Welcome to Designed to the Nines I'mNataLee Callahan and I hope this video finds you safe healthy and well todayI'm launching a new series on my channel called craft for a cause and today'sepisode is being sponsored by Cricut for this episode we're gonna make this facemask with a pocket for a removable filter I'm gonna make mine on my Cricutmachine but even if you don't have a Cricut machine you can still do thisproject and cut these by hand and if you stick with me to the very endI'm gonna let you know about a no sew option I'm so excited to show you how tomake this so let's get started now many of you may know from my community pagepost, that last week in the middle of this global pandemic I had to visit theemergency room and while I was there I got to witness firsthand the problem offace masks and it really broke my heart when I saw all of these nurses in theemergency room not wearing face masks and one really got my attention was apregnant woman no face mask and that really really upset meso when Cricut reached out to me with their face mask mission it was ano-brainer for me to help so the first thing that we need to do is select twodifferent fabrics now the reason why we need to do this is so that you knowwhich side has been outside exposed to the germs and which one is on the insideso don't accidentally put it on the wrong side I know that this is kind of ajuvenile fabric but I decided to go with some superhero fabric that I had on ahand just because I feel like our frontline workers are all superheroesand then I just selected a coordinating fabric this green polka dot seemed tomatch so you could just use whatever you want as long as they're contrasting westart out by cutting your fabric to 7 by 12 inches if you are using a Cricutexplore air 2 like me and you plan on cutting out your fabric on your machineyou will definitely need to bond your fabric to something to make it a littlestiffer a lot of people recommend using freezer paper for this process however Ididn't have any on hand so I went ahead and just used somewonder under which actually ends up adding four extra layers to the maskwhich to me is an added bonus of extra protection but I do want to stress thatthis part is optional to make it stiff enough to go through the cutting processI use my Cricut easy press to bond the Wonder under to the back side of myfabric you could definitely use a regular iron as well then you want toput your fabric face down onto a green mat or a fabric mat I didn't have afabric mat so I used a green one you do want to make sure it's a newer stickierone because otherwise it won't hold the fabric down well after you cut it out just pull it offthe mat and then remove the paper backing after I remove the paper backingI then press this white cotton sheet that I had on hand which we'll be usingagain a little bit later so hang on to that then I just cut out the shape by hand I repeat this process for thecoordinating fabric you are not cutting your fabric out onyour machine you could always cut the pattern on your machine using somecardstock no Cricut machine? no problem! just go ahead and print out the patternon your printer and cut out by hand whichever method works best for you isperfect now all of the patterns and all the varying sizes are included in thelink provided in the description box below if you're wondering why I'm wearing awhite ribbon it is a salute to all of those medical workers working thefrontlines of this global pandemic they are my superheroes so I'm going tobe wearing this around.
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(laughing) now we're going to start out by sewing thecurved portion on both sides first if your needle is set to the center thenthe edge of the presser foot is a perfect guide then we're going to makesome V notches around the curve so that when you flip it out it will helpprevent puckering and then once we're done with that andwe've got it flipped right side out then we can take it to the ironing board andiron out the seam since it's curved I use the tip of my ironing board whichI have to be honest with you I hardly ever use and it works great we're going to do a top stitch byfolding the excess fabric over to one side and stitching on top of the fabricvery close to the seam once we've top stitched both pieces thenwe're going to join them together by placing right sides together pull outyour pins and pin the pieces together on the top seam starting at the center andworking out so everything lines up nicely then sew them together at this point we are going to hem oneside this will be the side for the filter pocket you can pick whatever sideyou want I ended up doing this on the right side now it's time to talk about ties versuselastic the original cricut pattern has a beautiful design for elastic I haven'tbeen able to get any elastic I ordered some off of Amazon weeks ago and it'snot gonna probably come in for weeks so I just been making the ties out of somesheets because it's what I had on hand and I also heard that the elastics mightafter a while start to irritate the ears and so the ties work out really nicelynow obviously you don't need to use bed sheets to make these ties you can useany kind of fabric cloth that you would like you're going to cut it about 1 and3/4 inch by 18 inches for each strap and you will need four straps total per maskI just tear mine because it tears on the straight line and it's much quicker thisway and then I cut it every 18 inches then you're going to want to make surethese are nice and pressed with an iron before sewing them into the ties startby taking one strap and folding one of the short edges down then you're goingto take the two sides and meet them in the center then you're going to takethat and fold that in half this helps prevent any kind of fraying on the strapsthen you're going to carefully place the end underneath your presser foot andmanually stick your needle into the fabric once that is holding it intoplace you can pull out your strap and bring the folds down a little bitfurther so that you are able to sew you're going to want to make sure youback stitch and sew it close to the edge you do not need to finish the end but Iwould back stitch that also so if we were going about things theproper way we would do all of this and iron it nicely and maybe even add somepins but you know me I like my shortcuts and this seems to work out just fine forme but if you're not confident about it do the same process of folding it downand folding it in and then iron that and then fold it in a half again and theniron that and then if you want to add some pins because if that makes you feelsecure then go for it but this is me and my little hack this is worked out finefor me and it's a little bit quicker it saves me some time if making thesestraps doesn't work for you of course you could always do the grosgrain ribbonso that's an option as well if you're making it for the medical community Iwould suggest doing the fabric ones just because I think that they'll be moresecure and more likely to stay into place but if you're making it for youknow other people other essential workers like grocery store or yourfamily or whatever where they can re-adjust easily and retie if they needto then go ahead and use a grosgrain ribbon I did this a little out of orderbut I'm going to be putting it in order for you so hopefully the steps makesense you're going to start by sewing twostraps to your finished hem side and line it up with the edge of the hem onthe inside I put mine on the front mask side make sure you leave enough room atthe top and the bottom for seam allowance that ends up being around ahalf an inch or so and then you're going to want to base those into place remember to stick with me to the veryend if you are interested in that no sew option I'll tell you where you can findthat then you're going to want to put straps on the other side lining them upwith the edge making sure you put everything into place feel free to letthe straps hang out the open end make sure you pin everything in placebefore you sew on the remaining two sides and make sure you leave thatpocket open on the end then you're going to want to clip your corners on an anglewithout also cutting the thread then you're gonna flip it out and you canalso like tug on the ties to help you pull it through and then if you need totake a pair of scissors and use them to poke out all of the corners you may wantto press all of the seams prior to top stitching all the way around this justreally finishes it off and reinforces the mask and helps it to be muchsturdier alright with our mask done isn't thisawesome it's so perfect I love it and you can tie it up top and on the bottomit covers up like an n95 mask for those if not here's another option for you sowe've created a little pocket that we can put a removable filter insert andthe way I am making mine is out of just one of my air conditioning filters Ialready had in my house I just figured a little extra protection wouldn't be badand then you can take it out when you wash the facemask we're going to do thisis I am just ripping off these yellow things and then I'm just going to makeit out of that and then we're going to use our pattern I use the pattern to cut out two piecesof the air filter and then I cut a little extra off the top and the bottomso that it will fit inside the finished mask then all you need to do is just sewa seam on that curved edge again and then it's time to put it inside it's atight fit getting it in but that makes me feel like it will stay in place wellif you're interested in the no sew option the link for that is in thedescription box below I made this face mask for my friendStacy who is a nurse practitioner working on the front lines of thiscrisis here in Florida so I'm gonna get this one over to my good friend Stacysafely of course as safely as possible I'm really happy with how these turnedout a lot of health workers are using them over the top of their n95 masks orother surgical masks to lengthen the amount of uses that they can get out ofthem some hospitals are not accepting these face masks but I think that theywould be great for nursing homes for other essential workers I think of likeall the people who are working at the grocery stores as an added layer ofprotection for your own family if you enjoyed this episode here's another onethat I think you'll like as well and until next time to all of my DIY ninersI hope you all stay safe healthy and well we'll see you soon bye.
