If you’re looking for an easy no elastic DIY face mask, you’ve come to the right place! There are pros and cons to both the elastic style masks and the masks that tie. I don’t have any elastic on hand and haven’t been able to find any, so it was an easy choice to make tie masks. Maybe you’re in the same boat! There are lots of ways to make fabric masks out there, I thought I’d share the way I found easiest with step by step instructions. We’ve been happy these masks and have made dozens of them in the last couple weeks.
What you need:
- 2 pieces of cotton fabric - Adult size: 6 inch by 9 inch pieces, Kids size: 5 inch by 8 inch pieces
- 2 strips of fabric 1 5/8 in. wide- Adult size: 42 inches long, Kids size: 38 inches long
- Straight pins
- Sewing machine
- Iron
How to make it:
Step 1- Cut fabric:
Cut two pieces of cotton fabric 6 inches by 9 inches.I used two different patterns just for fun, the mask is reversible!
Step 2- Sew sides:
Place the two pieces RIGHT sides together and sew along the short sides, backstitching at the beginning and end.
Now turn right sides out and iron.
Step 3- Bias tape:
You can buy pre-made bias tape for the ties, but it would get expensive really quick, I highly recommend making your own. It’s simple to make and you can have it match your mask perfectly.
After making a few masks doing bias tape totally manually, I wondered if there was a better way, so I did what we always do when we wonder and googled it. Shut. the. front. door. There is a little tool called a bias tape maker that I never knew existed. I would guess any one who sews much knew about this thing, but I was pumped to have just found a faster way! I tracked one down at a local quilt shop and picked it up the same afternoon. I got the 3/4 ” bias tape maker.
My 15 and 12 year old daughters busted out bias tape so fast using it. Check it out-
First, cut one end of the strip into a point.
Next feed it into the wide end of the bias tape maker.
Use a seam ripper to help pull it through to the thin end.
Pull the strip out a couple inches, trim the pointed end, fold, and iron.
Then pull the bias tape maker to the left as you iron on the right. It folds the strip for you!
Once you’ve pulled the whole length through, fold it in half and iron. It’s ready for the next step!
Step 4 - Sew the ties (bias tape) to the mask
Find the center of the strips, and pin to the long sides of the fabric, making sure the fabric pieces are INSIDE the fold of the bias tape (mask ties).
Next sew down the entire length of the strip, (backstitching at the beginning and end.) This way you sew the bias tape strips, attach them to the mask and hem the open sides of the fabric all in one run!
Step 5- Pleats:
The final step to these masks is sewing in some pleats. You can do as many folds here as you like, I just did two and am happy with the results.
Fold the fabric accordion style, iron, and place some pins to hold the pleats while sewing.
Sew down both sides, (backstitching at beginning and end).
The mask is done!
My girls were able to help quite a bit with these masks, which is always a plus. We had fun choosing fabric and mixing and matching them. The kid ones turned out really cute too.
I hope this tutorial for a DIY face mask was helpful!
Face masks are the hottest fashion trend of 2020 so far-haha!
