My family are quite happy to stay at home, we are all home bodies, my sibling will not even go out in the garden for a tiny bit of sunshine. My friend has also requested I make some for her and her hubby who is a pharmacist.
Flu mask on styling head, the eyes have been blanked out, as dolls' eyes have always creep me out. I was going to cut her hair up, but seems a waste, so keeping her just for styling. The mask is way too big for the head, but expresses how the mask can be shaped around nose and chin.
This is my own design and pattern, so will have to send her two as samples and see if they fit her, as I have based it on my face size, hopefully they will fit and I will not have to make any changes.
Front of flu mask
I have made the cover out of again polyester faux suedette for its extra quick drying properties, luckily I stock up fabrics during these crazy times, I was saving it to fix my sibling's chair which has now broken and to make pillow cases out of it, but obviously life is more important then pillow cases.
For the sleeve cover, I've used black on top and navy on the under layer, so I can reverse it if I wish to. Two strings of elastic is threaded through the top layer to make ear loops however, I've decided to keep a long bit of elastic to tie around the back of the head instead, so scraps of elastic has been sewn joined to go around head. I wear glasses, like to have my hands free and for long term use it would be more comfortable and easier to carry wearing it around my neck.
The centre of my face mask is a filter made of green photography backdrop which I do not use, it can be removed to use as normal flu mask and completely washable as it is water resistant and breathable made from non woven polypropylene fabric commonly used in collapsible wardrobes or organisers and other general household items. Along the top of the mask, I've sewn in a plant tie to shape across the bridge of the nose as it is said that the viruses are more likely to get into gaps along the nose, gapes by the cheek and areas around the chin. It takes me about 45 minutes to make one mask, so very quickly to cut and stitch up one.
Will go out and brave the outside world later today and send these to her, hopefully the post office is still sending packets and not too affected by this outbreak.
*Update, unfortunately they were slightly too small for her, but another friend has made her bigger ones which she will customise to fit better with some wire from a shop. It took by 1st class mail, 6 days to reach her. Royal Mail appears to be struggling to post things on time during this outbreak. I've also found this very good for general cleaning in stopping me getting a coughing fit from dust, a face warmer and good protection in windy weather to prevent wind burn on my upper lip and nose area that I always get around this time of year.
I've now got to the point where I take out the filter, I think it is only really necessary if you are a germaphobe, doctor or nurse or someone who has close contact. I'm generally using only within crowded areas and tight spaces, not outdoors, it can get very sweaty otherwise.
Version 2 & 3
I made this out of very thin cream cotton scraps, changed the pattern to include an air space and wire over the mouth and nose to make it easier to breath. I made one with wire over the mouth and one without. I found the fabric up close to the mouth causes severe sweating, steaming up of my glasses and difficult to breath. Made it out of cotton, as most people choose cotton to make a mask and a lighter colour to fit in with summer, as people tend to associate suedette and black with winter. However, I still think the suedette is a better material and more comfortable even in summer. As it is made of cotton, it is slower to dry after washing.
Version 4 & 5
Version 4 & 5
Using the new pattern with an air pocket over the mouth, made these out of nonwoven photography fabric with just the standard wire across the nose. These although good staying in shape, caused severe sweating and steaming up of glasses. I also put them in the washing machine to spin off excess water, this was a bad move as the fabric rips from being scraped in the machine after a few washes, I will have to keep this version away from washing machine. I have found this version is very good for bad weather, as it is warm and water resistant. As for steaming up of glasses, this happens with all masks, I even tried the disposable ones for a day, they steam up particularly if you have a physically active job and sweat a lot in general. I have found controlling breathing to a slow, calm manner helps and the government advice of using soap and anti-fog spray does not work, as I have always washed my glasses daily in liquid soap, glasses wipes and cleaners is what I consider a luxury.
The white one is a 2 layer mask, while the black one is 3 layer mask with light weight interfacing.
The white one is a 2 layer mask, while the black one is 3 layer mask with light weight interfacing.
Version 5
This one I've made for my family and myself out of my old Debenhams uniform and new cotton fabric, each family member has different pretty fabric pattern to avoid mix ups. This is a pin tucked pleated, easy retracting, two layer mask. I've used a more robust flat elastic and trying out 3mm mask elastic which is friendlier to ears. The mask is threaded through as a neck strap, so more convenient to have hands free to say blow my nose, but it can be rethreaded to become ear loop type mask and more environment friendly when elastic comes to the end of its life. I will be selling this one at a higher price after the corona pandemic as a light fashion flu mask, considering the amount of work put in to making it, but it will of course be made out of brand new fabric when giving to others. I'm trying not to join the bandwagon of making money out of unfortunate circumstances, so will sell once lockdown is eased. I think a lot of masks are ugly looking and not very comfortable, so I was looking into how to make one functional, look stylish and universal. This one took around 1.5 hours each to make at a nice slow pace, will be able to speed this process up with a pre-drawn pattern and special sewing machine feet.
I do like the Japanese etiquette and a lot of East Asian countries who like to wear a mask to avoid spreading colds to others, it's just in England people just think they're too cool to wear one (same with umbrellas and then they call in sick after being drenched in rain). In fact, in a lot of East Asian countries, masks are trendy cool items; they hide your no makeup face, pimples, give a mysterious vibe and avoid communication or harassment in public like a shield against obnoxious individuals. You'll find it is very popular in Japanese and Korean celebrity culture to hide from being identified. I'll have to try this when I have the next pimple breakout.
*2nd Update. During the November lockdown despite being furloughed, I caught the corona virus at the end of the month from my mother through no fault of my own, my sibling and I never went out the house. My mother gave it to the whole family, because the stupid government re-opened schools of which she works at. We all knew the coronavirus was being spread through the schools and alcoholics and hospitality areas, but they still re-opened these anyway. My sibling had not even been out of the house since the April lockdown, they only went out for car tax and MOT. She had her mask on at all times even outside in the street, I do suspect she was partially at fault for her bad hygiene regime. She was wearing standard disposable face masks, which I have found touches the lips and gets completely soaked through very easily. She now is very careful when going back to work in schools, she wears the mask and visor together.
So my corona symptoms started with a few sneezes, followed by a sore throat for a few days accompanied by a runny nose which was put down to flu symptoms and generally get sore throat when air is too warm in my room when sleeping. I rarely catch colds or flu, but do always get a sore throat first. I had severe continuous headaches and fever for about a week which initially thought was the start of a migraine, on about the fourth day about 7PM, I got nauseous, and achy all over and headache was at its worse; at this time I decided it was best for me to sleep. Next day that was all gone, I had coughing for one day only and the random cough every so often. I think I have very minute cough variant asthma; I just have severe coughing fits all year round aggravated by dust, temperature and strong scents so didn't think anything of it. I found cold tablets did not work, but always clear my headaches first as this makes me feel better. I just took bog standard pain killers and these worked better than anything. My mother and sibling eventually took pain killers of paracetamol and ibuprofen and these helped clear the symptoms, we all take different pain killers. They both had breathing difficulties as well, so it took them longer to recover as they both refused to recover by sleep rather than working and playing games or watching television.
I had the least symptoms; my symptoms were practically gone in less than a week, so I did all the cooking etc during that period. My mother didn't even know I had it (she never knows when I'm sick because my sibling is her baby, common Chinese favouritism of youngest and or male sibling), until I tested positive because my boss insisted to take the test after hearing the rest of my family had it, which wasn't as bad as I thought it'll be (reluctant to prod a stick up my nose). I had to take sick pay due to legal laws, I was actually in very good health already with no symptoms what so ever and was due back to work after being furloughed that very day my family received their test results. This was the first time in five years off work for sickness, it was only a few days, so I was very upset my 100% attendance record was broken, I told my mother it was all her fault! And they both acted like spoilt brats during the time they were sick; one demanded none soup based foods, and the other insisted on soup based foods. My mother says I was probably better at fighting the virus due to walking to work all the time so was quite fit, I kind of knew they were more likely to catch it in the first place, as they have bad health issues and always catching colds. They both had a loss of appetite with corona virus, I never had a loss of appetite, in fact I eat more when I feel nauseous even with normal flu. So my belief is the symptoms vary from person to person, we all thought the symptoms were like a bad case of flu though.
I should also point out the Royal Mail postal service is abismal, a letter of joining the pension scheme from the company that I worked which is now in liquidation sent on the 18 December 2021, arrived over a month late and other mail also went missing. I'd refrain from using the postal service for a while if you can until things get back to normal, as they are behind from Christmas and lockdown mail.
And the worse thing about catching Covid-19 was getting numerous phone calls from NHS Track and Trace. My mother and sibling had about 6 calls each when results were confirmed positive, while getting calls on the home phone, they also called their mobile and left text messages. I also got around 3 calls for living in the same house, as I took the test a little later. They obviously got annoyed, being unwell and being bombarded with phone calls. The government is very unorganised, callers all asked for the same details and insisted answering questions again, despite telling each one of them that we already answered them. I pulled out the home phone and told them to ignore calls to their mobile (I wasn't annoyed, I just chat with them, but my family wanted rest), I plugged the phone back in after being confirmed positive myself. I too immediately had another 2 calls from Track and Trace, as they do not remove your number after being called, plus numerous mobile calls and messages which I did not answer. It was only sorted on the 3rd call, I told them their calling was ridiculous, luckily this call was not from Track and Trace, they told me they were a nurse and they removed all the nuisance calls afterwards. The nurse also confirmed that I could go back to work earlier, as the date I caught the virus would have been earlier than stated.
