It seems the covid-19 pandemic isn’t slowing down in the US anytime soon. It’s unfortunate that it continues to spread, but the health officials all say one way to possibly help stop the spread is by wearing face masks in public. While cotton made face masks will NOT prevent you from contracting covid-19 it is said to help more then not wearing anything.
During this pandemic I have made well over 200 masks! I know some who have made double and triple that already too. Personally with 3 kids at home 24/7 I’m doing what I can when I can while I help my kids cope with our current situation.
So throughout my face mask making adventure I have tried several different patterns and adjusted them here and there. I even designed my own using hair ties! What I’ve learned is we all have our ways of stitching and not all patterns no matter how well written necessarily turn out the same.
I’m going to link you to two of my favorite patterns and then in the next day or so I’m hoping to do a post with how I made each my own.
The main thing I changed up was assembly as a wonderful woman who runs a quilt shop in a neighboring town showed me how she sewed up masks quicker. I loved her technique on elastic placement that cut back the time it took for me to make each mask since previously I would pin each side of the elastic and her technique stopped that step.
Basically, for those who may not need the visual you place the elastic diagonally in the corner while sewing them right sides together. This stitches over the elastic twice securing it and is easy to hold and move around without pinning it. Most patterns either have the elastic tucked in half an inch or so down from the top seams or placed after turning right sides out. When I get the post done I’ll add a link here to show you what I mean too.
My biggest recommendation if you’re just starting to make masks, do a test run first before you make a bunch. Make sure the pattern you chose fits you right! Kids are harder to size too, so definitely only make one to try first!
And with that, here’s to another day of stitching and staying home. I hope you stay safe and find the good in each day!!!
So I can’t tell you what day of this virus epidemic we are at right now you, but in the world of my little house we are on day “my 3 year old is POTTY TRAINED!” Not a big deal to some but to us it is she’s been super stubborn about it all and shown no interest. I thought as kid #3 she’d be easier because she has sisters to follow. Nope, she didn’t care.
So once the lockdowns started I figured I’m not going anywhere anyways and I started focusing on her training way more! She’s still struggled throughout the last few months. Especially with her #2’s but even those she’s finally doing in the potty! It’s been a roller coaster of a potty training ride for her but she’s in panties all day now with no accidents. This is great for us all and soon I’ll have her wearing them to bed, but she’s not always dry through the night so it’s not time for that yet.
What finally made it all click for her was the literal sitting on her potty for almost 2 hours to get her to go and feel the sensation. Then we’d just take her every few hours until now she will tell us and actually go on her own. She only asks for help to wipe still which I’m totally fine with. We offered a treat for successful trips to the potty until she got in the habit. Then we tapered the treats off to when she did a #2 and that’s where we are she only gets treats for that as she’s only been doing it in the potty for the last couple weeks at most.
Kids sometimes need an incentive. I tried stickers or tv time and even lollipops. Finally, chocolate m&ms is what got her excited. It helped her see a positive to going in the potty. She only got a couple each time so it was just a small little happy treat! If a method doesn’t work for your child try something new. This one seriously is so stubborn the first time just took sitting there so long she didn’t have a choice. We read books and sang songs until something happened. Then it clicked!
Even this part of parenting, while not fun and can be super frustrating, make the best of it and enjoy the time with your kids the best you can!
Until my next post, see the good in the world around you!
It’s been almost exactly 2 months since my trio of kids have been “homeschooled” and quarantined. It’s not all been sunshine and sprinkles, but it’s definitely been a new adventure. They have loved the lack of schedules and being able to do school work online but miss their friends.
Since I’m the teacher, mom and so much more this year the kids didn’t really get the take home gifts they would from school. They also weren’t able to go to the store to pick gifts so all around it’s going to be a much different celebration then normal. I truly don’t need store bought gifts and have taught my girls how a card or a picture can brighten someone’s day, so it’s been cute seeing what they did on their own today! My oldest made me some bracelets on her loomy band maker and a sweet picture while my middle child made a homemade card from her and baby sister. They’ve also made my coffee for me so I don’t have to “because it’s Mother’s Day” they’ve said they’ll do it!
We’ve eaten to many donuts and snuggled on the couch so far and I’m sure the rest of the day is gonna be filled with extra hugs and snuggles! We will call the grandmas to wish them a Happy Mother’s Day too and just enjoy a day of hopefully rest and relaxation!
So to all the Mommas out there try to enjoy the day as best you can! We’ve all been working extra hard these last few months and while it’s definitely not the normal life we are used to we are all surviving in our own ways! Happy Mother’s Day!
I’ve seen so many amazing tutorials for cloth face masks, but the only one I found that was suggesting using hair ties the measurements were way off and didn’t fit myself even in the biggest size. So I took some pictures as I modified the pattern and made it my own and to fit properly.
Due to the increasing need for face masks the 1/4” elastic you need to make them is sold out everywhere!!! As is most other elastics that you could cut down to use. So I was told try using hair tie elastics like the below picture. Best part was the Dollar Tree had these 15 for $1, which means 7 masks worth of hair ties for $1 with 1 extra to hold back your hair while you work!!!
These came from dollar tree, but you can find similar on amazon
The hair ties work as a great alternative. You just have to make a casing to enclose around the elastic and sew it up with the elastic in the middle. I took a few pictures to show how I did this. The measurements for cutting your fabric is two pieces one 7″ by 12″ and one 7″ by 10″ for a child and one 7″ by 14″ and one 7″ by 12″ for the adult sized. ***when I tried making this again it seemed the child size didn’t fit my toddler very well, but fit my 7 year old and 12 year old, so if you have a younger child I recommend making the child size one an inch smaller. You could also measure from just in front of your child’s ear across to the other side to get the correct width of fabric as masks this way will come to right in front of their ears and you’d need to add 2″ to have enough to make the casing for the hair ties but the 7” height would stay the same.***
For this pattern to work best you definitely need to cut your rectangles two different sizes to avoid so much bulk to sew through! The bottom layer is 2 inches bigger to avoid the bulk and encase the hair ties. So you cut two rectangles one 7×14 adults (7×12 kids) size and one 7×12 adults(7x10kids) size to start. Line them up so that there’s 1 inch space on either side of the smaller rectangle with right sides together. Stitch along the top and bottom only!
two rectangles
put them right sides together and stitch top and bottom only
top and bottom only stitched
Flip inside out and give a little press with the iron. Then top stitch along the top and bottom, this will help give the top and bottom some structure and helps hold down the bottom layers edge creating nice edge for the casing.
Next fold over about a 1/2″ on both short edges as the first step to make your casing and iron it down. See picture below….
I actually ironed both folds the first 1/2″ and then the second to make the casing and then opened it up for next step
Now there’s a way where you can fold this into thirds to make the pleats but honestly if you want to streamline the process skip that nonsense. Take the ironed layers to the sewing machine and along the shorter edge that’s open your going to put a quick stay stitch at the top and before you stitch any further fold up three pleats like the picture below. Then stitch right over them all! Stitch as close to the open edge you feel comfortable and don’t worry about perfection your about to cover these stitches up with the casing for the hair ties.
simply pinch the fabric in two spots to make the pleats
stitch the pleats down on both short edges along edge of your top fabric
Repeat the pleats on the opposite side of your material. Now your mask is pleated and you need to encase the hair ties. To do this I went to the ironing board and took that first folded edge on the side and folded it a second time to where it slightly overlapped the stitching you just made to hold the pleats in place. This creates your casing! Now I tucked the casing through the hair tie and carefully stitched the casing closed around the hair tie. Repeat for other side and your done! Hopefully the photos below help explain this process a little better!
you can see the creases in this picture that create the casing
slide elastic over whole mask so you can cover it with the casing as you sew
sew carefully and shift the elastic as needed to encase it in fabric
here I had to stop and adjust so that the hair tie would be encased in the fabric as I stitched
These do cover more of your face then the typical elastic made masks because you have to have more fabric to give the hair ties the reach they need to fit properly.
If this isn’t for you or you can’t find hair ties you can visit this site for an easy fabric tie tutorial. Also if you’ve got plenty of 1/4” elastic available this tutorial is what I started following and shows you the pleating technique I mentioned above. Doing it the way they show is the easiest by far to me, but there’s this tutorial that shows you a way to make them and has ties and is made using a more fitted pattern.
Personally if I’m going to make with fabric ties I’m going to do similar to this tutorial, but instead on needing a casing I’ll just make binding to use as ties. Then you have the rectangles the same size so u can encase the short ends in binding after you get to the step with them pleated. (maybe I’ll make another quick tutorial for that soon)
Stay safe everyone and find the good in your days it’ll help them pass much faster!
So sitting here eating breakfast my 7yo just asked if “I’m feeling pressure being a mommy during this corona virus thing?” I giggled and was like what do you mean honey?
She said she wasn’t sure there was any pressure since we are just stuck staying at home all day. I asked what about pressure to keep the house clean and then fed? My oldest said well the house being clean doesn’t matter as long as we are safe. To which both the girls agreed. This question sure made me giggle though! Made me think maybe I’m holding myself together better then I feel like sometimes. So good to know the kids don’t fee my stress and anxiety like I do.
My 7yo said “oh I guess there is pressure in the house still, but not as much as when this started weeks ago!” She’s right having kept them home and safe has relieved some of the pressure. However, we’ve still needed groceries and I’ve needed supplies for mask making. So every time I go to the store for supplies I feel intense pressure and anxiety like I’ve never had before because I don’t want to pick up germs while I’m out and bring them home to my kids!!!
Georgia is supposed to be opening more businesses within the next week and people are so excited BUT me I’m like “nope to soon!” There are still so many sick and clinics over run with patients due to the virus I can’t imagine it’s time to open things up.
I know those who need the jobs and money need things to start opening, but I feel like our lives matter too! So many companies are helping people out in this crisis that our health should be top priority still!!! I’m afraid instead of numbers of cases going down anytime soon it’s gonna spike again. Only time will tell. In the meantime I’m still planning to keep us home as much as possible still. Stay safe everyone!!!!
So I know there’s lot of homeschooling parents offering tips and tricks and I by no means am a homeschooling mom. I am a hands on crafty mom though and I love schedules! Day 1 of figuring out this e-learning situation and helping my kids homeschool was a HOT MESS!!!!! I watched a YouTube video of one family saying Day 1 mom was all excited and ready to go and day 2 they were just like “yeah, whatever”.
Me??? I was the Opposite!!! Day 1 I was a hot mess! The teachers were slowly sending us messages with assignments and links and my kids were so confused as I was. Thankfully my oldest is in 7th grade so she’s used to doing all this and knew her logins and I just had to tell her what subject to check. My 2nd grader was not, she wasn’t sure all login information because it’s normally preloaded on the school iPads. There may have been a point where we both cried out of frustration and we stepped away and took a mental break!
Day 2 though…..much better! We set up a plan the night before and made a schedule to try and have an idea when we should do what. This worked out great and the teachers got assignments to us faster and we moved through the day with much more ease. Below is a picture of our make shift schedule, it’s flexed here and there because we have had to run out for an errand or two. (just car ride errands no where to expose my kids) Overall this has worked and the kids typically have been done working on school work by lunch. So after lunch the kids will have “Home Ec” time to bake, sew, craft, or they have some screen free time playing.
I’ll eventually make a pretty copy of this, but this was our after dinner lets make a plan write up of our schedule!
While I’ve let some of our learning time shift and it’s depended on when teachers have sent assignments we’ve been consistent with our wake up and bed time as if they were in school! We’ve kept our meal times close to normal and every day we’ve gotten up, gotten dressed and acted as if everything is normal! That the best thing for everyone is to try and keep things as close to your normal as possible. We’ve had our moments of frustration and I’m sure it’ll continue to happen, but I’ve done my best to be calm with my girls and if we need a breather we step away from the stress and breath! Each day will be different, but there’s a whole virtual world of people going through the same thing, we are not alone! Lets lift each other up where we can and we will get through this chapter of life!!!!
I attended mass this past weekend without the kids for what I didn’t realize would be the last mass I could attend for several weeks. The Father(priest) we had this weekend covering for our usual Father who was out of town. This Father was also there to tell us about a great organization called Cross Catholic Outreach which is a great organization that helps those in need throughout the world with food, medicine and other resources! Check it out if you’ve got time.
The main part of his sermon that has stuck with me since Saturday is to “spread the love!” He spoke on lent and how many give up things like sweets and video games, but he suggested along with this we must use this time to reflect within and at how we can spread the love to the world. The sacrifice we make for lent is supposed to be a reminder to us each of the sacrifices Jesus went through for us at this time! Why did Jesus sacrifice for us? Because of his love for us! This I feel was the Fathers point in reminding us to spread the love!
As each day passes I keep hearing of the insanity going on and everyone hoarding toilet paper and other supplies, store shelves are empty in so many areas it’s sad! I know that we all want to stock up for fear we can’t leave our homes but some of these items there is no way we’d use them in 2-3 weeks! Which is unfortunate that we’ve hoarded these items that may go spoiled when others could use them now. The one that gets me is people buying all the items labeled WIC because some people rely on those items and now can’t get them and will lose those certificates. If you see a square with a W in black on it by the price on shelves or the WIC orange stickers and can get an alternate please do so.
Okay, so somewhat sidetracked there! Not really as that was relevant as well! I implore everyone as we navigate these crazy times to please SPREAD THE LOVE!!!! Only take what you need to handle the next two to three weeks and watch out for those who can’t afford to substitute it to more expensive choices! While we aren’t supposed to be physically together we can still spread the love in other ways and share tips to make it through this challenging time! If you are a praying person now is definitely a time to do that as well! We will get through this chapter and hopefully come out stronger!
I want to take a quick moment to remind anyone who stumbles over to this page to not forget yourself!
Sounds a bit silly, but you see people talking about self care and self love all the time and for good reasons! It’s very important to remember that even in the craziest times what you need matters too. Even if it’s as simple as a late night bubble bath with a good book! For some it’s being sure to get that daily work out in! Others, it could be bigger then that. Whatever it is for you to make you feel refreshed and ready for what life throws out at you, don’t forget to do it!
Self care can be different for each of us, but take a moment to think “what will turn this day around?!?” Then make it happen! For me most of the time what makes my day is a good bubble bath, but I also love getting my morning work out done and when I don’t I feel derailed. Sometimes though just completing one to do works or a few rows of crochet too! Which aren’t typical “self care” ideas when I say those words but it’s what I need to feel grounded again!
We tend to lose our self’s with our family, jobs and life, so for whoever needs to hear this “it’s okay to put you first too!”
So my motto for this week has been “God’s got a plan” because it’s been one heck of a week. Lately I’ve been trying to make some plans and get somethings in my life sorted out and on a path I think I need to be in. Well, seems every plan has had a hiccup or twelve of them!!!
For instance on Tuesday I had things all set up to be awake early and workout, then get my youngest to daycare while I had a meeting at my middle daughter’s school, then off to an office meeting. Should have ran smooth as butter, BUT nope as I’m getting changed into workout clothes my middle daughter came in with her trash can that she’s just thrown up in. Plans shot because of course taking care of my sick babies is top priority!
Wednesday she was thankfully all better and I was off to my luncheon. Then Thursday morning I have early class and am running late only to run into more trouble getting there on time and barely make the class. Also end up having to make several calls and run to the hospital due to some insurance issues.
So here we are Friday morning and I had physical therapy for my ankle to which the doc I saw was definitely hard core working it out! Glad to be making great strides but OUCH! Now I’m waiting for allergy shots to be done and off to next appointment! Life’s just crazy chaotic which is normal, but sometimes hard when you want to set up your path your life is going and every time you make a plan to take a step towards the goal life gets in the way.
For anyone going through this and happening upon my post I just want to say you’re not alone! Lots of people may look at my life from the outside and think I’ve got it all together, but I know the truth isn’t quiet so pretty as they may see it. That’s how it goes though sometimes. Keep pushing forward, every day is a new day and I’m always trying to make the best of it!
So with all the random holiday clearance I decided to buy a bunch of cheap wrapping paper. Let’s face it buying paper to be torn and trashed fast is much rather pay a $1.50 a roll then $6!!!! Well, buying like 8 rolls because kids were with me picking papers they liked I had to much paper and no where to safely store it.
I ran to Walmart to see what they had on clearance and see if they had any of the paper roll storage containers and thankfully they still had some and on clearance for $11. The one I ended up needing was for 40 inch tall paper but even with all the rolls I bought it didn’t fill a third of this container. So I stuck all the gift bags, boxes, bows in it and all my birthday papers and bags too! I also stuck all the gift bags into one medium sized bag so it’s easy to pull them out and search through to find one and the tissue paper is tucked in the bag with them.
The best part I thought was that this container actually has a flip top lid, so now I’ve got a gift wrap central container. Everything besides tape and scissors is now in this container and I can easily pull out just what I need. So if you can still find these containers maybe you can make your own station too!
