I know I should wear a face mask, and I do, but I don’t like it. I feel hot and breathless, I imagine that when it rains it’ll be like water boarding myself.
To add to these horrors, finding the right mask is going to become a style choice, not just a civic duty, trust me, in some quarters it already is.
I like proper hankies, fine cotton hankies, love them. My mum loved hankies, we would gift each other handkerchiefs. I’ve turned some of my prettiest into really simple masks. I think of them as my Miss Marple face coverings. Liberty printed, ladylike, style free, easy to produce, easy to carry. A bit of hand sewing and elastic, boom, done.
Whereas a hankie need not match anything, they’re seen so fleetingly, masks are right there as plain as the nose on your face, when your nose isn’t covered for the safety of the community that is.
I’ve made one mask covered in images of the birds species of Australia, the handkerchief having been a gift from one of my parents trips down under. I haven’t yet made up the one decorated with the illustrated lyrics of Waltzing Matilda, I hope I never do from a style point of view. These hankie masks do the job but are they really me?
I bought a couple of tube masks, they look a bit bank robber on a push bike.
I’ve got a pattern for a neat, shaped mask, but distressingly I still don’t have access to a sewing machine to try it out.
Saucy has made a gorgeous silk and black lace mask. It’s very dressy. It might, however suggest that she’s wearing posh pants on her face, or has used a bra procured from a small breasted woman and has another identical mask at home.
Finding the right mask, it’s a minefield. I’m finding it difficult.
This style trial reminds me of when I started wearing trousers in my late twenties. I found that I had no taste in socks. I’d come home from sock shopping with multi coloured, crazy ones. Super cute or funny, but not relevant to my wardrobe at all. When I eventually found my aesthetic sock compass, the answer to the sock conundrum was, black. All I needed was black socks.
That is, unless I’m wearing boots or using them as slippers, in which case I get my sister to knit some. Frenchie’s socks are lush.
My current mask thinking is taking me down two very different routes, I think I know which is the right one.
I’ve bought some cream and black cotton fabric with a woven design. The plan is, a slip over your head, scarf shape, but with ear elastic too. I believe that this will be a stylish, low vis, practical, comfortable option. Although a plain black one might be even more stylish, low vis and practical.
On the other hand, I’ve down loaded a pattern for a plague doctor mask and I have loads of black and metallic leather….
fat tart 