hand-made mask

Looks stylish, feels comfortable, has unique design touches, saves money and waste, lasts for ages.

I made my first mask from some fabric Lilián had been given from Folklores, an African textile and clothes shop in our neighbourhood, with a lining made of an old linen shirt. The shirt had already been through a transformation as the bottom hem was ripping and I'd cut short the sleeves to get the fabric to fix it. Two years later and that mask has fallen apart from so many washing-cycles so I decided to make a new one.

First, I tried to put a new lining in the old one, but it took ages to unpick the old lining as it is finely stitched twice around the edge, and then the new lining was a fraction too small and so the mask didn't sit properly… so I made a new one with the same design but different fabric and I didn't like how it turned out either… but at least it made me more careful making this one.

I used another mask I had as the model for the design, adjusting it slightly to fit my face better. The outside is from an old pair of jeans while the lining is the same linen shirt. I used the front of the shirt where the buttons were to get the nice edge detail including the 'Made in Italy' label (which helps to put it on the right way up!). The ear-loops are from a shoelace I'd saved from some old sneakers – as well as the colourful touch they are slightly stretchy so are comfy to wear – and I'd also saved the adjustable metal clips from something else and they work well to get keep the right tension.

I keep ties from product packaging and one bendy tie with a rubber coating was perfect to sew into the mask over the nose area so it can shape to the face (see photo below).

If you want to do your own the Freesewing website has some practical instructions to get you started and check out my post Simple Solutions for more ideas.