Making Masks

People all over who are able to sew are sewing masks.  There's a strong need for first responders, health care workers and everyone else too.  I started making masks to donate, then for myself and my family and finally to sell to others, though I still will donate as needed.

I have made cute child sized masks and extra large adult sized masks and everything in between.  Once I ran out of elastic, I started using strips of performance stretch material that I had leftover from making gymnastics leotards.

 And after learning that surgical caps are also needed, I have made those too.  I made a few adjustments to the pattern I bought in order to have fewer raw edges and to take advantage of my serger.

 Mask patterns out there are great and I've used one in particular and then adjusted to my preferences which removes some of the steps shown in the video.  I took pictures to help my youngest make masks too.  The sizes I cut out are
Adult 7.75" x 15" - finished width 8"
Teen 7" x 13.5" - finished width 7.25"
Youth 6" x 12" - finished width 6.25"
Preschooler 5.5" x 11" - finished width 5.75"
I have made custom sizes based on people's measurements too.  I suggest cutting a paper towel to see what size works well.  Here is a video which shows the features.

After cutting the fabric, finish the two shorter ends.  I have serged them, but they could be finished with a zigzag stitch or overlock.

I use 1/4" seam allowances.
Fold in half with right sides together and sew in about 1.5" inches from each end leaving the center area open.






Iron the sewn area so that the "finished" edges are flat.  This area becomes the open pocket for filters.

Flip right side out, then arrange so that the opening is in the upper 1" of the back.

Flip to the front and iron in three pleats.  I find that it ends up about 3.5"-4" long at this point.  For teen and child sized masks, I end up using only 2 pleats.

Sew around all edges, about 1/4" seam allowance except for the top near the "pocket."  I sew near the pocket very close to the top edge.  This allows enough space for the nose wire.

 I have been using twist tie wire from the garden department.  It comes on a spool.  I cut this to 6.5" for the adult.  It allows for about 1/4" of no wire from each end of the pocket.

Insert wire into the little pocket at the top of the mask.  Then sew down the upper pocket area close to the finished edge.

Next add 2.5" wide strips of fabric to each side in order to make a casing.  Sew right sides together and overlap each end a bit and fold over.  This encloses the raw edges.  The front of the mask is the side without the open area for the filter.

After sewing, press down the seam that was just made and the small folded-in sides.  Then fold this flap in half towards the mask allowing the raw edges to be enclosed again.

 Sew down the casing close to the folded edge.  The mask is done.  Now the elastic alternative or ties can be threaded through the casings.  For fabric ties I use 1.5" strips that are 42" long at least.

I used black performance fabric here and cut about 1/2" wide.  As I pull on the strips of fabric, they naturally roll.  This can now be knotted into ear loops or knotted behind the head/neck. Here's another video showing knotting the elastic alternative. After knotting at the right spot and testing, knot can be pulled tight and ends can be trimmed.

Quinoa Tuna Salad

After looking around for some new recipes containing quinoa, I settled on this one from Cooking Light.

I made some slight modifications and tried out the dressing which was a delightful surprise.  The Quinoa Tuna Toss is really tastey, fills you up and is healthy.  I will certainly make this again.

I will note my changes next to the ingredients below.

2 tsp of olive oil - I doubled
1 tsp of red wine vinegar - used apple cider vinegar doubled
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard - used yellow mustard doubled
1/2 tsp lemon juice - doubled
dash of salt - skipped
dash of pepper - added

1/2 cup cooked quinoa* - I made 1/2 cup uncooked which fluffs up to much more
1/2 cup canned chickpeas - I used a small 7.5 oz can of chickpeas rinsed and drained
1/4 cup cucumber - I used more, what looked right. It was about half of a seedless cucumber.
5 cherry tomatoes, halved - I used a bunch of grape tomatoes, halved to match the cucumber quarters
1 TB crumbled feta cheese - doubled
1 2.6 oz pouch of tuna - I used a 6 oz can of Yellowfin Tuna
Added 1 medium sized yellow pepper

The recipe says it is one serving, based on my modifications, it yielded 2.5 generous lunch sized servings.  Next time I will measure the total quantity before trying.

*The recipe says 1/2 cooked quinoa, but then in the directions it says to cook 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa with 3/4 cup water.  It's unclear how much they used.  I liked my proportions, though others might appreciate more dressing.

Classroom Door Window Shade

For lockdown drills, covering the glass in the door has become a necessity.  However, the shade needs to be open most of the time.

After seeing what other people are making, I decided to create my own.

First, the size needed to be determined.  For my classroom door, the window frame is 8"x32", the glass itself 1" smaller.  I figured an inch or so on each side of the frame would be needed.  I also took into account where the shade would be mounted to give enough clearance for the window to be visible when the shade was tucked away.  I estimated the shade bundled up would need about 3.5"-4", therefore my finished size should be about 40" long.  The goal of my width was 10".

Many people have some sort of weight at the bottom, most using dowel.  I decided to use dowel too.  It's about 9.5" to fit nicely between the topstitching.

In order to hang the window curtain, many people use Command™ hooks and create loops at the top. I thought that seemed to work well.  Many also use loops to hold the curtain up when not in use.  I considered that, but then decided it might be easier to have a separate mechanism for opening the shade.  A concern was that the whole shade might be knocked down while removing the loops.  I went with hook and loop and a strap or tab.

How to make a classroom door window cover:

First choose some fabric.  Many sites suggested using black on the backside.  I chose black on the back and something fun on the side which would face into the classroom.
A piece of dowel, wood or something else to give the bottom edge some stability and weight. ~9.5" long

For my finished 10" width, I cut the width of the fabric at 10.5" and used a 1/4" seam allowance.
For the finsished 40" length, I cut the length of the fabric at 40.5" and used a 1/4" seam allowance.

For the tabs, I used the excess fabric cut at 3.5"  x 11" - some of length will be cut off (The width could be bigger or smaller, much smaller and it's harder to turn.  I made one with a 4" width and that worked well too.)

For the loops that connect to the hooks, I used 1.75" x 11" of scrap - this will be cut in half

Iron and cut the front, back, tabs and loops

Loops: 1.75"x11" print
Fold in half lengthwise and iron, then fold in each long side towards the fold and iron.  Fold over again enclosing the raw edges and iron. 
Topstitch down each long side.
This will be cut in half to form the two loops. 
(If you keep it together until the very end, you're less likely to lose one little piece!)

Tabs:  (2) 11"x3.5" black
Fold in half with right sides together the long way.  Sew down the long edge.  Turn right sides out, iron (I did seam in middle), and top stitch down long ends
Turn down one short end 1/4" and iron, then turn over again about 1 1/4" to form a spot for the velcro
Install matching loop velcro on small tab

Take black "back" piece of fabric (10.5"x40.5") and lay the tab pieces with velcro facing the right side of black fabric.  Tabs are about 1 1/4" in from the side edges. 
Cut the loop piece into two equal pieces.  Fold each in half and pin to top edge of black fabric between the tabs and the side edges.

Add print fabric on top of the black with right sides together and sew through all layers on all four sides.  Leave an opening at the top between the two tabs.

Trim corners and turn right sides out.  Iron and top stitch - still leave the top area open!

Check the size of the short bottom edge between the topstiching.  If it is about 9 3/4", cut some dowel about 9 1/2".  If your sizing is different, test out the dowel and cut more as necessary.

After inserting dowel and sliding it to the bottom of the curtain, sew a seam just above the dowel to create a pocket for the dowel.

Topstich across the opening at the top.  Add the hook velcro to the top edge and go through the tabs that are laying on the black backside.

Front

Back

You are done!  Hang up your curtain and test out the rolling and the unrolling.  

It can be fun to customize the prints to the teacher or the classroom.

Reversible Sequin Marble Fidgit

After making some scrunchies out of reversible sequin fabric, I thought the size would make a nice fidgit toy. My sister had made us fidgit toys using a crocheted tube formed into a bracelet with a marble inside.

I started with a 15" x 3" strip of reversible sequin fabric with the sequins reversing the long way.  

Then I sewed the strip into a long tube with right sides together. My machine sews over the sequins fairly easily, especially when they are inside.

Turning the tube right side out took some finessing. I used my hook and also a chop stick. Sometimes the sequin fabric is easy to work with and other times not so much. 

I added a 1/4" x 8"  of elastic to go inside. First I snaked the elastic through with a safety pin, then I secured the elastic towards each end with a straight pin, and finally I overlapped the elastic ends and sewed them together.

The sequined fabric ends needed to be hand sewn together. But beforehand, I inserted a marble inside. 

Then I folded under a small edge of the sequin fabric and tucked the other end inside. Finally I stitched the ends together by hand with a blind stitch.

I have tested it myself along with my family members and then took it to school and some sixth and seventh graders tried it out too. So far the response has been very positive with most people wishing they too had a reversible sequin marble fidget toy.

New Handprint Quilt Done!

Handprint Quilt

I'm thrilled that this quilt went together so smoothly and quickly.  Sunday was a big sewing day and I also spent Monday afternoon.  Tuesday I took off and got a lot done with few interruptions.  I spent time planning of course and two shopping trips for fabric.  Tuesday evening and Wednesday were when I hand sewed the binding.

I ended up using almost all the fabric I got, so the amounts were pretty close to what I needed.

• I had 6 accent prints (3 pinks & 3 blues) - 5/8 yd of each
• The multicolor off white I had over 3 yards.  Probably 2.5 yards would have worked.  That was used for the front, the back, and the binding.
• For the handprints, I used Kona ivory and had 2 yards.  That was perfect for 19 students with one mistake.  

I used a twin sized packaged batting and quilting thread.

The quilt size is about 48" x 60".

Back of quilt

New Handprint Quilt continued

I received the new handprints and got all of the top layer stitched together yesterday.






The next step is to make a quilt sandwich. The first layer down is the back, then the batting, and finally the top. With another mom's help we got the quilt sandwich pinned together quickly.









I planned to use my big quilting sewing machine to do free motion quilting. I often need to re-familiarize myself with it as I don't use it regularly. After changing the needle and cleaning and oiling the bobbin compartment, it was ready to go. Fortunately, the machine worked great!  Here's a little video of me doing the free motion quilting. It's like doodling on fabric.

Here's a close up of one of the hand prints quilted. As I worked, I read each name and and was thinking of each child and also of course of their teacher.








After quilting the layers together, I sewed on the binding.  I used a narrower 2.25" binding.













The final step is to hand sew the other side of the binding to the back side of the quilt.  It's almost done!

A New Handprint Quilt

I am excited to be working on another special project for my daughter's teacher. Many parents came together wanting to do something for her and I offered to make a quilt like I had for another teacher who was retiring.

Step one was to get painted hand prints from the children. Fortunately two moms were able to do that before the weekend. I purchased coordinating fabric and today got to work putting it all together. Two students were missing on Friday, so we will hope to catch them on Monday.

I cut apart the handprints into 8.5" squares and cut strips of the coordinating fabric into 8.5" x 4.5" strips and 12.5" x 4.5" strips.

Next I laid out the handprint blocks and the coordinating strips.

Then I  pieced together the back of the quilt.

More progress is shown in the next blog post.

The completed quilt blog post.