handmade wardrobe: pandemic mask style

as 2020 comes to a close and this week sees the first publicly available covid-19 vaccines rolling out here in canada, this post feels both a little too on-the-nose for this year and also the most appropriate thing i could post as far as the latest adventures of my me-made wardrobe journey. today i’m talking about masks, which are both a necessity these days (and will likely continue to be for me anytime i travel in the future) and also the newest fashion arena. i think of them like underwear if i’m honest - they’re necessary, you need a bunch of them because they should be changed regularly, and also sometimes they’re a giant pain in the butt. i’d actually planned to have a post up before this one about my undies sewing adventures, but those got halted midway through progress for holiday priorities. so maybe we’ll end this year with masks and start next year with undies ha!

i’ve sewn a number of mask styles over the months, and the 3d mask template from see kate sew has become my personal favourite. it’s deceptively simple to make (it takes me 15-20 minutes total from ironing fabric to having a finished mask, and i’m a slow sewer), fogs up my glasses the least*, and thanks to the stitching actually stays away from my mouth and doesn’t squish my nose so i have fewer concerns over lipstick mishaps or of icy fabric pressing directly against my mouth during these cold months.

*straight up, i have yet to find any mask patterns that don’t actually fog up regardless of style or nose wire vs. no nose wire, and i’ve taken to wearing contacts for a few hours every day when i take willow for her walks instead. it’s a pain in the ass, especially where i can’t stare at screens for long with contacts so i have to time my contact wearing depending on my daily computer tasks. obviously i care more about remaining healthy/helping others stay healthy by wearing a mask than i do about my personal frustration with contacts, but i’d be lying if i didn’t say that these winter days, i’m almost more excited about the prospect of no fogged classes/no contacts post-vaccine than i am about being able to travel again.

this mask comes in multiple sizes for both kids and adults, and also has the option of adding a filter pocket. i’ve made around 20 at this point and find that the addition of a nose wire helps to shape them a little better, but even without a wire they fit pretty well. i’m obsessed with colour-coordinating my ear loop elastics with my fabric choices, especially since these pre-made loops save me from ruining my stash of lingerie elastics (which honestly aren’t that comfortable for wearing around ears anyway). my fabric stash ranges from scraps left over from recent garment makes to fat quarters i bought nearly a decade ago. i made about a week’s worth for myself and have gifted the others, but i think i’m going to need to make more for myself given that one winter dog walk gets a mask pretty gross by the time we’re back home! i prefer having a big mask stash over having to stay on top of my laundry basket ha.

as always, willow likes to help out. luckily the one room that i’ve trained her to respect the doorway of is my sewing room, so when i’m on the floor cutting fabric out i don’t have to worry about her walking all over me. my biggest concern is actually that she’ll knock the iron over when it’s on and hurt herself, but the side effect of having slightly less dog fur on fabric during the cutting stages certainly isn’t a bad thing!