating whenever school gets back to some in person classes. I’m also selling them on an old Etsy shop I’ve had. I gave the shop a massive facelift and renamed it to Lotus Flower Kawaii. I sell masks as well as yoga and nature inspired products that I make.
Headband with Namaste Fabric
For example, I have some headbands in there, scrunchies, and of course….jewelry.
Frugal maker that I am, I’ve been collecting fabric scraps as I sew, and recently, I’ve started diving into my scrap basket to make doll clothes. I show some of the doll clothing I stitched in this video:
I received a press release about a new show on HBO MAX called Craftopia where young crafters compete using their crafting skills. If you have a subscription to the HBO MAX service, this looks like a good show to enjoy with your children:
CRAFTOPIA
Craftopia is an epic kids crafting competition show hosted and executive produced by YouTube influencer Lauren Riihimaki aka (LaurDIY). Creating and demonstrating crafts to over 8.9 million subscribers on her YouTube channel, LaurDIY has been deemed the “millennial Martha Stewart” by Forbes. On Craftopia, 9 to 15-year old contestants put their imaginations to the test and make their crafting dreams come true in a magical studio. After racing to fill up their carts with inspiring materials from the studio “store,” crafters meet larger-than-life challenges, making truly inventive and amazing creations in order to take home the ‘Craftrophia.’
Craftopia is executive produced by Rhett Bachner and Brien Meagher for B17 Entertainment.
I have posted a few times about making masks and also about how one size mask does not fill everyone. After making the rectangle masks with the pleats, I’ve moved onto make more of a cup-shaped mask, in various sizes, and I’m now selling these.
Right now, I’m selling them for $15 including US shipping and $10 for each additional mask purchased at the same time, also including shipping. Feel free to PM via social media or email me directly at tammypowley @ yahoo dot com if you’d like to purchase via Paypal. I can give you information on what I have in stock or what I can make for you.
Yes, I’m still giving away masks to a select few as well, but after giving away a fair number and getting asked by friends to also purchase them, I started running out of materials since my sewing stash is not really huge. I spent a lot of time and money tracking down supplies. So, I decided to sell at a cost that covers my materials and pays me a few dollar for my time. Each mask takes me at least 30 minutes to make, and I do not use cheap materials. So far, I have had very happy customers who really like their masks, so I’m going to keep on sewing them for now.
That said, I continually have people ask me, just as they did concerning the pleated masks, for a free pattern. I’m not one to precisely follow one type of pattern. I tend to take a pattern and tweak and alter to fit my needs, and that’s what I did with the pleated patterns and also with the cup-style ones I’m making now. So, my best advice if you’re looking for “the” pattern for you is to search online, watch videos, read instructions, basically do your research. Try a few out and decide which you like best. And, I can point you to one of the best sources I found: The Fabric Patch. This site has a ton of information, so again, research is required, but from all the dozens of videos and blog posts I’ve read, I think they have the best information if you are looking for one central source.
I recently posted about sewing masks, and as I explained in the blog post, I’ve been giving these to friends and family right now. One point I forgot to mention is that I have discovered these are not one-size-fits-all.
Just about every tutorial I’ve found requires fabric pieces that are 9″ by 6″ or 9″ by 12″ and folding the fabric in half, with a quarter inch seam allowance. This is supposed to fit an average adult. However, not everyone is average, and I’ve had a number of people, mostly men, who have found this size too snug. So, I up-sized my fabric by 1 inch all around. I use two pieces that are 10″ by 7″, and for the 3/8″ wide elastic, I use 8 inches for each piece instead of the suggested 7″. For average sized masks, I use 6 1/2″ lengths of 1/4″ elastic.
Now, elastic is kind of tricky because some will be stretchier than others. When you size down from 3/8″ to 1/4″, especially, you will notice the thinner elastic is stretchier than the thicker. Thus, I have kept to 7″ on the thinner elastic, even if I’m making larger masks.
I continue to modify my technique as I make more of these, and I urge anyone who decides to give this a go on a big scale to make a few and have people test drive them for you before you decide to start cranking them out in bulk.
I’m dusting off my blog today because I have a lot to share, and while I’ve been posting in social media (mainly Facebook and Instagram) about my mask making to help fight against COVID-19, I realized that putting all the information in one blog posts and then sharing a link to that blog post makes the most sense.
First a Disclaimer:
I realize mask wearing and mask making topics have become hot button issues. I am not making medical-grade masks, and the information below will not necessarily tell you how to make medical-grade masks. If you don’t think masks are useful or good or you don’t like them for whatever reason, keep it to yourself. If you have nothing positive to add to this conversation, then simply move along.
Why I Started Making Masks
Now that my disclaimer is made, I’ll tell you how I came to set aside my doll sewing for mask sewing, at least for now. Back in February, I became very sick. After a solid week of feeling awful, I went to a walk-in clinic and was diagnosed with acute bronchitis. When I was admitted to the back area to see the NP, I was immediately handed a mask to wear. I was coughing like crazy, so it made sense. I noticed, however, no one else back there was wearing one. Two weeks later, I had gotten a bit better but was far from 100%, even though I had taken all the medication subscribed. I went back to the clinic. This time, instead of handing me a mask, everyone there was wearing masks and gloves, a marked difference from two weeks previous. And by this time, COVID-19 was looming over the US. They tested me for the flu, it came back negative, and they sent me on my way, telling me to expect a lingering cough for at least a few more weeks and if I still didn’t get better to contact my own doctor. Gee, thanks.
So, then COVID-19 was here! However, the powers that be were telling everyone we didn’t need to wear masks, that only medical people should wear them. Between my recent experience at the clinic and reading the news about China and watching videos from people coming and going from China, all of whom were wearing masks, this made no sense to me. Clearly, everyone, most especially medical folks, but everyone should be wearing mask when they were out and about. Even if they were not medical masks, the masks would keep people from touching their face, which is one way to transmit germs.
To prepare for what was obviously going to be a rough time in the US, I stocked up on gloves, sanitized wipes, sprays, and tried to find masks, but all of these items were starting to be hard to find. Now, of course, they are even more difficult to track down. My family is staying home, but sometimes you do have to leave the house, so that’s why I started to make masks.
Information from the Web I’ve Found Helpful
Before sewing my first mask, I did lots of research and continue to look for information to perfect my mask making skills. (Feel free to add links to any good mask tutorials you have found in the comments.) However, below you’ll find information I have personally found useful for making the masks I’m currently sewing.
The first mask I made was based on a video and instructions from JoAnn’s. This is a very good and easy to follow tutorial. She does spend a crazy-long time making the paper pattern, which is weird because you can download the pdf pattern to print here.
A few things I changed includes an important detail, and that is instead of using one 12″ x 9″ piece of fabric, I use two 6″ x 9″ inch pieces of fabric that have two different patterns/colors. This is so that each side of the mask is clearly different and the wearer will remember what is the front and back, if for any reason he/she takes it off and wants to put it back on while out and about. Another thing I had issues with in this video is the preciseness of measuring the folds. I kind of just wing it 😉
Another place I found excellent information is The Fabric Patch Youtube channel, especially this video:
Her videos are kind of long but full of excellent details. At the very least, I suggest watching the first two minutes of the video linked above because she talks about the importance of using interfacing. I was not sure about why I needed to do this when I was following the pattern provided by JoAnn’s, but Cindy gives a wonderful explanation. Now, of course, again, these aren’t really medical grade, so masks without interfacing are also good to use just to stop touching your face. However, I have decided for now to include non-woven interfacing in the masks I’m making.
If you are running out of elastic, then this video from Made Everyday (one of my favorite channels for sewing ideas) has a good method for making and sewing on straps. She does not have interfacing but shows how to make a pocket in the mask so a filter of some kind can be added:
Finally, this video is one of the first I found when researching. She completes a mask in real-time, and I found her technique useful when I was trying to figure out how to get the elastic sewn on as well as how to do those fiddly folds.
Final Thoughts for Now
Maybe I’m over-thinking all of this. I tend to do that. But if I’m going to spend a chunk of time crafting something, I want to do it the best that I can. For those sewers who are extremely experienced, mask making is probably pretty simple. I would rate myself as an average or medium level sewer, and I wouldn’t say these are super challenging to make. However, they are not immediate gratification type projects. In fact, is there such as thing when it comes to sewing?
There are tons of similar videos you can find online to those I’m sharing above. These are just the ones I mashed together to come up with my own version of this type of mask. There are also different designs, not just the square type with the folds, and I am probably going to try one of the other types soon.
Here is a look at the current small batch of masks I will be packing up and mailing out tomorrow.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my Blythe dolls. They have really been the focus of my collection for a few years now, but I’m interested in all types of dolls and have been expanding my collection recently. One doll that I had heard about a while ago but somehow passed her by (probably because I was hyper focused on Blythe at the time) are the A Girl for All Time (AGAT) collection. They are designed and manufactured by a small, family-owned company out of the UK. Some collectors compare them to American Girl dolls, and while there are some similarities, there are many unique elements to the AGAT dolls.
In this video, I open up a huge box of doll goodies, including AGAT Clementine doll and doll accessories, which were part of a bundle package I purchased from the AGAT site. I also do a quick comparison of an American Girl doll, showing them side by side. Look for more AGAT videos in the future.
I have fallen in love with a new-to-me doll. They are from a company named Santoro. The designer of these whimsical dolls is Suzanne Woolcott, and along with the dolls, there are all kinds of merchandise adorned with their image. Each doll is a special character, and my first doll is named “I Love You Little Rabbit.” I used to have a pet rabbit many years ago, and I feed wild rabbits every morning, so they have a special place in my heart. Below is a video of opening my first Gorjuss doll (yes, I said first), and I’ve included an additional little video as well that shows my morning bunny friends.
With the new changes coming to YouTube in after the first of this year, I felt, like many doll collecting YouTubers, to officially declare that my channel is not meant for children. While nothing shady is going on either, my channel’s focus is on adult doll collecting and crafting. I’ve even gone to far as to change the name of my channel to Kawaii Collectible Dolls. I talk about this issue more in a recent video:
One part of the hobby I enjoy is taking slightly used custom dolls and changing them up. This is the second doll doctoring I’ve done on this same custom Blythe doll.
