Making a Pandemic Mask from a Bandanna

The awesome way.

Yes, I know you can simply tie a bandanna around your face and look like the Frito Bandito®. But if you have a sewing machine and can use it at least as well as I can — that is, not very — you can turn, without much trouble, it into a three-ply face mask with the insignia front and center as shown above.

You will need a bandanna, some 3/8" elastic, an insertion tool as described farther down, and a working sewing machine. My first mask I made for myself by means of hand stitching. It took all day.

First, do yourself a huge favor — wash and iron it. The bandanna that is. This will save you a great deal of trouble.

Before you start giving me a hard time, yes I know this is not the bandanna shown in the featured image. But as Tom Lehrer once said, (albeit in a different context) the idea is the important thing.

I neglected to document the bandanna mask in the featured image, and I almost forgot when making this one, so please allow me to explain the picture above. Start by folding it in on itself, corner to corner, such that the result is 7 1/2" from top to bottom and the insignia…