2020 Advent Calendar – door #14: a festive face mask

Open door 14 of the 2020 Advent Calendar and you’ll find a face mask. Use the free pattern for the face mask, grab your pins, follow your heart and start sewing! 

2020 has been an eventful year in very many ways. With the Advent calendar, we’re counting down to Christmas as well as to the end of this year.
We can’t ignore the fact that many of us are spending this year’s holidays differently – with our own family, with a limited group of friends, or with only some of the family. 

In our family, we’ve always celebrated St. Nicholas Day with my mother’s side of the family and St. Nicholas Day falls during Advent. We were a creative family, with someone creating something from clay, another person working with wood, and yet another using flower bulbs or concrete and so on. Everyone made something creative and gave it to one of the others. Right from the heart!! 

Heart. It’s a word that has probably been used a lot this year. Coronavirus, quarantine… For many, this has meant we have been ‘out of sight, but never out of heart’: during this period, we’ve held each other in our hearts. We need to keep an eye on each other. And we have to wear face masks, not just to protect ourselves, but others as well. We care about each other and can sense that in our hearts. 

So to continue that trend, I’m sewing a face mask for my mum! Christmas from the heart!

Pattern for a self-made face mask

I picked out a good fabric. It is quite neutral, so it goes with everything. I then used the face mask pattern from Bescherm Elkaar (in Dutch). This pattern includes different sizes for children, teenagers, women and men. 

Pattern parts

Cut out the desired face mask pattern from paper. Place the pattern on the fabric and cut out the pieces including a seam allowance. I have chosen to make the outside and inside from the same fabric but you could use different fabrics if you wish. Seeing as I’m making a basic face mask there are two layers, which means there are 4 pieces of face mask in total.

Festive self-made face mask – the sewing instructions

Select the fabric you used in the sewing guide. Hover over the question mark to see what this means. I used thin cotton. 

The BERNINA 590 indicates that I should use BERNINA Overlock foot #2A  for the sewing and finishing stitch. Start sewing!

Place two pieces on top of each other and sew along the edge. I used an intertwined sewing and finishing stitch. 

Do this for both the front and the back of the face mask.

On the back, I did some decorative stitching with hearts.

Reinforcing the nasal arch

Pin the front and back of the face mask with the right sides together and sew along the top. At this point you can choose whether or not to use iron wire for a nose bridge. I removed a clasp from a rubbish bag and sewed it over the finishing stitching with a zigzag stitch. 

I used a zigzag stitch for this.

Ribbons or elastic?

I chose red ribbons instead of elastic for this face mask, just to make it that little more festive! Pin them on both sides with the right sides facing the inside of the face mask. This face mask is more of an amusing accessory. I think elastic would hold it in place better than the lovely ribbons, but for this mask it’s all about coming from the heart! 

Sewing and turning

Once you have placed the ribbons inside, pin all around the face mask. Sew along the sides and the bottom. Leave a 2 centimetre gap and use it to turn the face mask inside out. Sew the last section closed. You could also stitch this last section by hand. 
If you leave a side open, you can always insert a filter.

The face mask is finished! 

I wish you a nice Advent time and happy holidays! Let’s all try to look out for each other during these strange coronavirus times we’re living through.

2020 Advent Calendar – door #14 is now open and I’m looking forward to door #15!

Guus

Important information from BERNINA and the author of this blog:

The face mask that is described here as a creative project does not meet any medical guidelines for face masks and there is no guarantee of it reducing the risk of infection. No responsibility or liability in this respect shall be accepted.