I know that a LOT of people have been sewing masks in 2020, so this isn’t anything new. I hate wearing them and really resisted making any, but unfortunately if you don’t want to cause a scene you have to wear one in the stores. Until we move out to the middle of nowhere and raise all of our food, I guess I will have to travel to the stores and wear a dumb mask.

Anyway, I made my own because… well, because I could. I have plenty of fabric and then I knew I could make it fit my face. It took me a couple of patterns, but I finally found one that I can wear without it fogging up my glasses (for the most part).

Masked Bandit

At least, that’s what I call this style. It looks like I should be on a train in the old west telling people to give me all of their valuables. 

You can’t see the piece that comes up and over my nose (without any kind of nose wire), but it has a flap of fabric that keeps the breath from sneaking up onto my lenses. It also sticks out far enough that I don’t feel like I’m eating the mask when I try to talk. The only problem I run into is when I’ve been cleaning at the cat shelter for almost three hours and it’s soaked in sweat. That’s when there’s a higher probability of eyeglass fogging. I found this pattern on YouTube by Mia DIY. I believe it’s her No Fog On Glasses pattern. I used the basics from that and modified it a bit. I don’t like to sew the elastic onto the mask in case I have to change it out so I make channels on the side and loop the elastic through it.

Duck Bill

This looks similar to the Masked Bandit, but it’s pointier and doesn’t cover up as much of your face.

It also does nothing to prevent your glasses from fogging. This is not my favorite style, but one of the ladies at the cat shelter says that it’s her favorite. I can’t remember how I came across this pattern (probably a YouTube search), but you can download the pattern for free here. Again, I modified this a bit to make them easier to mass produce.

I made a bunch of these and donated them to the shelter so that they could sell them. You see, one day when I was there cleaning another lady said that she loved the mask I was wearing. It was a Masked Bandit that used fabric with cats on it. She told me she’d paid $15 for a mask online and was VERY disappointed when it arrived. Most of those masks I’ve seen are junk. I thought about it and decided that I could at least provide the cat lovers in my area with some decent and fun masks. 

I took a batch to the shelter in November. Two weeks later I was asked if I could make more with one of the fabrics I had used. I went and bought some other fabric and since then I’ve been making about 20 masks every four weeks or so. 

Here’s the latest batch:

Masked Bandit

Duck Bill

I think the shelter is charging $5 for them, which is fine with me. Every little bit helps and I know the cats appreciate it.