Scraps of my masks

As of this post, I have made over 64 face masks to give to others. Once the CDC decided we should all wear masks, and preferably the ones made at home, I've been asking my family, friends, neighbors and colleagues if they need masks.

It's been an evolution after I started with one style of mask, above and switched to a different style, that has a wire at the top to fit around the top of your nose. Also, it has a pocket so that you can insert a filter.

I've gone through my fabric stash and used fabrics that I had on hand. I had to wash the fabric and dry it to make sure it was pre-shrunk then iron the fabric so I could cut it accurately. I went through several packages of elastic that I had in my stash, and ran out, then ordered more on Amazon. I was ahead of the curve in ordering so thankfully my order came in last week. 

When I didn't have elastic I made masks using fabric strips as ties and learned how to make bias tape. I've really enjoyed learning new sewing techniques. 

I ended up mailing 15 packages to those who were out of town. Here are samples of the fabrics and styles. 

I decided to estimate the materials I've used so far:

10+ yards of material

106 yards of thread (wish I'd counted bobbins)

75+ feet of elastic

28+ feet of floral wire

3 needles

One realization is that I have a fabric addiction. It's not always easy to part with some of the fabrics I have on hand. My solution is to make something from small scraps of the fabric I used for the masks. It's like my paper addiction, the fabrics I've collected are so beautiful that sometimes it's hard to say goodbye to them! 

So, I realized I should cut them up into small pieces and then plan make something in order to incorporate them in my journal, and document this journey. 

Before I cut the pieces from the scrap pile into 2" square pieces, I decided I'd try a time-lapse video.