Plague Doctor Mask

Last week my son and I were chatting about masks, and I mentioned that I had seen a quilted Plague Doctor mask, and wasn’t that funny. Uh oh. His eyes lit up, and he asked if I could make one for him. So I did.

I found a pattern from Sara on Tumblr. It worked really well, even though I skimmed through her instructions and did it differently. Normally I love EPP, but not for making a mask for my son. Too much effort for something that doesn’t need that heirloom workload. I decided to do it foundation paper piecing style instead.

I downloaded Sara’s pattern, and cut out the main pieces. I traced it onto Soft and Stable scraps that I had in the horde. I traced the sewing lines, too. I cut the soft and stable, not adding a seam allowance. I didn’t want to have that kind of bulk in the seam allowances.

I had my son select fabrics for his mask. He’s a good boy, and selected a large pile of black prints. I then had him put them in color order. He decided he wanted the mask to be lighter around the face, darker towards to point.

I then proceeded to rough cut the fabric pieces one at a time, doing a stitch and flip construction, using the Soft and Stable as the foundation. I trimmed up each piece as I finished it, leaving a 1/4″ seam allowance all the way around.

Once each foundation was covered, I quilted it, about 1/4″ within each patch. It was way easier to quilt the small pieces than it would have been to quilt the assembled parts. Once they were all quilted, I assembled the mask. The eye parts got attached to the top of the beak, then the two top parts were attached to each other, making 1/2 of the head. Then the bottom two pieces were attached to each other, then the two halves of the head were sewn together.

I quickly put the lining together, finishing off some of my black stash pieces (woohoo!) I neglected to attach the strap at that point because
1. I had stopped reading the directions pretty early in the process.
2. My son has a large head which requires measuring. He had gone upstairs, probably to eat pizza rolls.

I wish I had read through to the part where Sara pulls it all right-side out through the eyehole. I didn’t do that. I thought about it, but didn’t think it would work. Wrong! Instead I left a gap, then turned it and top stitched it all. It all worked out.

Finishing the eyeholes was a struggle. I faffed around with bias tape on the sewing machine, then by hand for about an hour before I let out one final curse, and tossed it. I ended up turning under the top and lining, pinned excessively, and then just whip stitched it. It looks fine, and my geek doesn’t know what he’s missing. It still needs some fun holographic vinyl for the lenses, but for now, it’s done.

Oh, and I just did a few hand stitches to attach the strip of elastic to hold it on my kid’s big melon. He’s happy with it, and I assume it will be worn during his AP tests this week. They said he had to have the camera on, but they didn’t say he couldn’t wear a mask. Maybe he will wear it for high school graduation! Those would be some fun photos.

In case you aren’t familiar with the plague doctor, and believe, like me, that it is some kind of steampunk weirdo costume, it is not. I mean, it is, but it is also based on a historical costume worn by actual doctors during the plague in the 17th century. Or so my 17 year old and Wikipedia tell me. Probably I’ll be learning how to make the matching hat next.

I hope you are having fun with your sewing machines! We certainly are in my house. Stay safe, and happy quilting.

*All of the little bits and bobs in my photos are from Solid Oak Inc. They have a fantastic assortment of weird accessories. No affiliation, just a big fan. The patchwork pocket watch is from them, too.