TO WEAR FACE MASKS OR TO NOT WEAR FACE MASKS.....

With the world almost paralyzed by the Coronavirus at the moment, there has been a lot of talk about whether to wear protective gear when you go out... eg, shopping etc.

It seems those countries that have used them, they have had a lot less transmission count than countries that don't wear them, although the experts say that the cloth ones are no where near as effective as the bought medical ones.  In saying that though, it is near impossible to be able to lay hands on the medical ones... They are needed for our essential services staff so the next best thing was to make one myself.

I must admit the last couple of times I have been shopping I have been a little freaked out by the number of people in the supermarkets and I have been very conscious of the possibility of how easy it would be to pick up the germs around you....

Fortunately at this stage there are very few cases of the virus in our region of the state and those that are here have all come from overseas and been isolated immediately, but that doesn't mean that things could change rapidly...

Whilst I know that home made masks at not a guarantee of not catching the virus,  I figure that it would help a little, so this week, I have bought gloves to wear out shopping and have been madly sewing face masks out of scrap materials for all my family...

Checking out You Tube clips on making a face mask

In the end I decided on this one as it seemed pretty easy and had a pocket so that you could put a filter in there.

Firstly I had to find a pattern to use... Good old google,  it didn't take me long to find a few different You Tube clips on making face masks.  I must have watched a good dozen or more and then decided on the way I wanted to use..

Watching the DIY video on my iPad as I sew....

A bit of a production line...

 It was actually fun to get my machine out and do a bit of sewing... Most of my scraps are from material used to make outfits for my grand daughter, so my masks are all nice and colourful...

 I ended up making 19 in the end.  Some for both of my girls and their husbands, and a couple each for Steve and I, and some for Steve's parents....

My effort making face masks...

Only time will tell if we really should be wearing them, but we are now ready and I am thinking I will take mine with me shopping because I don't want to feel as vulnerable when I am out like I did last week....