JoyfulRose Face Mask Comfort Band Ideas and Tutorials

After wearing my mask to get groceries last week I discovered that the mask elastic made my ears hurt! It made me feel so bad for all of our medical workers who wear masks all day long. :( I fell asleep trying to think of ideas that would help, and here they are!

There are 5 different ideas: Pipe Cleaner, Elastic with sewn-on buttons, Grosgrain Ribbon with sewn-on buttons, Grosgrain Ribbon with snaps, and Hook & Loop (velcro).

Click image to view full size:

Click on the following links for individual instructions for making each type of Comfort Band:

Elastic and Buttons
https://joyfulrosedesigns.blogspot.com/2020/04/joyfulrose-face-mask-comfort-bands.html

Ribbon and Buttons:
https://joyfulrosedesigns.blogspot.com/2020/04/joyfulrose-face-mask-comfort-bands_10.html

Ribbon and Snaps:
https://joyfulrosedesigns.blogspot.com/2020/04/face-mask-comfort-bands-ribbon-and-snaps.html

Hook and Loop (Velcro):
https://joyfulrosedesigns.blogspot.com/2020/04/face-mask-comfort-bands-hook-and-loop.html

JoyfulRose Face Mask Comfort Bands: Elastic with Buttons

Tutorial for making Face Mask Comfort Bands: Elastic with Buttons

Click on image to view full size:

JoyfulRose Face Mask Comfort Bands: Ribbon and Buttons

Tutorial for Making Face Mask Comfort Bands: Ribbon and Buttons 

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JoyfulRose Face Mask Comfort Bands: Ribbon and Snaps

Tutorial for Making Face Mask Comfort Bands: Ribbon and Snaps.

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JoyfulRose Face Mask Comfort Bands: Hook and Loop (Velcro)

Tutorial for Making Face Mask Comfort Bands: Hook and Loop (Velcro). 

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JoyfulRose Fitted Face Mask Tutorial

Here's a quick tutorial I put together for fitted face masks. Hopefully it's detailed enough to be understood. These take me about 15 minutes to make each one. There are a lot of steps, but the mask goes together fairly quickly.

I love this design! Especially with the long elastic that doesn't hurt my ears. This is my preferred design for myself and family.

Fairly quick and easy to make, especially with the use of a serger and a sewing machine, but you could use just a sewing machine if you don't have a serger.

Pros: fairly easy to make, very comfortable design, contoured design shapes nicely to face, filter sewn-in, reusable (can wash, dry, and iron after every use.)

Cons: a little bit harder to breathe through, seems very intimidating to make at first glance!

Click on image to view full size. :)

Masks I've made thus far:

Revised on 14 April 2020 to add the pattern templates I used :)

Click each image to view full size. Each is on a standard 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper. The square is 1" measured on the inside of the square. Hope that helps!

JoyfulRose Pleated Face Mask Instructions

Hi all! I finally finished up the instructions for a pleated face mask with pipe cleaner added to the nose area. These take me about 10-15 minutes to make each one.

Pros: fairly easy to make, comfortable design, fits a wide variety of face shapes, filter sewn-in, fairly easy to breathe through, reusable (can wash, dry, and iron after every use).

Cons: ear bands were very uncomfortable after just a few minutes (see my other tutorial for comfort bands!), elastic was too long for me so the fit wasn't very tight, a bit difficult to iron the pleats after laundering.

Click on image to view full size. :)

All the face masks I've made thus far:

Face Masks Finished!

I finally finished face masks requested by my sweet sister-in-law for her hospital in Massachusetts (she's one of the many amazing nurses working to help people at this scary time).

Also finished face masks for my parents and parents-in-law, and my family! 

Tomorrow I'll work on masks for other family members, as well as a tutorial and the adjusted patterns. :)

First set: pleated pattern based on the one from JoAnn Fabrics. 

Second set: fitted pattern found on YouTube and adjusted larger (for my husband) and smaller (for my little kids).

Our family's face masks: 

These 4 were made using my fabric designs from Spoonflower!