Crochet pattern face mask holder

In our current climate of a world wide Covid 19 pandemic, unfortunately wearing face masks is becoming more and more common. Like many of my patterns, for example, the shopping list clipboard   this pattern was also born out of necessity. However this is the first time I have actually wanted to have a reason to delete it. Let’s hope Covid 19 is gone soon! But until then, hey, you can use this crochet pattern for a face mask holder…

Lately I have gone from working from home to back working in the library branches where it is now mandatory to wear a face mask. I need to change my mask several times in a seven hour shift as it gets damp and uncomfortable.

There are many opinions out there about whether people should wear a mask or not, but I am not going to debate here, suffice to say I am required to at work . I needed something to hold spare masks and used masks in my work bag. I decided to crochet a mask holder for clean masks only, or you may call it a bag or caddy. Of course I also wanted it to look nice, so I added a few flowers. The flowers and leaves are  optional of course!, Maybe you would prefer autumn leaves or nothing at all?

The design is very simple, two rectangles crocheted together. There are two possible ways to close the holder, either a crochet chain or a magnetic clasp. Another idea is to put a zip around the whole thing , but being me I was too lazy to do that!

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Feel free to add a zip or add snaps instead of a tie or clasps, use your imagination! You could also just use scraps from your yarn stash and make it in stripes, it also might be good as a gift if you think the person could use it.The design is also quite customizable as you can easily adjust the size of the rectangles and hang it from a lanyard for easy access.

Unfortunately this is not suitable for used masks as the crochet fabric has holes too big that would allow germs through, so I recommend using a zip lock bag for used masks and using this caddy for your clean masks.

Don’t forget when you remove your face mask you shouldn’t touch the front of the mask, remove from the ear elastic and put in a ziplock bag.  I would also wash my hands after that before touching a new one.

SKILL LEVEL

Upper beginner

ABBREVIATIONS ( US TERMS )

st  stitch

ch chain

sc  single crochet

bl back loop

hdc half double crochet

dc double crochet

MATERIALS 

2 x 50 g balls of any of the types of cotton or cotton/acrylic below

Paintbox DK cotton.  

Hobbii 6/8 Rainbow cotton

If in Australia you could use Lincraft 8 ply cotton (2 balls) Spotlight Brighton cotton/acrylic or Beetle cotton/acrylic

crochet hook  3.00mm 

scissors

tapestry needle

GAUGE / TENSION

2 inches x 2 inches = 12 hdc x 6 rows (3.00 mm )

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS

Approximately 6.5 inches/ 17 cm wide and 16 inches/ 41 cm long

Pattern Instructions

1. The  outer rectangle of the holder measures approximately 6.5 inches/ 17 cm wide x 13 inches /32 cm long.

        Ch 41, work into the second stitch and work 40 rows of hdc into the back loop (creates the ribbed effect).

 IMPORTANT TIPS

• I recommend that you count every stitch of every row as you can easily lose end stitches with HDC. If you don’t count stitchesyou may suddenly find yourself with a very lopsided rectangle !
• It could be wider or longer, I didn’t want it to take up much space in my bag, so made it to “just” fit my homemade face mask.

2. The inner rectangle measures the same but uses double crochet

     Ch 30, work into the 3rd stitch and work approximately 38 rows of dc ( long enough to match the first rectangle)

DO NOT FASTEN OFF YARN, You are going to be joining the rectangles next so don’t cut the yarn. You can just start to join them together.    

JOIN RECTANGLES TOGETHER

3. Once you have completed the two rectangles, you are going to crochet them together. Then you will work the middle string which holds the mask in place, plus the chains to tie it together.

Alternatively, you could sew elastic across the middle and add a magnetic clasp or snaps before crocheting it together.

4. Before joining, weave in the three starting and finishing ends from the rectangles. One end is unfinished as you are about to continue crocheting the rectangles together, so should not have fastened off!

5. Fold the rectangles in half longways and use a pin/ clip/stitch marker to mark the halfway point of the rectangles. I just used my tapestry needle!

6. If you want to make the holder stiffer and more durable , this is the time to measure some cardboard or hard plastic to fit into inside. Make it about 1cm shorter and sandwich it between the layers as they are crocheted together.

7. Start from where you finished the previous rectangle and working through the two layers work single crochet along the outside long edge. Working 1-2 stitches into the end of each DC crochet to join the rectangles together. Stop halfway through the rectangle where you placed your marker. Work 2 sc at each corner.

TIP: Use your judgement to make the joined edge smooth, you generally need one stitch into each DC end of row, however if it looks too tight add another in between to make a smooth edge.

8. When the halfway point is reached, chain 32 or a long enough chain to reach tightly across to the opposite side of the holder. Attach to opposite side with a ss, then work back along chain using slip stitch to reach the other side.Slip stitch into side and continue working in sc until you reach halfway along the outside edge.

Making crochet tie: Ch 30, then work back along chain using ss to make the tie.

Continue working around the edge until halfway across the other end edge and repeat the chain tie.

Work until you reach where you started and finish at the corner with an invisible join, weave end into the work between the two layers.

Now you can leave it unadorned or add flowers. 

1. Spring, beige with pink flowers, simplest version with crochet tie and no cardboard. The flower pattern can be found here 

1. Autumn khaki and orange and mustard leaves with cardboard used inside to reinforce and. a magnetic clasp to close plus loop to attach lanyard. I just cut the cardboard to slightly smaller than the rectangles, then once I had crocheted around three. of the sides I put the cardboard in then crocheted the final side. It stiffens it up really well and I prefer this version. The autumn leaf pattern can be found on the Attic 24 blog as a free pattern here

I hope you enjoyed making this crochet pattern face mask holder!

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Pattern is copyrighted to @crochetlovemelbourne and must not be reproduced in any form without my permission. You may not sell items made from this pattern, it is only for personal use.