Recommendations for comfortable masks?

[jducoeur]

Kate and I have plenty of masks, technically. We have a few high-quality ones made by friends, and we have a big pile of cheap-but-adequate ones that I bought off of Amazon. The cheap ones are actually pretty good for just running into somewhere for a few minutes. But none are great for long-term use: the homemade ones tend to be a tad tight (my nose gets a bit squished with long usage), and the Amazon ones are somewhat floppy in their center section, especially after washing a couple of times (so I wind up chewing on the fabric after a while).

So I put it out to the lazyweb of my friends: any recommendations? I'm specifically looking for masks that are adequately safe (I'm not worried about N95-level protection, but they should be at least multi-layer fabric), but also somewhat comfortable. That probably means somewhat shaped around the nose so that it doesn't press on it too much, probably not floppity t-shirt fabric, and ideally not excessively hot and stuffy. (And in a perfect world, snug enough at the top to not cause my glasses to fog too much.) Reusability is very strongly preferred: while I'm willing to consider disposables, I dislike them on principle -- something that can be washed would be much better.

Suggestions? Don't worry about cost for purposes of this question -- I want to get a better sense of the options, and am willing to pay a bit for something that's good.

Comments

[sichling]

What I have found works well for making them is to start with a rectangle of cloth (roughly 8.5" tall by 7" wide for the medium adult size). Do a dart at the nose. Do 2 darts on the bottom - for either side of the chin. The darts are each about 2" tall. I do a nose piece (can order on Amazon). Sew up the top and bottom seams, flip it right side out, and sew the nose piece in a channel. The metal nose piece means that it can fit around the nose and doesn't fog.

Then - pleat/ruffle the sides so that they are about 2.5' tall. I then sew a channel of fabric on either side that elastic or bias tape can be threaded through (bodkins are great). This gets the mask to puff out significantly from the mouth. For the ties, I like to use cord locks - so that it doesn't have to be tied and can be easily adjusted. I prefer that style for longer wear.

You can make this with as many layers as you like; I haven't noticed significant differences between 2 layers of cotton and adding a 3rd layer that is silk.

Feel free to drop a message if you'd like to wander by, visit, and take a look at an absurdly wide variety of masks.