COVID-19 Response

In March 2020 the Corona virus epidemic hit my town of Taos, New Mexico. We were asked to wear face masks, which were generally not available. Even the hospital did not have enough masks and asked folks to sew masks for them, giving us a pattern to follow (the Olson design).

Having some sewing experience and a bit of left-over unbleached muslin, I made a few masks and took them to the hospital, where they had a receiving bin for donated masks. When I ran out of material I asked my friends and neighbors for remnants. Altogether I made over 100 face masks of a design that is 82% as effective as the N95 masks.

While making these masks I was thinking of ways to make them more effective. The N95 masks are made of a non woven polypropylene fabric that becomes electrostatic when air moves through it, attracting the aerosol virus-containing particles to be trapped. This fabric can be laundered and cleaned in a number of ways, making the masks reusable — just like regular cotton masks.

So I looked online for some of this fabric, and even contemplated using a vacuum cleaner bag. When I found an advertised fabric I ordered a small piece. The Olson mask design has a pocket in which I could tuck a third layer, so this seemed feasible.

So I cut a pattern from this non woven fabric, sewed the pieces together and tried to insert it into a finished Olson-design mask. What a disaster! The filter fabric is weaker than paper, so it tears on the edges and where sewn together.

I then cut new pieces, sewed them together, and sewed a line of stitching 1/8” in from all the edges and reinforcing. This, at least, worked, and I was able to try to insert the filter layer inside the mask. However getting it aligned correctly is nearly impossible.

So it seems that the only way to make a three-layer mask will be to stitch the third, polypropylene layer together with the outer cotton layers originally. That means that I can simplify the design, as creating the masks with an accessible pocket for the inner filter layer is not necessary.