Where to buy and how to make fabric face masks
A Della Dress facemask
For many, wearing a face mask in public has already become a reality. Face protection is regularly worn in the Far East where countries have previous experience of Coronaviruses. While in Europe: France, Germany, Spain and parts of Italy have included masks as part of their lockdown exit plans. After months of uncertainty, this week, the government finally advised the public to ‘wear a face covering in enclosed spaces where social distancing is not always possible and they come into contact with others that they do not normally meet, for example on public transport or in some shops.’ Like many others, I’ve been confused, conflicted and unmasked over the last few weeks, but will be following this advice and covering up when on the food shop from now on. To be honest, after a couple of frustrating ‘close-ups’ in-store last week, I will readily wear a face mask. But if it’s non medical-grade, does a mask offer protection – or assurance? What does the science say?
Currently, there is no scientific evidence to suggest that wearing a fabric face mask will prevent you from catching Covid-19, but it will help to protect others if you are infected, particularly in enclosed spaces where it’s hard to maintain a proper social distance. Public Health England (PHE) recommends making a cloth face covering out of an old t-shirt. Home-made versions can also be worn on top of medical-grade masks to help prolong their lifetime. And as N95 masks are in short supply and desperately needed by health and care workers, members of the public should DIY and do our best to protect others.
Sanctuary face masks from Anthropologie
Where to find non-medical fabric masks:
Many companies are selling masks which will benefit charities and help support the vulnerable. I’ve recently purchased a pair for me and Mr TNMA from South London’s Scobel Clothing. Founder Jackie Parsons makes masks to order with fabric off-cuts, all of which are either 100% cotton or linen (which has natural anti bacterial properties). The masks cost £20 (of which, £10 is donated to the NHS) and are available to order here. Brighton-based womenswear designer and illustrator Sarah Arnett is producing masks and snoods in a range of her striking textile designs. Sarah is also part of a team making scrubs for the NHS and profits from the masks allow the group to continue working for the Scrub Hub. Meanwhile, both Pearl Lowe and Brora have created masks in Liberty print fabrics, with money being donated to the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Charities Together, respectively. Lavender Hill Clothing is selling sets of three cotton face masks, available in navy, striped blue and denim blue for £20. For every set bought, the brand is donating a pack to a charity that looks after vulnerable refugee communities.
In the USA, Andrea Dyke founder of A Della Dress is using fabric remnants to make 100% cotton face masks, with a ‘buy one, donate one’ programme. For a maximalist look, designer Collina Strada has created an elaborate floral print mask with statement bows, it costs $100 but for every purchase, five masks are donated to healthcare workers in New York City.
For lower-cost, cotton versions check out Paisie, Anthropologie (pictured above) and Everlane. A reader has also recommended the £10 100% organic linen ones at Plumo . Baukjen are also making non-medical masks for personal use. And there’s a slew of traders on Etsy and eBay selling masks, made by creators and crafters, but pay close attention to the details and delivery date.
Sarah Arnett face masks
How to make your own:
If you’re craft-y, then create your own face mask using fabric scraps or an old t-shirt. Both the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and PHE have published instructions on how to make a cloth face covering. There’s a useful pattern from FreeSewing HERE, a handy no-sew option made from a bandana and two hair ties HERE. Plus, loads of tutorials on Pinterest and Youtube, and a master guide for new sewists HERE. Resourceful women are making masks from old bras, and socks. The CDC suggests two layers of tightly woven fabric, preferably 100% cotton. If you’d like to insert a filter into your mask, coffee filters and paper towels can help make your fabric face mask more effective and some women are even using panty liners (well, they are sterile).
What to look for:
Good Housekeeping’s Institutes textile lab says: ‘If the masks are made of fabric, they should be 100% woven cotton. If you want extra protection choose a style with a non-woven interface to filter contaminants, and choose a style with features which help it fit better around the nose, like a metal piece, or enforced stitching. Cloth face coverings should fit snugly but comfortably against the sides of the face, so adjust the ties or bands accordingly.’
How to wear them safely:
Follow these instructions from the World Health Organisation to minimise risk of contamination. ‘Before putting on a mask, clean hands with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water. Cover mouth and nose with mask and make sure there are no gaps between your face and the mask. Avoid touching the mask while using it; if you do, clean your hands with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water. To remove the mask: remove it from behind (do not touch the front of mask); and discard or wash immediately.’
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reported in April that the use of face masks in the community should be considered only as ‘a complimentary measure and not as a replacement of the preventive measures already recommended including physical distancing, respiratory etiquette, meticulous hand hygiene and avoiding touching the face, nose, eyes and mouth.’
Discussion (41 Comments)
Goddessinthedetails says:
I should have said military grade. And they warn on their website that someone has set up a scam, so anyone wanting one be careful — the scam has inverted two letters of the name.
Brigitte says:
Just wait for a (short) while and beautiful masks made of cotton will be sold everywhere. That’s how it is here in Germany. I buy my masks for 5 € each in a small shop around the corner, which usually sells african cloth — and have meanwhile quite a collection. It’s a wonderful present also in Covid-19-times. Not neccessary to pay exorbitant prices.
Greetings from Hamburg in semi-lockdown. 🙂Katherine says:
Baukjen https://www.baukjen.com/blogs/journal/baukjen-face-masks are selling face masks in packs of five, one for a child under 12 and give buyers an additional pack of five to share with family and friends.
I ordered mine a few weeks ago, good organic cotton, not sold for profit, good value I thought and I am keeping one in the car, dog walking jacket, handbag.
I think while the very expensive ones are lovely washing after each use at 60o may mean they don’t last long….Ruby says:
How to check if your mask is effective. If you can feel your breath when blowing through your mask then it is not protecting you or others. Trying to blow out a flame with your mask on is also a good test. Sometimes you may need 2 masks on to achieve the right protection.
Mrs Tonia says:
This is excellent Alyson. Thanks for providing such comprehensive information about not only where to buy but the construction also. Very useful. We were given some of the blue paper medical ones. I’ve worn this on the rare excursions to enter food shops. Along with the surgical gloves I managed to get in March I am in favour of having this mask or a similar one to hand when going into more crowded or interior situations. So far I’ve been on no buses choosing to walk instead. But would certainly wear on any public transport Consensus and advice certainly from the Mayor of London is moving to advocate mask wearing.
Karen Boatwright says:
Good to hear more people in the U.K. are wearing masks but if you are about to buy or make yours please listen to this medical advice which warns against using sime hepa filters. Stay safe everyone!
https://youtu.be/qiYbXsIcI7EThanks Karen, someone else has just sent me this via email. I’m going to amend that right away.
Lauren says:
This man did not do his homework on this one….just because he is a Doctor does not mean he got it right on this. He is correct that things like fibreglass, asbestos, etc. do cause lung damage (ask a Respirologist) but this is not what we have happening here. While there may be “glass fibres” in some industrial filters…and we are talking something not available to the public….there are no “glass fibres” in any vacuum cleaner bags or furnace filters that I am aware of (called many companies to check). Mostly just do your own homework and stay safe
I live in Luxembourg and the government here are distributing 36 million masks so that every resident has fifty masks at their disposal all free of charge
Gabrielle Moody says:
Hi, I am in Australia and we have never been encouraged to wear masks. Our infection rate and death toll is much much lower than many countries. We are just starting to ease out of lockdown and children in my state of Victoria return to school June 9th. We have just had a massive testing blitz and as I work in health care – was tested even though asymptomatic. Unpleasant but fortunately negative. Thoughts to you all in the UK and US where you have been greatly affected. Stay safe. Gabrielle
MaureenC says:
I like what Bauken are doing and selling masks at cost price to make them as chap as possible for a numpty like me who can’t sew. I’m less happy about people who are “giving some of the money to the NHS”. I worked in the NHS for 25 years and not for one second did I think I was working for a charity. If people want to raise money for charities or for benevolence organIsations that support NHS or care workers in distress by all means do so. But why on earth are we suddenly raising money for something that is and should be better state funded? The NHS is not and never should be a charity, that’s what the poor depended on before 1945, let’s be very careful.
I hear you, Maureen. The NHS is not a charity. And proper planning and budgeting for essential services and equipment is the state’s responsibility. Sadly, the NHS has been underfunded for the last decade – and I think people are just doing what they can to try to help in this time of crisis. Worth remembering all this next time we come to vote…
I thought this too. I can’t see on the Scobel site any mention of the donation to charity. I wonder if they mean ‘NHS Charities’ which is a collection of charities that support the NHS work (volunteers on wards etc) which is different from the idea that our money goes directly to ‘The NHS’ as if it’s going to fund equipment or doctors and nurses.
Love the round-up Aly. I’m going with a bog standard blue and white one with a fancy scarf over the top at the mo! I wish there was a way to design transparent ones so we can still read facial expressions 🙁
Heather Cupit says:
I have some Paisie striped ones and also two made by a local dog accessory company, which has turned its hand to making masks. I must say I feel a bit unsure about the whole mask issue but if by wearing one, I protect someone else from getting the virus, then I will wear one in confined spaces.
Sara says:
Alyson, your last comment just nails it. As an ex-NHS worker (retired) and a human being, the NHS is the very best of our country and I am so proud of having been a small part of it. Absolutely, the NHS is NOT a charity but I get why people are raising money for it. How many who are now praising it to the heavens let its funding be reduced and reduced by the policies of austerity?
The lovely Patrick Grant briefly on TV last night showed even the less capable sewers how to make a basic face mask ; again, it is about looking after others. We will wear masks to protect others from us but let’s think about paying a fortune for fancy ones; could the money go towards supporting not only the NHS (see above) but food banks and/or domestic violence charities to name but a couple in this strange age?
A thought provoking post is always good, so please carry on!Hi everyone,
Here in Amsterdam very few people are wearing masks…starting June 1st we are going to have to in public places.
So good info was very welcome, thanks.
Heres what I just read (extract) Where are people getting sick?We know most people get infected in their own home. A household member contracts the virus in the community and brings it into the house where sustained contact between household members leads to infection.
But where are people contracting the infection in the community? I regularly hear people worrying about grocery stores, bike rides, inconsiderate runners who are not wearing masks…. are these places of concern? Well, not really. Let me explain.
In order to get infected you need to get exposed to an infectious dose of the virus; based on infectious dose studies with other coronaviruses, some estimate that as few as 1000 SARS-CoV2 viral particles are needed for an infection to take hold. Please note, this still needs to be determined experimentally, but we can use that number to demonstrate how infection can occur. Infection could occur, through 1000 viral particles you receive in one breath or from one eye-rub, or 100 viral particles inhaled with each breath over 10 breaths, or 10 viral particles with 100 breaths. Each of these situations can lead to an infection.
How much Virus is released into the environment?
A Bathroom: Bathrooms have a lot of high touch surfaces, door handles, faucets, stall doors. So fomite transfer risk in this environment can be high. We still do not know whether a person releases infectious material in feces or just fragmented virus, but we do know that toilet flushing does aerosolize many droplets. Treat public bathrooms with extra caution (surface and air), until we know more about the risk.
&
….But even if that cough or sneeze was not directed at you, some infected droplets–the smallest of small–can hang in the air for a few minutes, filling every corner of a modest sized room with infectious viral particles. All you have to do is enter that room within a few minutes of the cough/sneeze and take a few breaths and you have potentially received enough virus to establish an infection.brrr
Jill Shooter says:
The wonderful online clothes company, Plumo is selling linen masks in various colours, washable up to 90 degrees for £10.
I have ordered several including one in Rosebud pink for my mother (85) who is desperate to visit her local garden centre!
Spoiler…. the clothes are amazing too, several “essential “ items fell into my basket at the same time.Oh, Plumo’s are good. I might buy my mum one! Thanks Jill, I’m going to add them to the main body of the feature
Elizabeth Green says:
I have been making washable Cotton masks for local care homes for several weeks using a simple u tube video, ok I’m an accomplished sewer, but they aren’t hard to make. I’ve decided to modify the pattern so that panty liners or some other form of more impermeable lining can be inserted and discarded. However I’m concerned about all the extra waste this is going to entail. Somewhere we pay a price either environmentally or health wise. I’m also slightly deaf and I realise that seeing someone whole face when they’re speaking is really important to me, another challenge. I agree with the other comments that the expensive masks are not the way to go, surely donating to food banks, homeless charities or other such organisations is really the best answer.
Su says:
Hello Elizabeth. My sister backs up her impaired hearing with lip reading and expressions. She now has a phone app which translates others’ speech into text, so if precision is necessary (she works in a hospital) she’s covered. She finds it easy and effective, maybe something like that would be handy for you? Su
Claire says:
I am enjoying making masks I gorgeous fabrics that will go with different outfits. There are some good patterns online for people with basic sewing skills like me. I am also making them for friends and family as little gifts. It’s nice to make them in fabric that I kown they will love.
Valleycat1 says:
Regarding proper use: If you remain be your mask before you are at home by the trash can or dirty laundry bin, you need a container to put it in -plastic bag or a shoe box, for example. Don’t just toss it on the seat or stuff it in your purse.
Also, masks with an obvious inner and outer layer/side make it easier if you are in a situation where you are donning it and intermittently taking it off.
If anyone wants to make their own masks – and they can be easily hand-sown if you don’t use a machine – the best of all the patterns I’ve tried is a free one by Mimi G on the Bluprint website. You don’t need to register or give any details. It’s easily adapted to tapes or round the ear or round the head elastic, and can take inserted filters if you want to go that route. It fits very neatly round the nose even without the shaping insert, and doesn’t poke up into your lower eyelid.
There is a lot of research on types of fabric (a particularly useful Oxford Uni study amongst others) types of filter and shaping and the problem is always breathability v filtration. If your eyes aren’t sealed off by goggles then I have doubts about the personal protection from a mask, but a double layer of close woven cotton should reduce spread from the wearer, and be comfortable enough to actually keep it on! (This may not fit with directives in all countries.)
Sheree says:
Agree Su,
I like the Mimi G mask pattern. Made with closely woven fabric like quilting cotton ( I did actually use a good quality bed sheet) this mask passed the “blowing out a flame“ test.
Oh yes! If your glasses mist up from the mask apparently rinsing them in soapy water and leaving them to air dry helps.
Thank you so much for the shout out Alyson! One of my motivations for doing a ‘buy one donate one’ campaign was to give my long time sewer some work, as there was very little going his way when we first started in early April. It is also an excellent way to use up fabric remnants that might otherwise have ended up in the landfill. Many of the masks I make are ‘one of a kind’ as a result. I now make a child size mask as well, making fabrics scraps go even further! Lot’s of wins: front line workers, independent sewers, the environment and a little bit left over for me which helps a lot since my husbands work is a casualty due to the lockdown.
Carole says:
Along with wearing home made masks we leave our outside clothes at the door and change to inside clothes. Got that from an infectious disease doctor. Shower is always the next step.
Georgina says:
By all means wear the prettiest, most stylish face mask possible, but please can we be under no illusion that a piece of fabric will prevent anyone inhaling the virus if it is present.
Thanks for commenting Georgina, and yes, that’s something I mention in the feature.
LMG says:
We finally have disposable masks available in Switzerland in packs of 50, which the government are selling at cost price. Unfortunately, they are made in China (which has caused a lot of complaints) but I assume it’s all the government could get – masks have been very difficult to find. These disposable masks say to wear for a maximum of 4 hours then throw away so please be careful with any fabric masks – I assume they won’t provide day long protection and will need to be washed after each use.
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Thanks, Alyson. Thanks to you, I just got a snood from Sarah A. A few weeks back, I bought a good cheap face mask from eBay, which has a little pocket so I can add an extra layer and fastens around my head rather than my ears. I’ve also got an order in for me and Mr Goddess for one of the N99 ones made by the Cambridge Mask Company. These aren’t used by the NHS but are medical grade kind of quality (details of why are on their website). Unfortunately, there’s a wait time but I guess this virus isn’t going away any time soon.