There is a movement across the country to sew and donate face masks. I did a blog post a couple of days ago with a mask pattern and shoe lace ties. You can see that here. When individuals and groups began sewing masks most of the patterns used elastic. I thought it might be difficult for people to acquire with everyone staying in their homes. Also, several comments I saw on forums stated elastic was getting difficult to order online. The idea to use alternative materials like shoelaces worked and the masks have been holding up great. Today I wanted to post an easy way to create mask ties from fabric. Most patterns advise using bias binding that is pre-made or making your own
You can use a binder foot to sew fabric ties very easily. These ties are not as wide as bias binding, but they are very durable with all the raw edges being enclosed. This particular sewing foot is not a standard attachment but you might have one in your sewing feet and not realize it. I actually have one for my sewing machine and one for my serger. Binder feet are used to add binding to quilts and other projects like vest and jacket edges. In most instances you would have the binding being attached to other fabric. Here, you are sewing just the strip of fabric by itself and it works great. Most people that sew love to try and buy additional feet because they really do make short work of sewing tasks. If you don't have one, look in your machine manual and see if they are available for your model.
 |  |
This is what the foot looks like. It has a curved center and might seem intimidating but it is magical when you see how easily the fabric is folded and sewn in one step.
 |  |
I usually start by trimming my fabric to the correct width. Here you see I have an assembly line going with my strips. My particular foot requires the strips to be 15/16th of an inch wide. I have tried sewing them just a little shy of this and they still work great.
I trim the end to a point and that makes it easier to slide into the curved part of the foot. The fabric goes in with the pretty side facing to the right.
A pair of tweezers will assist in pulling the fabric through under the foot. I have my stitch on center needle with 2.5 mm width and 2.5 mm length. Verify all of these settings according to your machine and binder foot.
You make sure that the foot is lowered and hold the fabric at the same angle as the foot for smooth sewing.
Fabric strips go in and sewn ties come out with no exposed edges. As long as you hold that fabric at an angle and feed it smoothly, the foot will fold everything in place allowing the machine to sew beautiful fabric ties. These would be similar to spaghetti straps. If you want to do some relaxing sewing, this will certainly do the trick to watch these little ties being created with minimal work on your part.
Check out the mound of fabric ties I have been able to sew. Now all I have to do is cut out my fabric for masks and insert these into whatever pattern I am using. This has shortened my preparation time because all I am doing is trimming my fabric across the grain and letting the foot do the work. I pressed my fabric flat before I made my cuts and have not done anything else to prepare it. The fabric doesn't need to be cut on the bias because I won't be going around any curves. Everything is straight sewing when creating these ties. So if you have a binder foot in your tools, give it a try. Just look up the recommended fabric width for your foot. I have a video below showing my foot in action. I hope you have enjoyed this post, share what you learn and are generous with what you create. Someone will appreciate your hard work! If you are interested in donating face masks to very needy organizations, visit WENEEDMASKS.ORG
Many states are in dire need and would welcome home sewn masks. Look for your area and I bet there is an organization close to you having made a request. If you know an organization that needs masks, point them in the direction of the WENEEDMASKS.ORG website so they can add their contact information and address to make a request. This is a legitimate site being spearheaded by the Sewing and Craft Alliance and American Sewing Guild.
Many states are in dire need and would welcome home sewn masks. Look for your area and I bet there is an organization close to you having made a request. If you know an organization that needs masks, point them in the direction of the WENEEDMASKS.ORG website so they can add their contact information and address to make a request. This is a legitimate site being spearheaded by the Sewing and Craft Alliance and American Sewing Guild.
