I HAVE MADE FIRE!

[fox]

Okay no. But I have made masks! A hundred years (that is, a couple of months) ago when All This began, a former co-worker friend made some masks for me and my family, which was lovely of her. Two for me, which are fine; they smush my nose just a bit but otherwise no problem. Two for Himself, which are fine; they cut into his jowls just a bit but otherwise no problem. Four for the prince, which don't fit; she thoughtfully made them with elastic bands to go behind our heads rather than around our ears, and the kid is still kid-proportioned enough that an elastic band that will hold the bottom of the mask snugly around his chin and the nape of his neck won't fit over the top of his head nohow. I cut the elastics on one of these and tied them into ear loops, which more or less works; he doesn't like the feeling of the things pulling on his ears, even when I made the loops loose enough that the mask no longer smushes his nose. I crocheted him a button band to take the pressure of the elastic loops and he didn't like that either - it was a little too short, so the mask flattened his nose again. I added a mini hair elastic to each ear loop, so now everything reaches everything else at the perfect length, but he's not convinced. Sigh.

So I cleaned up and re-started my mom's old sewing machine, which was probably a wedding present in 1969, and made him one of these, which of course was wildly ambitious for mama's first sewing project but it's not like I'm brand-new to Making Stuff In General, and long story short, it went okay. Everything is put together as it's meant to be and I threaded some yarn through the loops to make a head tie instead of any elastic anywhere, and on today's walk I gave the kid the choice of the new one that ties behind his head and the old one that loops around his ears, and he picked the new one. He still takes it off as soon as he's allowed to, but hey.

I also made Himself one of these, which was way easier piecing-and-sewing-wise, although he also wanted behind his head rather than around his ears, and I mos def should have run the yarn through the side hems before I sewed up the pleats. I got it done, with a tapestry needle. But it would have been tidier to do otherwise. In any event, he didn't like the yarn, so I pulled that out and have threaded up some elastic through there and will measure it around his head later this evening and then probably stitch the ends of the elastic together and call that one done.

I have a yard each of many patterns of fabric and 5 yards of plain off-white for linings, so I can keep doing this until I get better at it, is my feeling. (In my copious free time, of course.) As you may have seen me say on Facebook, I'm not going to win any prizes at any county fairs, but the objects are functional. Right now. As intended. And if there's a prize for Quickness on the Uptake, maybe I can win that. ;-)

Comments

[neotoma]

In my very limited experience in trying to make and wear masks, elastic earloops are just uncomfortable at the best of times.

Personally, I prefer the pleated style of mask, because the shaped mask patterns seem to assume your face has certain dimensions that don't match my actual face.

Also, spare shoelaces make good mask ties, if you are still working on more masks.

[fox]

I had a ton of extra shoelaces that I got rid of in a housecleaning frenzy in, like, February. Alas.

[brainwane]

Congrats! I have slowly been getting better at making masks, too.