Kid-friendly masks

Hello, hello! You saw this coming, right? If you’ve got a freshly published animal-themed book, it stands to reason that animal-themed kid masks would be the next logical step.

Sweet, don’t you think?

I even created templates and a tutorial! I know there are a zillion mask patterns out there and the main reason I designed these masks this way was to allow for ease of adding the cute details. As far as I’m concerned, we all could use some cuteness right now.

There are two sizes: child and youth (which technically fits adults too). Even with the addition of animal elements and embroidery, these are quick and easy to sew up. Once I got a rhythm going, I whipped out three in an hour.

K is modeling the bear-esque one — as you can see, the sizing is quite generous but keep in mind that K is rather petite with a small face. I positioned the nose a little higher in this one, fyi.

It was even faster to stitch up the youth/adult size since I omitted the animal elements:

These adorable prints have been lounging in my stash for a looong time (unfortunately, the animal fabrics are no longer available, but there is a dizzying array of equally if not more darling fabrics at Miss Matatabi, where I ordered them from). They are from front to back:

• Creator’s Room Fabrics Tomoto – Bonjour Friends via Miss Matatabi
• Kokka Alpha Animals via Miss Matatabi
• Cloud 9 Organics Palos Verdes Miraleste by Leslie Shewring

Cheers to a light-hearted take on a helpful item during these confusing times. Without further ado, here’s the tutorial!

KID-FRIENDLY MASK

Child size fits approximately 3-8 years

Youth/Adult size fits approximately 9+

 

MATERIALS (per mask)

10″ x 10″ for outer fabric – I recommend cotton or linen/cotton blend

10″ x 10″ for lining fabric – tightly woven cotton fabric is best

Scrap piece of felt – wool is nicer but the readily available polyester kind is fine, naturally

2 pieces of 1/4″ elastic, 10″ in length each

Marking tool – I like to use Chacopen

Safety pin or bodkin

Optional: Embroidery floss and embroidery needle

Click here or the image above for templates (comes with 2 nose options)

 

CONSTRUCTION STEPS

Step 1 Print out templates (link is above) and trace onto fabrics. Cut out 1 outer piece, 1 lining piece, 2 elastic casings and one nose. To avoid confusion later, it’s a good idea to make a marking or create a notch to mark which side is the top of the mask for both the outer and lining pieces.

Step 2 On the right side of outer mask, attach nose in the center about 1/2″ below the tip of the “v”. I like to use a wide zig zag machine stitch (4mm), but you could also hand stitch it on with a whip or slip stitch. If you prefer the nose to be positioned higher, go to step 4 before attaching the nose. You can see that I tried different nose positions, and it’s definitely easier to sew on the nose while the fabric piece is still flat.

Step 3 Optional: embroider details such as mouth, whiskers, snout outline, etc. using a backstitch (if you prefer, you can embroider after step 4). Don’t worry too much about symmetry and such. I love wonky, imperfect embroidery. So charming.

Step 4 With right sides facing, sew the top and bottom “V”s of the outer mask with 1/4” seam allowance. It’s like sewing darts. Press seam open. Repeat for the mask lining piece. Attach nose and stitch embroidery details to outer mask at this point if you did not do it earlier.

Step 5 Prep elastic casings: fold shorter edges towards wrong side by 1/4″ and press. Stitch close to raw edge of both ends. Then fold shorter side in half with wrong sides facing and press.

Step 6 Attach elastic casings: Align the raw edges of the casing to the side edge of the outer mask (I like to fold the edges and casings to create a center crease to align) and baste 1/8″ from edge. Repeat for other side.

Step 7 With right sides facing, sew outer mask and lining together with a 1/4″ seam allowance, leaving an opening of about 2″ at the bottom. Clip corners (careful not to cut into the seam!).

 

Step 8 Turn right side out, tuck in the seam allowance at the opening and press. Edgestitch all around.

Step 9 Using a safety pin or bodkin, thread the elastic pieces through the casings. Tie the elastic ends into a knot and adjust the fit if necessary. If desired, shift the knotted end into the casing — it looks nicer and will be more comfy for little ears.

All done! So cute!

Let me know if you give these a try and if you find any errors or have suggestions for improvement.