Homemade Face Mask Ministry

Watauga Hospital is now asking for homemade face masks.  Here's a message from them:

On Friday, April 4th, the CDC made an announcement regarding the use of homemade fabric face masks and recommended individuals wear these masks in addition to adhering to the 6-foot social distance requirements and frequent hand washing to slow the spread of the virus.

In line with guidance from the CDC, ARHS is encouraging the public to use a fabric mask to slow the spread of the virus. In addition, ARHS employees will be utilizing cloth masks alongside the OSHA approved masks when indicated. Therefore, we need your help in providing these masks! We would like to be able to provide two masks to each employee, in addition to having them available for patients who come into the hospital. Therefore, we need large quantities of homemade masks.

We have several individuals who are working on this project, but it is a huge project, so if you have parishioners who can support the project, we would be so appreciative! We also recognize that some congregations may be making masks for your own parishioners. A pattern is attached to this email. Mask makers do not have to follow this pattern, but this is a basic pattern for those who need it. Please remind folks to use clean 100% cotton cloth.

Again, ARHS wants to stress to the public that the use of fabric face masks is not intended to take the place of social distancing requirements and frequent hand-washing. It is a recommendation over and above these other protections.

Donations can be dropped off at the police check-point tents at Watauga Medical Center and at Cannon Memorial Hospital. Please mark the bag “handmade masks for donation.”

Pattern for making a face mask

Materials Needed

·         100% cotton fabric (if prints are used, keep in mind both male and female users)

·         ¼” flat elastic or similar

·         Sewing machine and thread

To make the mask

1.    Cut two pieces of cotton fabric 9” by 6.” This will make the front and back of the mask, so the two pieces can be different. Make sure any design is shown horizontally on the fabric.

2.    Cut elastic pieces to 7” each for large masks, 6.5” for small/medium masks.

3.    Place one piece of fabric right side up. Pin the elastic pieces to fit into the top and bottom corners of each side as shown. Make sure the elastic doesn’t twist.

4.    Place the other piece of fabric right side down on top of the fabric with pinned elastic. Re-pin the elastic including both pieces of fabric.

5.    Starting at the center of the bottom edge, sew a ¼” seam around the outside edge, making sure to include the elastic strips just at the corners. Reinforce the corners by sewing a few stitches forward and backward. Leave an opening 1.5” to 2” at the bottom edge for turning. Stop, cut the thread.

6.    Turn the mask inside out.

7.    Pin 3 tucks on each side of the mask. Make sure the tucks are all going the same direction.

8.    Sew around the edge of the mask twice for reinforcement. Remove pins and cut thread. Iron pleats in.