Mola Masks

In Panama and Columbia, there is a indigenous tribe of people called the Kuna (apparently now called Guna).  They make a fabric art called molas, which are pictures sewn using reverse applique.  When I lived in Panama, I felt in love with them and I regularly wore clothing that had molas sewn into/on them.  

The last time I was browsing on Spoonflower, I found that there were some fabrics that depicted molas and I decided that I needed some.  I bought this one.  

I decided to make masks.  I used the mask pattern that I used in my last post.  The rectangle in the fabric are much smaller than my mask pattern so even with fussy cutting, I had to improvise quite a bit.  I'm still rather pleased with how they came out.  

  I also decided to try to make one without the seams across to see  how it would affect the look and feel.  That is the bottom one in these two pictures.

It really doesn't feel that much different, but it make the folding a little weird. The pictures don't really do them justice, and they don't really do justice to real molas.  I actually really like how they turned out and for me, they are really nostalgic from when I lived in Panama.  

New style of mask

 I know an awful lot of  people aren't wearing masks anymore, but we still are.  I found a new mask pattern that I really like.  It is by far the most comfortable mask to wear that I've tried so far, especially for a long period of time.   After wearing it for a couple of hours, I immediately went looking for the pattern.

The pattern that I found which seems identical even down to the sizing is from this youtube.  The actually printed pattern is here from a dropbox.  I have traced all four sizes and made the small, medium, and x-large so far.  

The small fits my three year old perfectly.  I would say it is meant for children 2-8 ish.  You can actually cut out 3 small masks from a fat quarter if you are very conservative with the fabric.  For all other sizes, you will only get 2 masks from a fat quarter.

Here is the grandbaby wearing hers.  This size mask also barely fits the bear cub, who is 12, but she is much more comfortable in the medium.

The medium size is probably meant for ages 9 to small adult.  It fits my (almost)14 year old fine, but my 10 year old feels it is too confining.  She will be more comfortable in a large, which is probably sized for most women.

The X-large is very comfortable for me and my husband.  I considered making an extra pattern for XXL, but I am not going to unless I find someone that needs a bigger size than this XL.  This was my first attempt, which came out fine and my husband has claimed, but I am using a different technique to insert the elastic for the ears.  I am now putting the elastic immediately after turning the mask inside out.

I will be making a bunch of these because they fit so well, maintain their shape, and are so comfortable.  I bought the nose wire and elastics on Amazon.  The Minnie fat quarter is one the grandbaby chose at Walmart (it was supposed to be for a hair bow).  The other fabrics were from fabric.com.