With highly contagious coronavirus (COVID19) rapidly spreading throughout the world, many people are shopping for surgical masks to protect against this dangerous disease.
The sudden increase in demand for “Personal Protective Equipment” (PPE) and the interrupted supply lines in China have led to a critical shortage of small particle filtering face masks (N-95s) and fitted rectangular sneeze guards (“surgical masks”).
News reports, appropriately seeking to reserve limited supplies of these disposable items for medical institutions, have been asking people not to purchase these items. Public officials have been quoted suggesting that face coverings can’t help prevent the spread of this new virus.
The truth is more complicated:
COVID19 is spread from person-to-person in droplets of moisture, mucus and saliva from people with infections. Coughing, sneezing, and even normal breathing put these virus particles into the air. One sneeze can put out thousands of droplets.
People standing less than 6 feet away may become covered with these virus particles while they are still in the air. After the droplets fall, the virus particles can remain active for up to nine days.
Infection occurs when someone breathes in airborne droplets, or when they touch their mouth, nose or eyes with hands covered in virus particles that have fallen out of the air onto counters, handrails, floors or other surfaces.
Wearing a face mask helps stop people from becoming infected in two ways:
1) By blocking most airborne droplets filled with virus from being inhaled
2) By stopping the wearer from touching their own mouths and noses.
Studies have shown that medical professionals using surgical face masks correctly get 80% fewer infections than those who don’t.
So why the mixed messages?
First, because the protection only comes when the masks are used properly. They must be put on clean, taken off carefully, and paired with rigorous hand washing, and the discipline not to touch the face.
Second, because gaps around the masks and between the fibers in the masks, even in commercial surgical masks, are too large to block all viruses. Sneeze and cough droplets are usually between 7 and 100 microns. Surgical masks and some cloth masks will block 7-micron particles but the COVID19 virus particles are 0.06 to 0.14 microns.
So why should you make your own face masks?
1) In the event you become sick, having a supply of masks at home will give some level of protection to friends and family while you seek medical advice. It will certainly be better than no mask at all (see research notes).
2) By making your own, and hopefully, for family and friends, you will be decreasing demand on limited supplies of industrially manufactured, disposables, which are desperately needed by hospitals and nursing homes.
3) These comfortable, curved shaped masks rest closer to the face, with fewer gaps than rectangular surgical masks.
4) Our homemade designs are washable, making them environmentally friendly.
Supplies:
8" x 12" fabric lining layer
3” piece of soft wire (this can be decorative wire as shown, picture wire, or a pipe cleaner doubled over)
approx. 22” of elastic cord (child size length 10", regular size length 11-12", large size length 13")
You can choose any tightly woven cotton or cotton/poly fabric you like. Hold it up to the light to see how tight the weave is. Use the same fabric for outer and lining if you want, or use different ones to help you remember which side is clean and which dirty.
Teacher Notes
Add a Teacher Note to share how you incorporated it into your lesson.
Step 1: Pattern, Cut, Center Seam
- For those without a printer - open up the gridded pattern PDF so you can draw it yourself
- Make sure you print with the landscape orientation, not portrait or it will come out too small.
- Here are the measurements for reference Don't stress about 1/8" variations on your printed patterns. There is wiggle room in the design:
- Mask 1 piece A is 6 3/8" h x 5.25" w. at the bottom B is 6 3/8" h x 4.25" w at the bottom
- Mask 2 child is 5.25" h x 4 7/8" w and the bottom
- Mask 2 regular is 6.25" h x 5.5" w at the bottom
- Mask 2 large is 6.75" h x 6" w at the bottom - Instructables community member Winko made scalable files for masks 1 and 2. Go to this link and open the pattern you want in your browser. There is a drop down menu with print sizing options, including a customizable one.
- European paper size: I've been told that the paper size in Europe is DIN4 and you need to adjust the scale to 107%.
Step 2: MASK 1 Sides, Sleeves for Elastic
Step 3: MASK 1 Connect Layers, Elastic
Step 4: MASK 1 Nose Wire, Elastic, Filter
Step 5: MASK 2 Instructions
Step 6: Conclusion & About Us
Since creating this tutorial and getting featured in Forbes Magazine (Thank you TJ McCue!), it has gotten a crazy number of views, comments and questions. I appreciate all the tips and clarifications you all have brought in. Together we have made it better. That's what is awesome about instructables and the worldwide community of makers. What I've learn from you guys has gone into the masks we designed for the Masks of Love project in my hometown.
Step 7: Research Links
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/6/05-1468_art...
Low on actual instructions, high in scientific reference. This is their official word about cloth masks:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/ppe-...
Can DIY homemade masks protect us from coronavirus? https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/diy-homemade-...
https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/best-materials...
All of the materials succeeded in blocking at least 49% of virus particles. Our mask has 2 layers of cotton or cotton/poly and so it seems like it would do as well or better that that.
What the heck is a tea towel? Like many of the materials listed in this graph, that is open to interpretations. Most people think of a flat-woven fabric made from linen or cotton. Not a terry cloth towel.
I tried a vacuum cleaner bag and you can barely suck air through it. There are different types of bags and I only tried one, but generally I think you will be sucking air from the side gaps of the mask if you use it because it's too hard to inhale through.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/20/can-...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/03/29/m...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/opensourcecovid19m...
https://www.consumerreports.org/cleaning/common-ho...
https://www.livescience.com/how-long-coronavirus-l...
Step 8: Filters
This is what is inside an N95 mask according to: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf12/K1...
Step 9: Community Sewers!
I've been working long hours to get my own area's community mask sewing project going, along with the help of many amazing people most of whom I just met! It is using the same pattern as in this instructable but with a few refinements and better pictures: https://masksoflovewnc.weebly.com If you are in Western North Carolina, please join us.
There are many community efforts to make masks for medical centers in need, and more popping up every hour. Google "community sewing masks" and see what you get. Some have their own pattern they want you to use. Some have specific brands of materials. Dig around for the details on the individual pages:
Sault Area Hospital used this instructable as their official pattern! (Sabrina, who made the video for Mask 1, is sewing masks for this effort) https://www.saultstar.com/news/local-news/sah-look...
Tucson, AZ https://www.lovemendingsouls.org/covid19-masks-he...
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