Florence: FreeSewing's Face Mask
Designer Notes
When the COVID-pandemic swept the globe in early 2019, and a shortage of PPE followed, it became obvious we were going to need a lot of face masks.
So I set out to design this pattern, and also ended up making a whole bunch of them for the local university hospital. Because I was rather early to fill this need, it was picked up by a variety of publications, such a Forbes, the New York Times, and a bunch of others.
As a result, this simple design probably did more to let people know FreeSewing exists than any other thing I’ve ever done. Which is something I try not to think about too much.
Obviously, these kind of home-made mask are no substitute for professional PPE, but you knew that.
joost
What You Need
To make a Florence face mask, you will need the following:
- Basic sewing supplies
- About 15 cm (6”) of a suitable fabric (see Fabric options)
- About 15 cm (6”) of lining fabric
- About 1.6 meters (1.8 yards) of ribbon cut in 4 equal parts
Fabric Options
The goal of our mask is to stop droplets. So you want to go for something that filters those out. Then again, you need to be able to breath through your mask, so we want fabric that breathes, without letting droplets through.
In addition, we want the inside to be comfortable on our skin. So here I’d suggest a tightly woven cotton or viscose/rayon. For the outer fabric, cotton again, or a tightly woven wool.
Note that fabric that is breathable is not the same as fabric your can breath through. There’s many so-called waterproof breathable fabrics — or MBFs — that are used for outdoor gear because they repel water and are breathable but would make a poor choice for a face mask. Look no further than your umbrella for an example. Chances are it’s more from a fabric you can breath through, but only with substantial effort, which would not work for our face mask.
Cutting Instructions
Florence only has one part, the mask. This is half of the mask, so we will need two of them. In addition, we want an outer and inner layer of fabric, so we’ll need four in total:
- Main fabric
- Cut 2 masks parts
- Lining fabric
- Cut 2 masks parts
If you’re using the same fabric in and out (which is fine) then simply cut 4 mask parts.