camwyn | New mask pattern: the Jesse Killion mask. (Reply)

Both my father and I have been having trouble with glasses fogging up during mask use. I went looking for alternatives. One was the Made by Barb designs I've already tested. Another that came up several times was the 'Jesse mask', which is apparently a sized design from an engineer named Jesse Killion done in conjunction with a retired nurse/lifelong quilter (it helps to know fabric). The Jesse mask pattern apparently comes with four primary sizes marked out - men, women, teenagers, older kids, I think- but the full pattern offers something like eighteen different size options based on whether the distance from the bridge of your nose to your ear is longer or shorter than the distance from the same spot to just under your chin, or no different at all. I got the design and instruction videos from FabricPatch.net and tried what I think is the right distances for me.

Straight on view of a dark haired woman wearing a fabric mask printed with Captain Marvel logos. The mask has a seam straight down the center and fits just under the woman's eyeglasses.

Same woman, same mask, but her head is turned to one side so the white stitching holding elastic bands in place can be seen. The elastics run across the back of her head rather than looping behind the ears.

Closeup of interior seamwork and elastic bands on the mask. The fabric is white with horizontal stripes. In addition to the center seam there are two separated lines of white stitching across the nose area, the edges of where a piece of shaping metal has been hidden inside the mask.

A close-up of the zigzag seam work on one end of the interior of the mask.

A close-up of the zigzag seamwork on the other end, seen from the Captain Marvel fabric side. There are three short lengths of zigzag stitching visible at the bottom, because the sewer did not accurately determine that the elastic had moved the first time, and did not get the right location for the second set of stitches.

It's a little baggy looking in the front. I think a lot of people put some form of boning in this mask to keep it off their faces. Me, I'm just happy I had one of those metal coffee bag closure strips to use for the nose piece in this one. I may try the boning next time if I can get some plastic zipties.

The elastic head straps are supposed to be more comfortable for longer wear than ear loops. According to the lady at FabricPatch.net, the ideal measurement for those is (distance from where the mask ends on one side to same spot on other side) * 2/3. I added about a centimeter, maybe 1.5 centimeters, less extra than I should have to account for the anchor points... ah well, next time.

The air in this one tends to rush towards the bottom rather than up to my glasses, so that's a good thing. I'll do an outdoor test this evening and then see about making one of these in the Average American Man size for my dad. He'll have to settle for folded tinfoil for his nose shaper; the next coffee I'm likely to use up has a ziploc-type fastening rather than a strip I can take out and reuse. I'll see about buying plastic zipties, though.