Homemade Face Mask for T1D

The first time I ever heard of the "Corona Virus" was in early Feb 2020. I never knew it would become a pandemic or effect the USA as much as it has. I NEVER expected to be living in a quarantined world and learning how to make my own face mask, but here I am blogging about it.

As we reported April 3, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommends all citizens voluntarily wear a cloth face mask for essential trips out of the house to the grocery store, doctor, or other public places where the 6-foot social distancing rules may be difficult to maintain.
Wearing a cloth mask might help protect people around you, if you happen to be infected with Covid-19 but do not have symptoms yet. - WIRED.com

Since having Type 1 Diabetes considers me “immunocompromised” or at a higher risk I decided to create my own hand-made face mask to wear when I go out in public. I do not own a sewing machine so I found a hand stitch tutorial and fabric pattern to help me.

What You'll Need:

1. Tightly knit cotton material, like a T-shirt. (A scarf can work. The fabric should be big enough to fold several times and cover your nose and mouth)

2. Two Hair ties or rubber bands

3. Needle & thread

4. Scissors

Fabric Pattern:

I used a print out pattern by craftpassion.com:

Men's Size

Womens/Teenager size

Kid's Size (7-12 yrs)

Kid's Size (3-6 yrs)

See her full blog post here for more face mask patterns including ones with a filter option!

YouTube Tutorial:

I used this YouTube tutorial to show me how to sew my fabric pieces together and how to attach my hair ties by Jess Dang.

Once I finished sewing my face mask together I embroidered a small heart on one side to mark as the inside fabric. It is important to note which side is against your face. You can use a different colored fabric as a lining to indicate the inside of your face mask. Do not reverse - it will defeat the purpose of wearing a face mask. Stay safe! Stay healthy and do your part to end this craziness.