I unhooked the worn-out bungee cord from the fence and replaced it with a new one. Then I cut it in half to see what was inside.
I had just gotten a Facebook message showing how bungee cords are filled with 1/4 ” elastic implying it could be used to make face masks.
I checked two different kinds of bungees that we have on the farm and neither had 1/4″ flat elastic in them.
Like so many other people, I’ve been scrounging around looking for 1/4″ elastic to make face masks with. And like so many people I’ve come across many suggestions, all that so far haven’t worked for one reason or another.
I even came up with a few ideas of my own.
I bought 100 elastic stretch loops from clearbags.com. Unlike everything else that now takes at least a week to get in the mail, these came in three days. So I made a test mask and found that the thin round elastic slipped through my stitches.
I did some experimenting and tied a knot on each end of the stretch loop so it couldn’t slip through. But then it was way too long. I fiddled with it some more and gave the mask to Bev to try out.
Bev our neighbor and owner of Carroll’s Trading Post, gave me the box of old notions with some of the elastic I’ve used to make masks so far. I was able to cut one roll of elastic from the box lengthwise (that works with the right kind of elastic) into 1/4″ strips.
This morning Bev emailed me to see if she could buy a mask for her and her husband.
I’m sending out about ten masks tomorrow but I only had one left for Bev. So I made one with the stretch loop for Bev and she said it works.
But I wouldn’t feel comfortable selling masks with it because I don’t know how it will hold up and in a couple of weeks I should have more 1/4″ elastic.
Anyway, that’s my idea for now. I’ll see what happens tomorrow.
Hi Maria,
Would it be possible to cut the 1/4″ elastic short enough to just the length that fits around the ears, and then using fabric (rolled and stitched to an approximately similar match to the 1/4″ elastic) to lengthen the whole amount of elastic-plus-fabric to attach to the face mask? Alternatively, use the 1/4″ elastic at the face mask attached end, and the rolled and stitched fabric for the piece around the ears? I can’t experiment, but that thought arose, so I wonder what you’d think?
Another thing which would probably not fly except for private use: My son sleeps with night sleeping masks, and the elastic on them wears out first. He doesn’t want to spend money on otherwise good sleeping masks, so he saves his worn underwear, strips out the elastic waist bands on those, and sews in those elastic bands to lengthen the use of his sleeping masks. I can’t think of a way to dress up underwear elastic; if I could, I’d mention it! (Maybe stretch the underwear elastic and stitch lace on the outwardly facing side, much as one would stitch elastic directly onto any piece of fabric like we used to, when making children’s clothes? Then you’d have a sort of-lacey elastic on your face masks?)
All good ideas Nancy!
Take the elastic out of an old fitted sheet. I was able to get enough for 6 Masks from a King size and the sheet works well for the fabric.
Great idea Karen!