Face Mask Project

The year 2020 has been beyond challenging for the entire world. Everywhere we see people stepping up to do what they can to help each other get through this crisis. For Busy Hands volunteers it was obvious what we needed to do to help our own community. Face Masks were scarce but everyone needed them. Because of quarantine and a stay at home order, volunteers were asked to work at home making masks. Once a week, kits were distributed and finished masks collected curbside. The system worked beautifully and soon agencies needing masks were able to pick them up.

Agencies such as Hospice, Nursing Homes, Homeless shelters, essential factory workers, front line workers and others at risk, received masks in the first few months of the crisis. These were all adult masks. But as the summer progressed and back to school plans were being discussed, we realized we needed to begin making masks in children’s sizes. While e-learning at home is the initial plan, at some point children will return to the classroom and masks will be required. Busy Hands has pledged to make masks for South Bend area schools. Our mask making is well into the thousands of masks made, and we will continue to sew for as long as necessary and the crisis is over.

See the WSBT story and video! 

https://wsbt.com/news/local/local-nonprofit-hand-sewing-back-to-school-masks-for-kids

 

Fun Facts from our Mask Making Campaign as of December 31, 2020

• We have made 9,720 adult masks of which 9,300 have been distributed.
• July 1 we began making children’s masks.  We have made 6, 165 children’s masks and distributed 5,200.
• Masks are still being requested. January 2021, 1,465 masks were distributed to local schools.
• From July 2020 through January 2021, more than 5,800 masks have been distributed to students and staff in 34 area schools.
• 1,400 yards of fabric have been used in our mask making.
• We have used more than 5,000 yards of elastic and stretch knits for the ear loops of our masks.

How can you Help?

Donate: Old T-shirts or 100% cotton fabrics. Drop them off Monday – Thursday 8:30 – 12:30.
Monetary donations: through this website or mail a check to Busy Hands.
Do you Sew? Stop by and pick up a mask kit. Sew them at home and return the finished masks during our regular hours OR slip them through the mail slot at the front door.

Face Mask Instructions

We’ve had several inquiries on “How to” make the adult and child masks. There are many variations and patterns available. We have tweaked our pattern several times as supplies like elastic became scarce or we tried innovations we learned about for adjustable ear loops. Included here are general guidelines for the masks we make. Our pattern is based on a pattern shared in March by an Evansville, IN hospital and often referred to as the “Deaconess mask with elastic.” A video and FAQ can be found.  Deaconess mask with elastic

Cutting guides:

Adult: Cut 2 pieces 100% cotton fabric 6” x 9”. Cut elastic 7”

Small Child: (ages 4-8) Cut 2 @ 5” x 7.5”. See below for making adjustable ear loops

Medium Child: (ages 9-13) Cut 2 @ 6” x 8”

(Busy Hands prefers adjustable ear loops for our children’s masks. But if you wish to use elastic for masks you share with family, cut elastic @ 6” for child sizes.)

Adjustable ear loops: Using old cotton T-shirts, cut strips across the width of the shirt at ¾” wide. Pull to stretch these strips. They will curl into “noodles”.

*Note: Only single knit T-shirt fabric will curl. Look at the fabric front and back. The front will look like rows of vvvvvv. The back will be more of a squiggle or wave. (knitters will recognize knitting on the front and purl on the back.) If both front and back are the same vvvvv, the fabric will NOT curl up.

Cut 2 noodles 10-12” long for each mask. Sew a noodle to each end of the mask just as you would elastic. When the mask is complete, using a small crochet hook, pull the noodle ear loop through a pony bead. Slide the pony bead forward and tie a knot at the end of the ear loop to prevent bead from sliding off. The pony bead slides to adjust the ear loop to fit the child.

We have also used Very stretchy polyester knit noodles as a substitute for elastic in adult masks. If your noodles’ stretch is equal to elastic it may be substituted for elastic. Cotton T-shirt fabric generally does not have much stretch after being pulled into “noodles”, but make excellent adjustable ear loops.