Cloth Face Masks | Marga Mends

Date:

Pre-2020 through 2021

What I did:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I've been using reclaimed and upcycled materials to make, sell, and donate re-usable cloth face masks.

These masks are not medical grade, are not meant to replace medical grade personal protective equipment (PPE), and do not guarantee any protection against the virus or any other.

The masks’ fabric is 100% cotton, most of it reclaimed my grandmother’s stash. So far, I’ve made several different types of masks: rectangular pleated masks and curved/fitted masks; masks with elastic ear loops and masks with cloth ties in various permutations; masks with and without filter pockets or interfacing; masks with and without nose wires; large masks, small masks, and one-size-fits-most masks.

Fitted Face Masks

Scroll through for thumbnail pictures, or click on any image for slideshow view.

Woman wearing fitted blue polka dot face mask — Fitted face mask

front view of woman wearing white/multi polka dot fitted face mask — Another fitted face mask

Fitted face masks with "loopy" cloth ties

The following face masks have cloth ties that loop around the ears and then tie at the back of the head. Masks with this sort of tie — as well as masks with elastic loops and an extra cloth neck cord, pictured further down on this page — are useful for situations where you will be taking your mask on and off frequently, and want to be able to do so quickly and easily. When you don’t need your mask, it’s hanging around your neck, so you won’t lose it.

side view of woman wearing multi/white polka dot fitted face mask — Fitted face mask, side view showing cloth ties

woman wearing fitted face mask with cloth ties, side view — Another fitted face mask, side view showing cloth ties

neck and shoulders of woman with cloth face mask hanging around neck by cloth ties — Fitted face mask hanging around neck by cloth ties

back view of woman's head with braids held up to reveal ties of face mask around ear and tying at nape of neck — Back view of fitted face mask showing cloth tie around neck

Fitted face masks with neck cord and elastic ear loops

woman's toros with cloth face mask hanging around neck via cloth neck cord. mask has elastic ear loops — Fitted face mask hanging in ready-to-put-on position

woman wearing fitted face mask with cloth neck cord, front view — Front view of fitted mask with elastic ear loops and cloth neck cord

side view of woman wearing fitted face mask with elastic ear loops and neck cord — Side view of fitted mask with elastic ear loops and cloth neck cord

Man and woman wearing matching fitted masks in blue star print — Here's a selfie of our hers and his blue star print fitted masks.

fitted mask in blue star print with elastic ear loops and cloth neck cord (red) — My mask

fitted mask in blue star print with elastic ear loops, extra elastic beard/neck loop, and cloth neck cord (blue) — My husband's mask

Two fitted masks, in blue star print, with elastic ear loops and neck cords. One mask is slightly smaller than the other. — Our hers and his masks together

For extra protection, these particular "hers and his" masks have interfacing sandwiched between two layers of fabric.

You'll notice that, on my husband's mask, the ear loops are closer together and there is an extra elastic loop at the bottom. It's a challenge to get masks to fit right over beards, so I asked my husband to try on the mask himself and pin the elastic where he wanted it. He ended up spacing the ear loops higher up on the mask, with less distance between the top and bottom of the loop: decreasing this distance minimized gaps and bunching around the ears. He also added an elastic "beard loop" around the bottom so that the mask fit snuggly around his beard and chin.