Now that the UK government has mandated the wearing of face coverings there will be even more demand placed on suppliers and makers. Simple face masks can be easily made using a sewing machine or even stitched by hand. Rebecca got busy making some recycled masks with a really simple design.

To reduce waste, I used old ill-fitting shirts to give them new life. I looked at multiple online resources to create my own template and combined several ways of making them so the design is as simple as possible and made in as few steps as possible.

1. Iron your material so it is easier to work with and then lay your template over 4 layers of the fabric in total. I have opted to make reversible masks so cut 2 layers of 2 different fabrics.

2. Layer the fabric with the outsides facing the inside

3. Stitch the front curve only.

4. Layer both sets of fabric with the outside facing the inside and stitch along the bottom and the top. Make sure not to stitch the ends closed, you will need these to be open. Leave some extra length not stitched at either end of the line.

5. Use the open ends to turn the mask right way out.

6. Fold the raw ends inside and iron.

7. Slot in your elastic and pin. This elastic is slightly too thick but it is all I had to hand. If you don’t have elastic you can use ribbon, elastic bands or hair ties.

8. Stitch along every seam right the way around the mask.

9. (optional) Depending on the fit you would like you can add a pleat on either side. An extra line (or two) of stitching will help keek the elastic even more secure.

There are so many other tutorials and templates out there, some very detailed, with pockets for filters and all sorts of great fastening solutions. See below some of the videos i watched before creating my own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRfhuRNua_E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t_Gz3lGwF8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNAVSiQ6kKQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R50sM35l6Kg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FCvj-7vlf0