How to sew a protective face mask with your own hands

A protective face mask is a necessary item during epidemics. If for some reason they were not delivered to the city’s pharmacies, let’s remember the words of the hero Ilf and Petrov: “Saving the drowning is the work of the drowning themselves”, we will show a little ingenuity and patience and try to sew a protective mask with our own hands. 

To do this, we need a small flap of thick cotton or linen fabric (bed linen is sewn from these). We advise you to choose natural materials, because they are softer, it is easier to breathe in such a mask, the fabric absorbs wet condensate from breathing well. 

To sew a protective face mask, special skills are not required – it will be enough to remember school home economics lessons. It will be faster to sew on a sewing machine. But if you have time and a little patience, then you can do it on your hands.

The network now offers many options for making protective masks with your own hands. We chose one of the simplest and most convenient models – such a mask fits well to the face, does not put pressure on the nose, it is comfortable to wear, and it looks aesthetically pleasing. If desired, the design of the mask is easy to change so that you get a pocket in which you can put a cotton pad or bandage treated with an antiseptic.

In our instructions you will find two sizes of a protective face mask – for an adult and a child. 

Step-by-step instructions for creating a protective mask

For work we will need: 

For pattern:

• Two sheets from a notebook in a cage 
• ruler 
• Pencil 
• Scissors 

For the mask:

• the cloth 
• Elastic band for hats or clothes 
• Spool of thread 
• Needle 
• Sewing machine (if any)

1. Making a pattern

You can sew a protective mask with your own hands not one, but for the whole family – adults and children. To do this, we will prepare two patterns. 

It is more convenient to draw diagrams of future masks on a squared notebook sheet. We make straight lines along the ruler, and rounding by hand. Cut out the patterns. 

To make it convenient to cut on fabric, you can make a pattern by transferring the contours of the pattern onto cardboard. For this purpose, an old candy or shoe box is suitable.

2. We sew a protective mask

1. Cut out the mask. To do this, fold the fabric in two layers, right side inward. We put a paper pattern or pattern on the wrong side and draw around the contour with a pencil. Do not forget to mark the seam allowances of 1 cm. To make a protective face mask, we need 2 pairs of symmetrical parts.

2. We grind on a sewing machine or sew on our hands two pairs of symmetrical parts in the central part of the mask, for convenience, having previously fastened them with tailor’s pins. 

3. So that the rounded edge lies well on the front side, carefully, without reaching the line, we make cuts along it.

4. We got two parts of the future protective mask. We put one on top of the other face to face so that the middle seams coincide, we cut off with pins and sew along long sections – the upper and lower. 

5. We turn the mask inside out on the face, straighten and iron

6. You can stitch the mask along the long sides to the edge so that it holds its shape better and looks neater

7. We process short side sections with an overcast seam, bend them about 1,5 cm inside out and attach or sew on the hands. 

8. From the gum cut off two pieces of 20 cm long. Using a safety pin, thread the elastic into the side seams.

9. We fix the ends of the elastic by sewing with a needle or tying them. We hide the seam or knot.

The face mask is ready! The nursery is sewn similarly from a smaller pattern. For it, you can take a fabric with a funny pattern or decorate a protective mask for a child by making embroidery.

Be healthy! Take care of yourself and loved ones!

Popular questions and answers 

Answered questions about homemade protective masks allergist-immunologist of the highest category, Ph.D. Ksenia Bocharova.