Sewing Face Masks 4

日本でも今頃になって「ステイホーム」対策が強化されて、今年のゴールデンウィークは寂しい連休になりそうね。
私はまだまだマスク作っています。もう200個以上作ったわよ。無償で作ってるので、「もう１０個欲しいです」とか言われるとちょっとむっとするけど（爆）
マスクを受け取ったクリニックから、サンキューカードと花束が届いたよ。感謝されるとうれしいね。

I'm still making masks. I have made over 200 at this point. I finally ran out of elastic but I ordered a new spool and it should arrive on Monday.

I did not like the pleated rectangle surgical mask style so I'm back to the Olson Mask pattern. I'm using a surgical wrap material so omitting the filter pocket, which makes it so much easier and faster to make.

I know many people are selling home made masks on Etsy and I kind of feel jealous, but I'm sticking to giving the masks away for free. I do get a bit pissed when I get a request saying "can we have 10 more?" from a business. I mean, I understand the masks are hard to come by, but if you are a business, they should pay for the masks, unless you are hospitals battling with the pandemic. Do they know how long it takes to make 10 masks? I'm not a factory!

I'm really feeling the "saying no" and "fair compensation for your work" debate... Why am I spending my precious time sewing masks and spending my own pocket money for the mask material for a business that can easily buy 10 home made masks from Etsy? I'm more than happy to make 10 masks for a friend of a friend who needs the masks for his family and neighbors or something, but a request from a business really puts me on a fence.

But then, a clinic I made the masks for their staff sent me flowers and a thank you card and it boosted my volunteering spirit. So my solitary mask making volunteer goes on.

I gave Phantom a new quarantine hair style. Doesn't he look happy? Reminds me of the kid that plays the piano in School of Rock. 

Sewing Face Masks 3

昨日スーパーに食料品の買い出しに行ったんだけど、まだまだうちの近所ではマスクつけてない人のほうが多かったです。田舎だからあまり危機感ないのね。
誕生日のプレゼントは何が欲しいか聞かれたので、今年の誕生日は「週末オフ」をもらいました。（いつまでも終わらないペンキ塗りとか庭仕事とかなし、ということ）
そんなゆっくりできる週末を利用して、マスク作りに励みました。
全部で４３個できました。３Dバージョンとサージカルマスクバージョン。

I went to a grocery store yesterday for my weekly grocery shopping. Surprisingly, majority of the people are still not wearing masks. (But some were wearing both masks and gloves.)

The Man of the House asked me what I wanted for my birthday, so I requested a "weekend off" and I got it. We have been working on the house every weekend so it was nice to have a "weekend off." Utilizing my weekend off, I made more masks.

In addition to the three-dimensional type masks, I made the surgical mask style pleated version as well. I made 43 masks total this weekend. Not too shabby.

Sewing Face Masks 2

アメリカでも、疾病予防管理センターが人々のマスク着用を推奨し始めました。
日本と違ってアメリカでは普段の生活でマスクをつける文化がないので、どんなに花粉症がひどくても、どんなに風邪ひいて咳・くしゃみをしていても、だれもマスクを着けません。
薬局でも日本ほどいろんなバラエティーのマスクが売ってるわけでもないし、基本的に誰もマスクをもってないのよ。
だから最後の手段として手作りマスクになるわけです。ミシン持ってなかったらバンダナとかしかないしね。
そんなわけで家族、お友達のためにいくつかマスクを作りました。私はあまりマスクにするのにいいような木綿の布をもっていないので（服にする布ってマスクにはむいてないからね）あまり数はできないけど。

It's interesting to see how resistant Americans are to wearing a face mask. In Japan, it's pretty normal for people to wear masks in public when they are sick from cold or having seasonal allergy symptoms. (Japan has a really large population of people who suffer hay fever. Decades of neglect from clearing woods and forest has dramatically increased the amount of pollen flying around during spring) If you go to a drug store, you can find a variety of different types and shapes of masks (though of course not right now), and many people do have masks with some filtration capability at home. I mean, the Prime Minister of Japan is talking in a press conference with a mask on. So, naturally, everyone in Japan is now wearing masks and if you are not wearing a mask, I'm sure people will look at you with an evil eye.

Anyway, I made more masks for family and friends. Again, I use the Olson Mask pattern, and using the disposable mask as a filter. This pattern is definitely not suited for mass making, but I was making only 14 so it was not too bad.

Unfortunately, I didn't have many quilting cotton at hand. These are pretty much just scraps I had kept from other projects.

Below is how it looks inside the mask with the disposable mask inserted as a filter. This one is my 2nd pair so that I can wear this one while my other pair is in a wash.

I kept the chin dart from my customization but didn't do the pleat at the side and left the side length as is. I cut the ear elastic long enough for people to adjust the fit. I also shaved off just a bit of the curve of inside pocket piece to reduce the bagginess inside (in the picture below, see the "Mouth 2" piece at left bottom row, the far left curve).

I know so many sewers are volunteering to make masks right now and I am planning to take some time off work to join the sewing marathon as soon as I get my supplies!

Sewing a Face Mask

非常に忙しくて、１か月以上ミシンに触ってもいなかったんだけど、最悪の事態に備えてマスク作りました。
我が家にはなぜか医療用使い捨てマスクがいくつもあるので、使い捨てマスクをフィルターとして中に入れられるようなマスクをつくりました。
そしてそんな使い捨てマスクについていた針金を再利用して鼻のとこフィットするようにもなっています。眼鏡も曇らなくてとてもよし。
無料ダウンロードの型紙を使ったんだけど、一つ作ってみたら顎と耳のとこフカフカするので顎にはダーツをつけて、耳のとこはプリーツにしたので超フィットです。

I had not even touched my sewing machine for over a month but just in case I need it, I made a face mask.

I used the Olson Mask pattern. You can download the pattern here and watch the video here. The pattern features a 3D style face mask that has a sleeve inside to insert a filter.

We had some surgical disposable masks at home so I took the metal piece out of the disposable mask and insert it in my mask and use the disposable mask as a filter.

I made a mock-up. The pattern is pretty good, but wanted to make it fit better on my face so I shortened the side, added a chin dart, and added a pleat at the side.

Thanks to the metal piece I inserted in the upper edge of the mask, the mask fits around the nose pretty well. No foggy glasses.

The mask goes under my chin and covers the entire bottom half of my face. I'm actually wearing it right now as I type and it's pretty comfortable to wear. This may not protect me from getting the virus but it will sure work well against pollen or when I have to do a dusty house project.

I wish I could sew these up to donate but my work is a bit too busy right now and I kind of burned out so I took a half day off today and made this mask. Anyway, I'm very happy with this very well fitted mask.

MOTH's Masterpiece

ちびちびと地下室の建築作業進んでいます。
天井の電気つながりました。明るいと作業もしやすい。

Slowly but surely, but mostly slowly, the construction of the basement room continues.
Man of the House hooked up all the lights, 8 of them.

発光ダイオードの電気が８つで、天気のいい日の日差しが入っているぐらい明るいです。

The ceiling painted and lights put in. Probably the most exciting part of this room is this bright light (well, plus the natural light from the french door). It's as bright as a sunny day and it's dimmable!

オットの強い希望で、部屋の壁の一つにレンガ風のベニヤを張ることにしました。

MOTH really wanted to try the fake brick wall over one of the walls. Kind of ironic considering the exterior of our house is all brick and we are putting in a fake brick wall inside.

嘘くさい偽レンガの上に、壁の補修に使うパテを塗ります。まだらに塗るのが決めて。ピンクのパテは乾くとクリーム色になります。

MOTH spackling.

乾いたらこんな感じ。

Dried spackled fake brick wall.

私は飾り板にペンキを塗りました。右側４本は壁と床の継ぎ目の飾り板で、左４本は壁と天井の継ぎ目の飾り板です。

I painted the base boards and the crown molding. So much easier when it's not on the wall.

ユキは断熱材の上で巣ごもりしてました。断熱材掘ってたよ。

Dog nesting on the insulation. She shredded the fiberglass by "digging" the insulation.

水で薄めた白いペンキを塗って完成。裏通りっぽい感じ。

MOTH's masterpiece completed. To finish off and seal the spackle, he painted watered-down white paint over the entire fake brick wall. I really like this sort of back alley look.

Miscellaneous

出来上がったクッション、ユキも気に入ったようです。

Dog has approved the new cushion.

急に最低気温が氷点下８度ぐらいになって、大急ぎで水仙を植えた鉢を家の中に入れました。しっかりモモヒキはいてます。

The night time temperature dropped to 17F and I had to bring my daffodil pots inside. Yep, I'm wearing my long johns.

すごい田舎に住んでいるので、犬の散歩でほぼ毎日野生の鹿に遭遇します。っていうか、うちの裏庭は鹿家族の通り道なので、朝晩鹿が通り過ぎていきます。珍しく群れになっているのを写真に撮れました。９頭いたよ。

Living in the boonies, I literally encounter wild deer every day on a dog walk. Our backyard is also a part of their daily walking route so they pass by pretty much every morning and evening. I was able to take a picture of a family of 9 today.

Cushions!

もう１０年ぐらい使っているソファーのクッションに、新しいカバーを作りました。
元のクッションはワインレッドとマスタード色だったのを、青、黄色、ピンクの３色クッションにしてみました。

We had this cushion (2 burgundy and 1 mustard color) for about 10 years now and I decided to make a new cover. The new ones are tri-color!

The original cushion dissected.

I reused the piping for the new one.

New cushion cover fabric. It's like a velvety fabric and the circles are sewn with an elastic thread in the bobbin creating this bubbly texture. The thing is, the tightness of the circles are not quite the same so the fabric was slightly torqued. I steamed it a bit in an attempt to square it out but it just got shrunk more.

New piping.

When I cut the fabric by counting the "bubble" and sewed the 2 pieces together matching the bubbles, because of the torque in the fabric, the cushion ended up all wonky. So I had to unpick everything and re-cut the fabric and sewed them together without matching the bubble.

I added a concealed zip so that (1) I don't have to hand-stitch it, and (2) so that the cover can be taken off easily for a quick wash.

The combination of the textured fabric, piping, and the concealed zip made a simple project very complicated. It took me 3 weeks to finish 3 cushion covers.

Basement Update

地下室の建築作業の途中経過。
ペンキの下塗りまできました。しかしここで義父が帰ってしまったので、ここから先の作業はオットと私。あぁ、今年もペンキ塗りが多い。

Our basement construction continues. After a few rounds of mud touch-ups and sanding, the ceiling and the walls are painted. We had a couple of cans of old paint that the previous owner left with the house so we used them for the base coat.

The closet doors are hung. Luckily, the previous owner (who custom-made the house in the early 2000s) had already bought the the closet doors and baseboards and left them with the house so we are using those.

We are planning to put a faux brick wall on one of the walls.

So this is as far as it got, then MOTH's father went back home, so now it's me and MOTH to do the rest of the work. Which means more painting on the weekends. Yey.

Construction Continues

年末から取り掛かっている地下室の工事、お正月も元旦から頑張って作業してます。
断熱材を入れ、天井を張り、壁を張りました。

The construction for the basement continues.
The insulation is in.

The ceiling is up.

Walls are up...

and mudded.