Airmiles Armchair Chatter

[isabellea]

One of the pieces of fabric I bought was only $4m so that was for the trial and error masks. I made 6 of them yesterday and didn't even use half the fabric. So I made two of the pleated ones that you iron the 2 pleats right across. That was super easy and probably only took me 30 minutes.....the first one was a bit fiddley. I found that the measurements were too large so I made another one slightly smaller. I also made one adding in a wire at the nose. Then I searched a little more on Youtube and found another pleated style that was much more fitted. You don't iron the pleats on the sides...you gather the sides into 3 smaller pleats, pin them and then also add a tiny pleat under the chin. This one fit much better so I made another one adding in the wire and shortening the ear elastics. This seems to be the winner with at my house...I just need to find the perfect length for the elastic. I will send my samples over to my mom to try to see which style and size she prefers. I will have to make my moms with two different fabrics because she will never remember which side is the outside.

One thing I'm a little worried about is that I used a pipe cleaner for the nose wire......it might rust??? I also have some floral wire that I could try not sure if that would be better.

My colleague made me a mask and she sew a rectangular piece of fabric inside the mask to insert the pipe cleaner so one side is opened to insert it. I folded the tips of the pipe cleaner then inserted it into that piece of fabric and can remove it when I wash it.

 

[dancin Disney style]

The mask pattern that I found adds a separate slot for the wire so that it can be removed. I tried to be a dressmaker and mix 3 different patterns together to get one I liked but that was an epic fail so I will go back to using just one or two of the patterns to get what I want. I had no elastic at the time so I used string that has to be tied but my family doesn't like that one but now my sister found me some elastic so I will go and try to make more masks today. She even found some elastic that is attached to toggles so nothing has to be tied but I will have to figure out how to attach it to the masks so that 1) they work and 2) they actually fit nicely.
One of my patterns does suggest using the floral wire and that is what I have so I would go with that.

I could add a pocket for the pipe cleaner. I will have to look but I think the floral wire I have is coated so that might be the better option. I could dip the open ends in glue to coat them and also to eliminate a sharp point

I was using floral wire at first (the girls made alllll of the flowers for their wedding and I still have everything in my basement, 5 years later ) but I then stumbled across a package of wires at dollarama that are cut into long pieces in amongst the craft supplies. I fold them in half, fold the 2 cut ends over and then twist the entire thing together. Since it's coated I don't need to worry about rusting. I used ties instead of elastic, cut up some old undershirts and then pulled into tshirt yarn (Google it, super easy) it's soft, has a bit of give and allows for a much better fit.

I saw one video that said they had tried numerous things for the wire and found the best was the plastic coated wire from the top of a coffee or cookie bag. Another one said to buy aluminum foil baking pans from the grocery store (not the dollar store ones) and to cut strips and triple fold the strip.

I was not expecting Fabricland to have any 1/8 elastic left but they had huge reels of it. I bought 5m so I should have plenty. I've seen numerous ideas for what you can use....t-shirt yarn was one......you can get the polyester hair ties or head bands, coated hair elastics, the headbands that are basically a giant hair elastics , shock cord, seam binding, grosgrain ribbon. I really liked the shock cord idea....you make a pocket on the side of the mask, slide it through, put both ends through a craft bead and tie a knot on each of the ends. It makes the ear lops adjustable. I might try a variation of this idea.

 

[isabellea]

I personally prefer the round elastics vs flat. The flat ones hurt more the back of my ears. Right now, I try to alternate the kind of elastic when I change my mask mid-day. Helps not to have the same pressure points. I also have one with a ribbon that I tie at the back of my head when I cannot stand my other masks any longer. I need to find headbands with buttons to wear with my masks, especially when I have a 10h day at work!

 

[AngelDisney]

I personally prefer the round elastics vs flat. The flat ones hurt more the back of my ears. Right now, I try to alternate the kind of elastic when I change my mask mid-day. Helps not to have the same pressure points. I also have one with a ribbon that I tie at the back of my head when I cannot stand my other masks any longer. I need to find headbands with buttons to wear with my masks, especially when I have a 10h day at work!

Yes, the round ones are better. My DSIL made me two cloth masks with the flat ones. I folded them and sewed the opening to make them round. They feel so much better now and I can wear them longer without hurting. I insert two layers of blue shop towel and tape a twist wire on top of the towel so I can bend it to fit my nose area. Then I remove them for washing after use.

Thanks for sharing tips on different kinds of wires. I don’t think the twist wire is strong enough but it’s what I have handy at home. I will think of how I can modify and improve my masks.

 

[Donald - my hero]

ok, some pictures of my wire tweaks/ hacks
the wire i found at dollarama

which I then trim off about 3" and twist like this - the cut ends are now in the end twist and even after repeated washes don't poke out

stupid image went sideways, but I try and aim for a finished length around 4"
the pleated ones have a pocket for a filter so it's a bit easier to get it inside the masks. I centre it and sew ends to make a channel that's 5" long and then edge stitch to keep the wire in place

the fitted ones I've given up on adding filter pockets to speed up the process and because we're never out for very long so it's a bit harder but same process to get the wire sewn in. You can see that I'm using different fabrics on the inside. The ties are sewn in mainly because I'm lazy and this eliminates sewing a channel for the ties/ elastics

 

[marcyleecorgan]

ah you are all doing this mask design way different than I am

 

[dancin Disney style]

I personally prefer the round elastics vs flat. The flat ones hurt more the back of my ears. Right now, I try to alternate the kind of elastic when I change my mask mid-day. Helps not to have the same pressure points. I also have one with a ribbon that I tie at the back of my head when I cannot stand my other masks any longer. I need to find headbands with buttons to wear with my masks, especially when I have a 10h day at work!

If you happen to have those flat barrettes that you snap to close (sort of a long triangle shape) you can use those to pull the elastic from behind your ear just into you hair. Otherwise you can use a cloth ribbon and sew two buttons on to do something similar.

 

[marchingstar]

If you happen to have those flat barrettes that you snap to close (sort of a long triangle shape) you can use those to pull the elastic from behind your ear just into you hair. Otherwise you can use a cloth ribbon and sew two buttons on to do something similar.

I’m going to give this a try next time I mask up. My ears always end up sore, and this sounds like an easy trick.

 

[Donald - my hero]

leave it to nurses on a children's ward to come up with this brilliant hack for ear savers

 

[dancin Disney style]

I’m going to give this a try next time I mask up. My ears always end up sore, and this sounds like an easy trick.

You can also take a shoe lace and loop it through one elastic then the other and tie behind your head.

 

[isabellea]

If you happen to have those flat barrettes that you snap to close (sort of a long triangle shape) you can use those to pull the elastic from behind your ear just into you hair. Otherwise you can use a cloth ribbon and sew two buttons on to do something similar.

Thanks! I tried the barrettes and it works! I will use this trick for sure next time I have a full day at the lab.

leave it to nurses on a children's ward to come up with this brilliant hack for ear savers
View attachment 499754View attachment 499755

Looks fun! Wouldn’t work with my cotton masks because the elastics are too short and I don’t want to stretch them too much but would work great with disposable masks.

 

[cari12]

Nice! the 720 AM from Apple posted for my daughter’s new phone. Nice bump seeing as miles have been fairly scarce these days.

 

[Donald - my hero]

you know your life is dull when you're having trouble getting tired enough to go to bed because tomorrow is grocery shopping day!!!
good grief, I can't believe how excited I am to be doing something that's close to normal, not sure if it's the groceries, the chance to earn some miles or just the fact that most of my days just blend into each other now. I haven't looked at the flyer closely but I have a threshold spend that will give me 80 miles, that's more than I've earned in weeks!

 

[TammyLynn33]

Hey Guys
Hitting the shower before work and essay but wanted to pop in and ask a question but first you ladies making masks rock!! ❤ I have never even sewn on a button ( I use my mom dying when I was young as my excuse for no domestic skills ha ha )
Question as the kids are having socially distancing end of year visits with teachers next week are they any gift card specials anywhere ? Thanks loves
I will be back as soon as I can balance Kids work and this class and not procrastinating every damn assignment ..

 

[osully]

Ordering dinner tonight from DoorDash. Thanks to the e-vouchers I cash in some AM cash for. I’m really liking that they added them and UberEats. As we do like to treat ourselves about once a month to takeout - but aren’t leaving the house and it gets so expensive with delivery fee, tip, etc! Makes it less painful to use cash miles!

 

[tinkerone]

Some of you may remember our debacle of a flight from Toronto to Kingston in March. The flight was delayed by hours, loaded at about midnight, couldn't land in Kingston due to weather and returned back to T.O. The whole thing was a nightmare. We then were able to get the airline to send us home by train the next day but it was the most unpleasant experience I have ever had traveling.
Anyways, I had spoke with AM's about it and questioned if I would get any AM's refunded. I doubted we would but thought I would ask. They sent a request off to Air Canada and here it is eight weeks later and my account has a refund of 1656 AM's! Very happy with that. Even though we were out a lot of time, the airline did pay for the train so we were out no money. I was just annoyed and tired when I finally got home and spoke with AM's so thought I would voice my displeasure. Paid off.

 

[juniorbugman]

So just checking my National Day of the Year calendar and today is Donald Duck Day. @Donald - my hero

 

[cari12]

Hey Guys
Hitting the shower before work and essay but wanted to pop in and ask a question but first you ladies making masks rock!! ❤ I have never even sewn on a button ( I use my mom dying when I was young as my excuse for no domestic skills ha ha )
Question as the kids are having socially distancing end of year visits with teachers next week are they any gift card specials anywhere ? Thanks loves
I will be back as soon as I can balance Kids work and this class and not procrastinating every damn assignment ..

I saw on the AM app that Shell has buy a gift card get 20 AM.

 

[bababear_50]

June 18-July 1st

Come back on June 16 to preview all our offers!




https://bonusboom.airmiles.ca/en/co...rmiles&utm_medium=email&utm_content=learnmore
Hugs Mel

 

[hdrolfe]

Problably another Bonus Bust... but I guess we'll see!