Due to the shortage of protective medical masks to fight the coronavirus pandemic, a protective cloth mask may be a temporary solution to reduce the risks of self-contamination.
impossible Design! brings his modest contribution to the design of a fabric mask and offers you his sewing pattern to download for the realization using a sewing machine of a morphological mask of respiratory protection.
Inhale, Exhale
A little inspiration …
To date, the animal at the origin of the Covid-19 virus is not yet determined and our source of inspiration is therefore between the pangolin and the bat …
The original shape of our sewing pattern may evoke, for fans of the Rorschach test, bat wings (upside down) or, for comic book lovers, a simplified version of the Batman logo …
Solidarity seamstresses
This protective mask was also inspired by a model created by French seamstresses working for haute couture houses. Their sewing pattern is available via the tissuni.com site: you will also find a list of solidarity seamstresses ready to respond locally (in France) to mask requests.
An inspired design?
Our proposal differs by the shape of the mask cut which has been revised and redesigned to follow a little more closely the contour of the lower face and highlight the eyes by going a little higher at the ears, but also by a conceptual sewing pattern design.
You can compare the tissuni model at the top of this article with our iD! version! below.
Expiration, but not too much …
Cloth mask does not protect against Coronavirus transmission
This mask is not a medical mask and therefore cannot protect against the transmission of Coronavirus Covid-19.
At best, it can prevent you from touching your face too regularly with your fingers and slightly reduce the risk of self-contamination.
If you are a carrier of the Covid-19 virus, it can only very slightly reduce the risk of transmission to others.
Wash it regularly and avoid using it for more than an hour, especially if it gets wet.
The poor performance of this type of protective mask is linked to the fact that the weft of a fabric cannot block a virus like Covid-19 which is part of the Coronavirus family and whose size is of the order of hundred nanometers.
The high-performance and approved masks have a non-woven material which filters the finest particles.
Make your protective mask in fabric
Please choose its size before making it, not like the example placed on our expanded polystyrene robot mannequin 😉
Choice of raw materials
If you wish, you can add a third layer of fleece end inside the mask, just after step 3 (cutting in the "interior" form of the sewing pattern mask to download at the end of this article) .
To make a protective mask, you also need elastic, between 50 and 60 cm depending on the size of the mask.
Due to the huge demand for protective masks during the confinement period due to Coronavirus, you may experience a shortage of rubber bands.
For your personal masks, you can try to replace the elastic with a a hood drawstring or find other tips like recovering the elastic from a panty or panties, or even search the laces of your old sneakers…
As you are going to breathe through the mask, it is advisable to wash the fabric beforehand, or the mask made, in order to remove any toxic fibers treatment products.
Boss Tips
This sewing pattern is designed for dressmakers who know how to use a sewing machine.
In its complete form, it allows you to cut the two pieces of fabric to form the inside and outside of the protective mask.
If you only have small scraps of fabric, you can also cut this pattern in half in the center and use each side as well.
The central gray area on the pattern is identical for all mask sizes because it corresponds to the back of the mask which, once folded and sewn, will create the backstage for passing elastics.
The foldable fabric border has been reduced to 5 mm as long as you overcast the circumference of the cut fabric pieces.
To make it easier to sew your mask or improve its finish, you can increase the external cut by 5 mm for each piece (Hem option + 5 mm indicated on the pattern).
Tutorial to make your own mask
Our downloadable sewing pattern at the bottom of this article is A4 format, 297 x 210 mm, be sure to print it at its exact size and check, once printed, that the dimension indicated in cm is correct.
1. Cut the sewing pattern according to the desired mask size
Place it on two pieces of fabric using pins and cut the two layers together.
Cut the pieces of fabric obtained according to the "Exterior" and "Interior" cutting patterns
By respecting the cutout according to the interior / exterior layouts, you must obtain the 4 pieces necessary for the realization of a protective mask.
Overcast the pieces around their edges and sew them two by two on their front part (the rounding).
3. Assemble and sew the inside of the mask with the outside
Hem technique
Assemble the 2 pieces of the mask back to back and sew directly with a hem, folding the border of each piece of fabric on 5 mm (or 1 cm if you chose the option "hem + 5mm").
Easier alternative technique: assemble the 2 pieces of fabric right sides together and sew without hem 5 mm from the edge of the lower and upper parts of the mask then turn the "sleeve" created by one of the two open sides.
4. Create the elastic slides.
Fold the right and left edges for about 1.2 cm then sew them to create the backstage on each side of the mask.
If necessary, adjust this fold dimension according to the width of your elastics and to ensure that you can slide them inside.
5. Place the rubber bands
Depending on the size of your mask, pass a 25 to 30 cm elastic band in each of the 2 slides.
Sewing pattern to download
Download our fabric protective mask sewing pattern
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