Mask pattern

I made one - as a test - from a cone coffee filter < 6 cup size = adult, 4 cup = child fine adjust with scissors >

; some medical tape to strengthen the holes < hole punch >

.. and four long elastic bands to go around the ears Easy as pie. The recent medical advice indicates that wearing the masks is not very effective to protect yourself - but is recommended to protect OTHERS if you are sick. Protecting yourself would require many mask changes per day and a sealed bag to store the used ones until you get home and wash them - carefully - so as not to spread your droplets that they have been gathering all day long ... John T.

I've been thinking of it as a way to make sure that there's a handkerchief over my face if I sneeze.

Yep - perfect for that - but if you treat it like a tissue -

- which health authorities say to dispose of asap after every use - - you'd need to change it to a clean one fairly often .. - and safely store the used ones for later cleaning. A better system might be a mask "frame" that accepts a tissue < or coffee filter ? > that can be disposed-of and easily replaced at frequent intervals throughout the day < ? >

John T.

A quick google search found these :

Plus pinterest has lots & lots of hits.

John T.

The one actual test I've been able to find in the scientific literature on cloth masks vs. standard medical masks is this one:

says that hospital patient care workers (nurses?) in Vietnam, in an influenza epidemic were, in this study, given either standard medical masks (which I take to mean something like the earloop jobbies the doctor's office hands out when you show up with a respiratory illness) or 5 cloth masks that the (for sake of simplicity) nurses were supposed to wash after each shift. When the study concluded, they found that the cloth mask wearers were 13 times more likely to catch flu than the medical mask wearers.

If you go here:

you'll find a reaction to homemade masks and whether or not they'll protect you, written by an infectious disease/epidemiology specialist.

There are also references to a number of homebrew patterns in that thread.

Me? I'm staying home.

Kay

Kay,

I read that article too, and I'm trying to gather more of the relevant research on the topic and contact researchers as well. I have organized some readings in google drive (link below). Most of them are pretty discouraging of the practice, and I'm waiting until I can find out more and see how a few more experts weigh in. Unfortunately most of the studies also used very improvised materials and design, not a well constructed home-sewn mask (but that too might be ineffective, or worse dangerous).

Best,

Sargeant

I found a cute idea in instructions for a doctor play set: Instead of a box pleat, run elastic through the ends of the mask, and use the same elastic to hold the mask on. Though how one would do that with the loops shown in the picture, I don't know.

Further search showed that the loops are supposed to be hooked over the child's ears. That would stay on my face maybe up to thirty seconds. One picture showed very thick cord elastic!

Ah, useful information! "In doing the math, each mask takes a 10 x 6 piece of fabric for the outside and for the lining. 1/2 yard of each fabric would give you 12 masks."

The pattern is for cutting the cloth up to make a 3-D mask, but holding a tape measure up to my face suggests that ten by six would be about right.

I could put one loop through both hems . . .

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20/20/2020

Pretty soon after writing that, I realized that I was overthinking this. Instead of hunting for a mask pattern that is equivalent to a handkerchief over the face, just tie a handkerchief over my face!

That's at least as good as any mask in the hands of non-medical personell.

Investigation of my pile of hankies showed that I have three real bandanas (made when bandanas were practical rather than the latest fashion), and a linen furoshiki. I make furoshikis in pairs because cutting one leaves a furoshiki-size scrap, so there should be another. I think the other one is in a box or basket somewhere with a forgotten knitting or mending project pinned up in it.

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Then today, I discovered that I *did* have the vast supply of canned cat food I had thought I had when last in the store -- instead of forgetting how long ago I'd bought it, I forgot where I put it. There is plenty to last until Senior Day at Martin's.

(The cat has kidney stones, so we want him to get as many of his calories from wet food as possible, even though the dry food is renal support and the wet food mostly isn't. He detects and detests the flavor of renal support in wet food.)

So instead of going to Tractor Supply tomorrow, I'll go around the south end of the lake, look at the recently-refurbished dam, ride the length of Chinworth Trail, and have a picnic lunch in Tippy Park. I rarely share Tippy Park, and never this early in the season. And if someone else shows up, there are enough tables for a twelve-foot social distance.

Then I can come back past the place where the "The Farm" farm stand will be when the sweeet corn is ripe, just to make it twenty miles.

PS: Patternreview forums seems to be gearing up for a mask and gown making project. See:

I've been doing that reading, too. Have you found the study in Vietnam that assigned nurses in influenza wards either cloth masks or standard medical masks like the earloop jobbies? The nurses using cloth masks were 13x more likely to get flu than the ones using the standard medical masks.

I'm quite willing to ramp up home production here if anyone can convince me that I'm not doing more harm than good. So far, they haven't. And the CDC advice to use a bandana or scarf if nothing else is available sounds like something regrettable to me, in light of the study in Vietnam.

Kay

>

I'd say that - if your intention for the mask is to protect the wearer - not much use. If your intention is for a symptomatic person to wear it to help protect others - maybe. < along with all the other recommmended steps like hand washing and social distancing .. >

John T.

Vietnam that assigned nurses in influenza wards either cloth

I suspect any sort of mask short of the really serious ones just keeps the wearer from spitting on someone or something. If paper towels weren't also in short supply I suspect a double layer of those attached to your face with a thing made out of elastic and alligator clips would do just as well.

DENTAL BIBS!

This was my idea :

John T.

I'm told we (locally) have enough of the basic masks to put on people who are symptomatic, and the current request is for masks for the medical staff, which is what I find so worrisome. I would feel horrible about a mask I made possibly contributing to a loss of medical personnel. But if we get one good study showing some particular mask is helpful and it should be made of a particular fabric, I'm quite willing to sew.

But the current "sew any design, any fabric" kick seems like it may be a waste of resources and time and maybe lives. :-( It may encourage people to take more risks than if they had no protective gear at all. I know that sounds harsh, and I feel selfish by not participating, but my microbiological training is telling my head that this is not a good idea, while my heart says, "do something right now!". I think I have to go with my head.

Kay

I agree with you - and also question the science behind any idea of medical professionals using home-made cloth < re-usable ? >

masks ... seems wrong to me. ... it isn't a case of an uneducated do-gooder suggesting it on social media - and having the idea take off ? John T.

Someone did show up, but he stayed in his truck. I think he'd pulled off the road to make a phone call.

More worrying were the dog-walkers on the MUP who refused to avoid me. I rode off into the lawn and waited until they had passed.

I came straight home after lunch. Riding around in loops just to get tired isn't any fun.

I will walk a mile tomorrow, and climb some stairs.

There was a link in this morning's paper:

More info on materials :

John T.

I saw this video online this morning from the Today Show. Looks quite simple to make.

As long as people realize that a D I Y mask * * is not to protect the wearer * * it is to protect the wearer from spreading his/her spit germs. John T.