I too had trouble with all the pleats. Finally found a 3D pattern that I like much better. Including the link. It fits snuggly around nose and chin. I added a pipe cleaner to nose area and use t-shirt strips for the ears. It's a very comfortable fit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AzeR7QCbQg

I used my walking foot and a denim needle when I was making the folded ones. I switched to a better molded design and can whip them up with ease now. I know this isn't important, but with a flatter surface, I can get more creative with the fabric placement and design.

Thanks Annette. The seam jack worked perfectly. I made one from the top of a sour cream carton. I also bought some sharp needles. That was so easy, I'm just amazed.

bkay

I haven't tried making any mask. Walmart now sells the one use paper mask. I wash lucky enough to find Hanes washable mask at Walmart also. Those disappeared quickly.

The paper masks I bought at Walmart wouldn't seal around my nose. The metal strip would not keep it's shape, so I kept fogging up my glasses. With tax, they were almost $1.00 each (plain one time use paper masks). So, I took them back.

I'm making cloth masks for my sister, who is a teacher. She wanted some, and I sew, so now I'm figuring out which patterns work and how to do them easily and efficiently..

bkay

We had zero disposable masks available here by the end of February or so even though Lockdown didn't start until March and the requests/requirements to wear them hadn't started yet.

Two weeks ago for the first time since March, I now see disposable masks available again. It's true I only go out weekly but the were not there three weeks ago. They still have limits on how many you can buy but those limits are pretty generous. For the first time since March, when I go grocery shopping I have pretty good expectations of getting everything i want, without limits. Prices are higher but there is sanitizer and wipes and meat and dairy and bread and toilet paper...

My MiL tells me they have trash problems where she is because people litter and discard their masks -- that hasn't happened here because we didn't have them and they are now required as of the end of June (it's a law, you can be fined for no mask). Not only for while inside but in outside in some circumstances too, like at bus shelters and certainly while on the bus.

I'm not really happy with wearing or making masks but I am willing to do my part. During the early months when masks were advised but not yet required I made maybe a 100? gave them to hubby's work, and I would typically take a few with me when I went out and especially I gave them out to homeless people. It's kind of sad when wearing a mask makes you slightly more welcome...

Yes, I know, Iceblossom. The information about the efficacy is conflicting. My theory is, what can it hurt? So, I just wear one.

In March, before my spouse passed, masks were hard to get. At one of his doctor's offices where they treated immune compromised people, they anticipated not being able to get enough. They made up a set of 5 masks for each employee. They used brown paper bags that were labeled with the employee's name and Monday, Tuesday, etc. They said that the CDC had informed them that a disposable mask could be re-used if it "rested" for 7 days. So each employee was to put each day's used mask back in the paper bag and use it again the next week.

Fortunately, I took a friend to the hospital for a procedure before the shortage. The receptionist gave me several. I have re-used them.

bkay

When I was making pleated masks I went to 2 pleats instead of 3 so I could keep from overlapping the pleats. I also found some soft round elastic on Amazon that I used and made sure the pleats did not touch the elastic. I also used a Jeans-a-ma-jig to start over the humps and a sharp needle but it still hurt my hands to work the fabric (wish I had thought to use the walking foot - duh!!). I am now making the more molded masks and they are so much easier on me and the machine.

I made mine with 2 pleats instead of 3, And I fold them both towards the middle..