Home Made Mask

Using random stuff I had laying around, and this Palm Beach Post article about making a mask, I created my own mask:

Stuff I had on hand: Some quilt patches I made long ago which were never going to become an actual quilt. An old worn out pair of shoes I could steal the shoestrings from. Some hair ties for something springy to hold mask in place. A paper clip. Needle and thread. An iron.

Variations on the design from the article: I stitched bits of shoestring in place of the elastic the article calls for, and then stitched a hair tie to the shoestrings (one on each side, naturally). The paper clip was straightened out, stuck into the seam of the top front bit of quilt before I stitched the gap closed so I could use it to help the mask fit around my nose without too much hot air blowing back and fogging my glasses.

There was also no way it seemed possible to make three pleats, so I went with just two.

Wore it grocery shopping on Saturday, then popped it into a mesh laundry bag for washing on Sunday (hoping the bag would prevent the strings from getting tangled with other laundry and ripped off). It did indeed remain intact, but got a mite wrinkled:

However, all the bits remained intact and stitched together, and the wrinkles don't show so much once I stretch it over my face again, so it looks like I have a shopping mask till it finally does wear out.