Making material masks in 6T
Over the last half-term in Year 6, the students were tasked with making their own re-usable material masks to help protect them from Covid-19 – a very practical way to teach sewing and joining techniques in these unusual times!
Our design and technology project began with discussing the purpose of wearing masks, the environmental consideration of one-use versus reusable masks and an evaluation of some existing models to inform our subsequent work.
Here is the evaluation Tommaso’s group made of the mask they examined to understand more about its features and methods used to produce it:
“Our focussed practical task was to ensure we had the skills to sew our mask together, so we all worked hard to master threading needles and then the back and overstitches.
In order to create your own mask that (hopefully!) fits you, you need to measure and create a paper design from which to work. We then used this to cut material to the correct dimensions and begin the joining process.”
The students worked with great concentration and care to sew their layers of fabric together and then create folds in the mask for comfort and finally attach elastics to keep the mask in place.
