Finished On Friday: Soft Contoured Face Masks For the Finicky Ones

Grocery Chic: My Modified Olson Face Mask in Produce Aisle Print

Good morning, and happy Friday!  I'm stunned to be typing those words, because I was convinced that it was Tuesday all day yesterday.  This quarantine thing is a lot like being stranded on a desert island or locked up in a dungeon -- if you don't keep track of the days with little tick marks carved into the walls of your cell, you can lose all sense of how long you've been there very easily.

An Ordinary 45-60 Inch Shoe Lace Makes A Strong, Soft, Easy Mask Tie

Of course, there are many other aspects of the quarantine/stay-at-home/shelter-in-place that are not at ALL like being in a dungeon or stranded on a desert island.  I know this is temporary, I still have my espresso machine to keep me properly caffeinated and a well-stocked wine fridge, for dealing with the 24/7 horror show that the news has become.  My dungeon/island is well-stocked with fabric, sewing machines, and books to read, and the idea of feeling "imprisoned" in a big climate-controlled house with a puppy to follow you around and play with you, television and Internet and books to read for entertainment?  Well, that doesn't sound like much of a punishment after all, does it?  Okay, so it's not a dungeon -- it's like we're all emperors in exile on tiny private islands, and we're pacing around impatiently because we are NAPOLEON, damnit, and we've got Big Things we'd rather be doing out in the Real World!

Napoleon in 1814, Exiled to the Island of Elba.  Probably All Dressed Up for a Zoom Conference

Anyway, unlike Napoleon, I get to leave my island paradise periodically to procure food for the family, as long as I'm wearing a face mask.  My two teenaged sons get to leave our island several times a week to work as cashiers and cart sanitizers at our local grocery store, where they need to wear masks as well.  Since mask wearing in public has become almost as necessary as PANTS wearing in public, I finally decided to make some for my immediate family members.

Assembly Line Mask Production Happening on the 'Nina 750QE

...And so, after that very long-winded and totally off-topic introduction, I am now ready to share a few of my mask finishes with you:

One of Anders' Masks

One of My Husband's Masks (Why Did I Ever Buy That Fabric?!)

These contoured face masks are based on the Olson Mask pattern that was developed by a hospital up in Iowa, I believe, but with the addition of a lining fabric (super-soft, old T-shirts) and with the filter pocket eliminated.  I found the FREE pattern download on the Instructables web site here.  All of these masks for myself, my 6'8" husband, and my 6' sons, are the Large size.

Kaffe Fassett Fabric!  I Think This One Is My Favorite

I had plenty of fabric in my quilting stash to choose from for the outside of the masks, but was really wishing I had kept the super-soft outgrown Hanna Andersson T-shirts from when the boys were little.  I raided everyone's closets for old T-shirts to cut up for mask linings, but the color options were very limited and anyone who knows me will understand that the lining fabrics absolutely had to complement the face fabric for each mask.

A UNC Chapel Hill T Shirt Died to Make This Face Mask Lining

I had a few packages of single fold, 1/2" wide bias tape stashed away from projects that were planned but never executed, and that's what I used for the nose wire casing at the top of each mask.

My Husband Says My Face Masks Look Like Bikinis

Bernie says my face masks look like bikini bathing suits.  Maybe for an alien woman who only has one giant boob...  Note to self: Do NOT allow the Husband to pick out my swimsuits!

Okay, I know that everyone on the Internet who has a sewing machine has been churning out a bazillion face masks over the past few weeks, so I'm not going to take you through mine step-by-step.  I will say, these masks do not whip up in a few minutes.  Each one took several hours, so if you're looking to mass produce masks for donation purposes, you're better off with the pleated rectangle versions.  However, these masks give a great custom fit, show off your favorite fabrics better than pleated versions, and they are extremely soft and comfortable against your face.  If you know anyone whose child has heightened clothing sensitivities (this is a common symptom for intellectually gifted children, twice-exceptional, Autism/Asperger's, etc), this is the perfect mask for them because there are no rough edges, no seam allowances against the skin, all 100% cotton fabrics, and the shoe lace or ribbon strings are infinitely adjustable for that child who freaks out when clothing is either slightly too tight or slightly too loose.  Using an old T-shirt for the lining that has been through the wash a gazillion times ensures that the inside of the mask is as soft as -- well, as soft as their favorite old T-shirt!  All of those children (and adults!) who are tormented by the seams in their socks, who feel like their skin is crawling with ants when wearing clothes made of synthetic fabric, and whose mothers have to go searching from store to store to find the exact same underpants as the ones that were outgrown because it's the only kind their kid can stand to wear -- those families are having an even harder time dealing with the need to wear masks than the rest of us.

Here are a couple of things that I did differently from the mask tutorial on Instructables.  

First, I eliminated the filter pocket for several reasons.  It simplified the pattern, for one thing, and I was not making masks for a healthcare environment where the need for filters is really warranted.  Furthermore, I wanted to keep the masks as light and breathable as possible.  One of my friends who works in an assisted care facility advised me that we need to take the masks down to get a good breath of fresh air periodically, because the thicker our masks are, the more they have us reinhaling our own CO2, so it's a balancing act.  I knew that, for my finickiest family members, if the masks were extremely uncomfortable and difficult to breathe in, they would not be worn at all.  Multilayered masks also take longer to air dry after washing.  So, no pockets in my masks, just the 100% cotton quilting fabric on the outside and the 100% cotton knit T-shirt fabric on the inside.  When sewing the two mask layers together around the perimeter of the mask, I sewed with the woven quilting cotton on top and the knit T-shirt fabric on the bottom, so the feed dogs could control the stretch of the knit fabric.

Also, for some strange reason, the pattern I was following told me to press that contoured, vertical seam in the center of the mask OPEN rather than pressing it to one side.  Pressing a curved seam open is a royal pain, plus it doesn't make sense from a protection standpoint,  since seams pressed open leaves gaping holes (from the virus's perspective) down the front of the mask between the stitches.  Much safer and easier to press the seams to opposite sides; that way the fabric is overlapped at the seam line in the finished mask.

Bernina Edge Stitch Foot #10, Needle 3 Clicks Left of Center on my 750QE

After sewing the mask together around the perimeter and turning it right side out, the side edges get folded in 3/4" and stitched down to form a casing for whatever you want to use for  attaching the mask to your face -- elastic loops, bias tape ties, T-shirt ties, ribbon, 45" to 60" shoe laces, twill tape, selvages that have been trimmed off of fabric yardage -- really, anything goes.  Because this seam will receive stress from the ties or elastic loops, I used the Triple Straight Stitch (Stitch #6 on my Bernina 750QE) to sew these casings, with Edge Stitch #10D and my needle three clicks to the left of center position.  Although my fabrics are 100% cotton, I still used all-purpose polyester sewing thread for strength and durability.

Side Casings Sewn With Bernina Triple Straight Stitch #6

I also used the Securing Knot feature at the beginning and ending of these seams rather than reversing to secure the seam, for a neater finish.

The next thing I did differently from the Instructables tutorial was an accident the first time, but I liked it so I kept it for the rest of my masks.  Instead of inserting a nose wire between the two mask layers and stitching a channel to secure it before closing up the sides of the mask, I accidentally skipped that step and had to make my own little channel on the lining side.  I cut a 7" length of 1/2" single fold bias tape, turned the ends under 1/4", and pinned it in place along the top edge of the mask.

Bias Tape Casing for Nose Wire

I secured the bias tape with Edge Stitch #10 and my needle 3 clicks to the left of center.

Nose Wire Casing Stitched In Place

I used thread matched to the face fabric of my mask to edge stitch the nose wire casing, since those stitches show on the right side.

Right Side View of Nose Wire Casing Stitches (Mask Shown Upside Down)

Then I cut a 6 1/2" length of pipe cleaner from our crafts supply bin, and bent the tips of the wires back to create tiny loops at the end with a pliers (this step is important; it prevents the sharp wire ends from poking holes through the mask fabric).  

Inserting Pipe Cleaner Nose Wire

And then I inserted the pipe cleaner into the casing, tucking the ends of the wire into the bias tape fold at each end to keep it in place.

Pipe Cleaner Ends Tucked Into the Folded End of the Bias Tape Channel

I used a pink satin ribbon tie for this mask.  You just thread a single string of whatever kind through both side casings, like an upside-down U, and that makes it easy to take the mask on and off with a single bow to tie.

Found a Soft Satin Ribbon in the Right Shade of Pink

Now, how cute is that?!

Finished Face Mask, Ready to Wear

The danger of making cute face masks is that, once you have one, you feel this overwhelming urge to put it on and GO SOMEWHERE instead of STAYING HOME as we've been advised/ordered...

My Other Favorite Face Mask

I've only had two occasions for mask wearing this week.  The first was the big grocery shop, and the second was the trip to the pet store to stock up on dog food, treats, toys, and to exchange Sam's too-small harness for the correct size.

Side View of My Other Favorite Mask

In addition to creating a better fit at the top of the mask, with less opportunity for those respiratory droplets and virus goblins to get in around the mask, the nose wire is also key for those who wear glasses -- it prevents your glasses from fogging up from your breath coming out at the top of your mask.  

Making two masks each for my four family members took me three whole days, and I'm really glad to be crossing that off my list!  I'm washing the masks after each wearing in a mesh lingerie back in the washing machine with warm water, then reshaping them and hanging them up to line dry just like I do with lingerie.  I want these masks to last as long as possible before I have to make new ones.  Oh, and one more tip -- you might want to get some unscented laundry detergent if your regular laundry detergent is strongly fragranced.  A scent that smells nice to you when you're folding fresh laundry can be overpowering when it's right on top of your nose and mouth and you have to breathe through it!

So, if you want to make a mask like mine, you can find the FREE pattern and instructions on  Instructables here.  If you're looking for fabulous prints for the outside of your masks, I recommend supporting the small businesses on Etsy.  A fat quarter of quilting fabric is more than enough to make a single mask, with extra fabric for your project stash, and there are plenty of options for buying assortments of these pretty Kaffe Fassett fabrics on Etsy.  You can also find novelty prints there that are sure to coax a reluctant child to put on a mask, whether they are into super heroes, princesses, Star Wars, or whatever.  You can get basic colored shoe laces at your local grocery or pharmacy, or any color shoelaces under the sun on Amazon here.  Lots of pipe cleaners available on Amazon as well as the 1/2" single fold bias tape for the nose wire casing, and we all have an old T-shirt or two lying around the house that can be sacrificed for the lining.  

And of course, if you want a cute mask but you don't have the time or ability to make one yourself, there are tons of Etsy shops that are selling adorable handmade face masks in every color, pattern and style imaginable, at very reasonable prices.  Seriously; Etsy sellers are pricing their masks so low that they are barely covering the cost of materials.  So no, I'm not making these masks for people outside my immediate family and I'm definitely not making more of them to sell -- my creative time is worth a lot more to me than the going rate for handmade face masks!  If the masks I've already made wear out before this pandemic has petered out, I might be buying replacement masks from some of those Etsy sellers myself.

I'm linking up today's post with the following linky parties, and then I'm getting right back to quilting!

·       Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation  

·       Whoop Whoop Fridays at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

·       Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More

·       Beauty Pageant at From Bolt to Beauty

·       Finished Or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

·       Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie Sayre

·       TGIFF Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday, rotates, schedule found here: http://tgiffriday.blogspot.ca/p/hosting-tgiff.html  

·       UFO Busting at Tish in Wonderland

UFF DA: In Which Rebecca Invades Russia During Winter and Learns Many Ways NOT to Make a Lightbulb: A Longarm Quilting Lament

Uff da, ugh, and blech.  That's my opening statement, summing up my current levels of optimism and enthusiasm.  You may read on at your own peril, having been forewarned that I am currently In a Funk.  But if you DO read to the end, I'll reward you by sharing my Top Secret Weapon with you!

So no, I'm not quilting any feathers, marked OR freehand, because my trial feather quilting went very badly.  Apparently even following along marked feathers with a longarm quilting machine is a talent that eludes me.  I'm in a "what-was-I-thinking-buying-this-machine" funk these past few days.  It's VERY DISCOURAGING to have worked so hard to match up all of my triangle points and piece everything so precisely, only to feel like my quilting looks like ugly scribbles all over everything.  Here is the view from under the longarm frame, looking up at the bottom of this quilt that has been in progress for far too long.  The lights on my quilting frame are shining down through the needle holes

Dogs'-Eye View, From Under the Frame

So I KNOW this is only my second quilt with the longarm machine, and I KNOW that it takes lots of time and practice to learn a new skill blah blah...  Whatever.  Wanna learn from my mistakes?  Here you go:

Lesson One: Changing thread colors to match all of my quilt fabrics is ridiculous.  Like, REALLY ridiculous.  It is taking FOREVER, not like switching thread colors when you're hand quilting and you're knotting off individual 18" strands of thread anyway.  Each new thread color requires changing the bobbin, either to a different color prewound or winding my own new bobbin.  Then I have to check the tension.  And I'm having to constantly advance the quilt back and forth, back and forth, top to bottom, as I go through and quilt all the triangles that get ivory thread, then all the triangles that get gold thread, then all the ones that get pink thread...  A truly obnoxious amount of additional time and effort, not worth it AT ALL on this quilt.  This is why professional longarm quilters typically have an upcharge for multiple thread colors on the same quilt.

Lesson Two:  It is better to choose a lighter thread color to go with a multicolor print than it is to choose a darker thread color.  Dark thread against lighter areas of the print look like ugly, distracting scribbles:

Ugly Scribble Quilting.  Yuck!  Yuck!

See what I mean?  I thought that variegated thread would look great on that fabric, because it was all the same colors as the fabric -- but where the dark navy portions of the thread stitched against the pale chartreuse and mint green, it just looks distracting and awful.  

Lighter Thread Color: MUCH Better!

On this block where I did the boring-but-manageable stippling, I chose an off-white thread color that matched the LIGHTEST color in the print fabric.  The places where the off-white thread crossed coral or hot pink look MUCH better than the places where dark threads crossed light fabrics.  

Whenever I can work in my rulers for straight lines, it's looking pretty good because even if I'm not exactly on the printed stripe 100% of the time, at least my straight lines look pretty straight when they're sewn against a straight edge:

Totally Boring, Quilting Along Stripes

So then I tried to come up with more things I could do with my acrylic rulers and templates.

Clam Shells With Gadget Girls Ruler: Meh.

I need to figure out how to make some kind of reference marks when I use this clam shells template.  Also, see how the tops of my shells are kind of flattened out rather than rounded?  I think that's because the open toe of this presser foot is riding along the curve right there.  Lesson Three: Next time I'm going to try switching to the other ruler foot for my machine that has a circle going all the way around the needle, to see whether that allows me to follow curves more accurately.  For SID (Stitch In the Ditch) quilting, I preferred the greater visibility with this open toe foot.  

Marking Lines With Stencil, Then Quilting With Ruler

Then I dug out one of my hand quilting stencils (above) and a blue washout marking pen and marked diagonal grids.  I used my little 6" ruler to quilt straight lines more or less along the drawn lines, then brushed water onto the markings to make them disappear.  My husband thinks this looks good, but I am reminded of one of those quilted mattress pads from Bed Bath & Beyond.

Quilting Along Marked Lines With My Ruler

I suppose that all this straight line quilting is paying off, because I'm getting a lot better at eyeballing that 1/4" distance between the outer edge of the presser foot, where the edge of my ruler lies, and where my needle is actually stitching.  

Washing the Marks Away After Quilting

I'm trying to mix up the different quilting patterns and repeat designs all over the quilt, and I'm trying not to quilt too densely in any one triangle or diamond. 

Lesson Four: I think I am quilting this quilt backwards.  It feels like I'm driving down the Interstate in reverse.  I'm struggling to come up with different free motion or ruler designs that don't compete with the print fabrics, yet you can't really see the quilting designs on the prints anyway.  I should have done those straight radiating lines on the print fabrics, and used the solid color triangles to showcase all of these different free motion quilting designs.

Lesson Five: If you are a beginner, do not make the exact same quilt that a zillion other quilters are making.  A major buzzkill of making a commercial quilt pattern with the same fabrics used by the designer is that social media is FULL of pictures of other people's quilts that look just like mine, except that their quilts are enhanced by GORGEOUS professional longarm quilting.  I know, I know -- "Comparison is the thief of joy," but I just had to show you the beautiful Tabby Mountain quilt that Kim Stotsenberg posted on Facebook yesterday:

This Is What an Experienced Longarm Quilter Can Do With the Tabby Mountain Quilt

See what I mean?  I am SO NOT WORTHY!  I have seen lots and lots of magnificent longarm quilting on the Internet that is way, way beyond anything I could dream of attempting, but somehow seeing a professional quilter's version of the exact same quilt I'm making, same fabrics and everything, really just sucked the wind out of my sails.

So I went to Kim's web site, Sew-n-Sew Quilting, and learned that Kim has been quilting and teaching quilting for nearly 30 years (I made my first quilt in 2002), she has been longarm quilting professionally for nearly 20 years (I have had my longarm machine for barely a year and this is a hobby for me, just a few hours a week here and there), and she has made so many quilts that she can't count them all.  This is only my second quilt on my longarm machine, for Pete's sake, so I have no business comparing my quilting to hers!

Yet there's that still, small voice of doubt in my mind, doing wicked math problems and telling me that I would be better off hiring someone like Kim to quilt all of my quilt tops for me, considering I only finish maybe one quilt per year anyway and if we divide the cost of the longarm machine by the number of quilts I'm quilting it ends up being much MORE expensive to ruin my quilts with my inexperienced quilt scribbling than it would be to hire a really good quilter like Kim to quilt them beautifully for me...

"Marshal Ney at Retreat in Russia" by Adolphe Yvon, 1856

Now do you understand why I'm likening my longarm machine purchase to Napoleon's ill-fated 1812 decision to invade Russia during winter?  Napoleon dreamed of glorious victory, like I dreamed of the glorious quilting I was going to do, but his Grande Armée was annihilated by freezing temperatures, starvation, and disease as the Russians retreated farther and farther inland, slashing and burning villages as they deserted them so the French invaders could find neither sustenance nor spoil there.  Am I the Napoleon of Quilting???

Well, be that as it may, my troops and I are already in Russia so we're just going to have to make the best of things.  Maybe I'm just in a grand funk and need to get over myself already and just hunker down.  Wasn't it Thomas Edison who said that he learned hundreds of ways NOT to make a lightbulb before he finally figured out how to make a lightbulb that actually worked?  So, back to my lessons learned:

Quilting Inspired By Kim's Tabby Mountain Quilt

Lesson Six: Use the Internet as a tool for learning and inspiration, not as a device to destroy all self esteem!  I noticed that, on her Tabby Mountain quilt, Kim quilted straight lines in this one particular fabric that accentuated the diamonds in the print.  It's simple, but effective.  I shamelessly copied this idea, because at this point I realized that marking lines takes up a lot of time, yet I am not so bad at quilting straight lines with my ruler.  Most of what Kim's doing on her quilt is beyond my capabilities, but this one little idea I can do.  And I had to show you her beautiful quilt and give her credit for that idea, and tell you all that Kim Stotsenberg teaches and quilts for hire up in Washington state, and if you can reach her through her web site here if you want to team up with her for your next quilting project.  

Lesson Seven: This is my top secret weapon in the sewing room, you guys, and I'm sharing it with all of you out there who loved me enough to keep reading through my drivel and self-pity:

See Where I Careened Off the Red Fabric, Onto the Dark Blue?

Being a new longarm quilting machine driver reminds me of being a new teenaged driver, beyind the wheel of a very big station wagon that may or may not have knocked over a neighbor's garbage can or two on my way out of the neighborhood.  Sometimes I have trouble staying in my quilting lane, if you get my drift.  See how obvious that is in the photo above, where I strayed off the red and pink polka dot fabric and onto the navy blue fabric?

Oh, Yeah?  WHAT Garbage Can?!!!

Now you see it, and now you DON'T!  I bought a set of these Sakura Pigma Micron 05 permanent ink pens several years ago, and they are absolute life savers.

My Secret Weapon: Sakura Pigma Micron 05 Mistake Erasers

What's special about these particular pens is that they are PERMANENT, they have very fine points so I can carefully color individual thread stitches to make them "go away," they come in all of the colors I need, and they are made of ACID-FREE, ARCHIVAL INK so they are not going to eat away at my thread or fabric over time like Sharpie markers might do.  That makes these pens ideal for handwritten quilt labels and signature blocks, as well as for disguising errant machine quilting stitches as I've done here.  On just this one Tabby Road quilt, I have used the Red, Black, Pink, Blue, and Green Pigma markers to camouflage mistakes that would have been pretty glaring if left alone.  (I just couldn't bear to show you the REALLY bad oopses that I fixed!)  Now, if this was a show quilt, obviously it would be better to pick out the offending stitches.  But I'm a beginner, I am making LOTS of mistakes, and I can't just rip out EVERTHING!  

I also use these Pigma pens in machine embroidery, for those times when I get little dots of white bobbin thread showing on top of the embroidery, or if the outline stitching is slightly misaligned or something like that.  Yet, for all the times these Pigma pens have saved my projects, I am still using that first pack of markers that I bought at least seven years ago.  And I know I've had them that long because I remember using them to fix oopses on my first free-motion quilt that I did on my domestic Bernina machine, the Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt I made for my son Anders' second grade teacher.  (Anders is finishing up his freshman year of high school now).  So I've been using these markers for seven years, and none of them has dried up yet.  I would say they are pretty long lasting (unlike the purple and blue disappearing markers that seem to die within minutes of opening them)!

So...  Do YOU have any Top Secret Weapons in your sewing room that you'd like to share with me?  Any tips or tricks I should know to shorten my Longarm Learning Curve?  If so, please share in the comments!  It's midnight now, and I'm singing a duet in church tomorrow so I need to go to bed RIGHT NOW.  But I'm planning to spend most of my Mother's Day in my studio, finishing up this quilt.  My husband reminded me that this quilt, like all of my quilts, is going to look SO much better, and my wobbles and oopses will be SO much harder to spot, once the quilt is bound and washed and crinkles up a bit.  Momma needs a win...

Happy Mothers' Day to all of you mothers and grandmothers out there!