Hi Shop, I am not sure where you live, so I will just tell you what is happening in my neighborhood in Texas. There are several people making cloth masks, for free. Some you supply the material, and most have material if you don't. As a maker of masks for my family and my daughter-in-laws boutique hospital, I found a "mask measurement" tool on the internet. It tells how to measure your face in order to get the best fitted mask. Some of my family members have ordered (from me) fitted masks and love them. There is also a "mask extension strap" that pulls the straps away from your ear lobes all together. You may want to look into that. I agree with staying away from rubber bands like those used for ponytails. And I understand that the flat straps, which are most comfortable, were as hard to get as toilet paper for awhile, but easier now. As for where to look for homemade masks? Ours are on mextdoor neighbor. Good Luck!

@Shop-et-al wrote:

Rubber bands around the ears are not good for all people. I cannot use them at all. I learned this the hard way after purchasing a hand-made mask that had elastic pony tail holders for ear straps. The elastic was strong enough to hold the mask in place but too strong in that it dislodged the earpiece of my eyeglasses. Then, the glasses were askew and I could not see properly. This is a safety issue! I can only use disposable masks now. ...

I love the designer who showed online how to make the mask pattern based upon the armpits of the t-shirt. That was fabulous! Cleaning the cloth masks is not so fabulous. Every time I see a mask, I wonder if it has been reused too many times or has been properly cleaned. Ew!

Super simple to sanitize a mask. Everyone knows heat kills the virus.

We sanitize our reuseable, cloth masks by boiling them and then hanging them to air dry. The maker told us we could also put them in the washer and dryer in a delicates bag. However, my husband is the one that does our twice weekly shopping trip, so I just have a pot of water on the stove so he can put it in it as soon as he gets home.

I will stick with my disposable masks. I am unwilling to pay any more money for more possible glitches. I spent so much already for masks that it blew my budget!

Meanwhile, someone posted about the 'safety' shops on another thread. There, I learned about the essence and flow chart of the app shop and have something to think about now. Will I want to do the selfie? Of course not! Will I want a few little shops? Maybe.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2020 09:46PM by Shop-et-al.

Smart to just sanitize and reuse, and better for the environment.

@ShoppersViewChristine wrote:

We sanitize our reuseable, cloth masks by boiling them and then hanging them to air dry. The maker told us we could also put them in the washer and dryer in a delicates bag. However, my husband is the one that does our twice weekly shopping trip, so I just have a pot of water on the stove so he can put it in it as soon as he gets home.

Better for us is to dispose of the dirty things. Hubby is increasingly forgetful. It is not a good idea to introduce new and different stove & oven issues; rather, it is best to simplify daily life and eliminate as many actions as possible. People first.

My son shrunk some of his masks, after putting them in the washer and dryer. His next method was to put them in a mesh laundry bag in his dishwasher. Some shrinkage there, too. He's line-drying them now. Does anyone know if microwaving would do the job? Not for cleaning, but for killing virus. They're cloth masks, no wire.

I wouldnt trust the microwave. How about a hot iron instead of the dryer?

Laughing at that one He doesn’t have an iron. I read that microwaving takeout food for 2 minutes would be effective, but it would likely ruin the food. Just not sure about cloth.

What if the virus was on the mask and some of the vitus was inadvertently transferred to the door, handle, or other surface?

Yeah. Of course that could happen anywhere, with whatever method he uses, if he's not careful. It's worrisome. I'm cautious but trying not to be a handwringer.

I find it remarkable that the various guidelines and information from authorities and reputable organizations does not truly deal with useful information in easily accessible form. Here is what I found: WHO indicates that in cell suspension 56C will kill the virus in about 15 min. That is about 133F. Now water boils at 212F. Most fabrics can do okay if boiled. If they are so loosely woven that they shrink, they probably were not providing much protection in the first place.

My HomeEc class 50+ years ago required at the end of each cooking session that we wipe the counter tops with a Clorox solution. While we were doing that our dish towels and dish rags were boiling in a pot with a little dish soap. We had to boil them for 5 minutes, then rinse well in cold tap water and spread them on the sanitized counters, stretching them to be square and smoothing them so they would not dry wrinkled. At the time it seemed an absurd waste of time, but in time of COVID, it is something I have reverted to.

We are not using cloth masks but rather the disposable paper type which we are reusing by spraying them with 91% alcohol and hanging them on the rear view mirror of the car to air dry. I figure between the alcohol, the day or two between uses, the heat inside the car while it is parked in the sun and the UV they are getting, they probably are safe.

It's in the low 30s here and my car is parked in the garage. But I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. Still driving on the same tank of gas from mid March.

What about a warm oven? I think he could wash the masks in hot soapy water, wring them out, and lay them flat on a cookie sheet with the oven on 180 for a few minutes, then turn off the oven and leave them in to continue drying

You'd think anyone selling masks would use preshrunk cotton.

I wash my mask by hand daily with soup and hot water which kills germs, as washing your hands with same kills germs....my three masks are preshrunk, never have a problem.
Going to restaurants now is a no for me, will wait a bit longer....they are wearing masks and staying far apart, still not comfortable.

Yeah, gotta take off the mask to eat, so nope.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

You'd think anyone selling masks would use preshrunk cotton.

I don't know that the folks who are trying to throw together protective masks are thinking about materials and in fact may not even know about 'preshrunk' materials. Frankly, if/when I decided to make masks I would use white terrycloth washrags or guest towels so that they could be washed very hot with Clorox. I wouldn't use elastic bands but rather make cotton straps with Velcro so that I didn't have to worry about elastic stretching with frequent washing.

Washing in hot soapy water with cloth masks would indeed be a first start in getting them clean, but most hot water heaters will not provide water in the laundry tub hotter than perhaps 120F. Spreading on cookie sheets could work to oven sanitize as long as they get up to about 140F for 15 min.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2020 05:34AM by Flash.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Yeah, gotta take off the mask to eat, so nope.

And even if the restaurant carefully separates tables, servers and kitchen wear masks etc., there is little ability to control other guests to make sure they properly cover coughs, don't crank their chair back, exercise appropriate social distancing when coming/going or heading for the restroom.

You mean 140F.

@Flash wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

You'd think anyone selling masks would use preshrunk cotton.

I don't know that the folks who are trying to throw together protective masks are thinking about materials and in fact may not even know about 'preshrunk' materials. Frankly, if/when I decided to make masks I would use white terrycloth washrags or guest towels so that they could be washed very hot with Clorox. I wouldn't use elastic bands but rather make cotton straps with Velcro so that I didn't have to worry about elastic stretching with frequent washing.

Washing in hot soapy water with cloth masks would indeed be a first start in getting them clean, but most hot water heaters will not provide water in the laundry tub hotter than perhaps 120C. Spreading on cookie sheets could work to oven sanitize as long as they get up to about 140C for 15 min.

Our hot water tank is at 160.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

You mean 140F.

Yes, thank you for the catch.

In response to Shop-et-al....CA is giving out mask to the homeless, as well as food and testing.

It's kind of like condoms. Some people still won't wear them even when they are given away for free.

@JASFLALMT; I'm realizing that's probably the main detractor from a quick recovery....people!

California, and specifically L.A., is making it easy as possible for people to do the right thing, and it's still not really taking hold. We have free testing, free masks, free food and basically free money for anyone without a job.

But the beach and park areas a now full of people without masks, not distancing, and the 'deniers' are taking hold here. Even with a vaccine, there's another set of deniers who can screw that up by refusing vaccination, so I am losing hope in any sort of return to normal for MSing, or the country, at any time in the near future.

The 'New Normal' has little little to offer me in terms of MSing. After 7 weeks of sheltering at home and cooking for myself, I was forced to venture out this weekend. Got food from a restaurant, stayed at a hotel and no MSC will be able to pay me enough money to do that for work in this new world. It's a frightening and unsafe experience, because of....people! None of the rules are being followed or enforced, and we are still in the infancy of re-opening. Prepare for life in a bubble...

@Flash; I do the same thing by hanging my mask from the rear-view mirror in the car. It's an advantage to have in sunny locations and always on hand when picking up and dropping off items.

I have a digital 1/2 gas 1/2 electric oven with a gas stove top. My oven only goes as low as 180 I think, maybe it's 170? Not sure, but I once wanted to thaw something in it without cooking it and thought that 150 would work, but my oven wouldn't go that low, so I turned it on to the lowest setting for a few minutes and then turned it off before putting the frozen item in on a cookie sheet to jump start the thawing process. It worked.

@Flash wrote:

Washing in hot soapy water with cloth masks would indeed be a first start in getting them clean, but most hot water heaters will not provide water in the laundry tub hotter than perhaps 120F. Spreading on cookie sheets could work to oven sanitize as long as they get up to about 140F for 15 min.

Also saw some clothes steamers online, I don't think they are terribly expensive and would be a good investment not just to sanitize masks but for de-wrinking clothes in a jiffy without having to break out the iron. I hate ironing but I own several of them.

Once retired my mantra became, "If it needs to be ironed it needs to be gone!" With that I cleared my closet of my professional wardrobe. But I do use my iron when I am sewing and for when I wash curtains because 'crisply ironed' curtains I like better than 'not heavily wrinkled' and it seems to keep them cleaner and fresher longer. I also use the iron on vintage linens.

Getting out the ironing board and iron to deal with face masks would not be happening. There are actually two reasons. First is basic laziness. Second, both fabric softeners and ironing tend to reduce the absorbency of fabrics. The purpose of a mask is to keep the moisture from your exhalations from going out to others and to keep the moisture of others from getting through to you. You want the mask to absorb moisture rather than passing it through and when the inside of your mask gets moist, you want to change masks so that any exterior moisture does not get drawn through.

I did 4 quick pest control audits through the FA app today. I'm grateful for the FA, Presto & Observa apps. I've been getting some work with them over the past 2 weeks!