DIY Face Mask Using Household Items – No Sewing Required

The CDC has recommended that anyone who needs to be out in public wear a face mask to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

Tons of people have taken to making cloth face masks with scrap fabric and their sewing machines in order to try to stay safe. But what if you don’t have a sewing machine at home or cloth to spare? 

I personally “Marie Kondo”d my closet this past year, and have been using a clothing app called Cladwell to try to minimize my fast-fashion purchases. With that being said, I haven’t been buying or keeping any clothes that I don’t actually wear, so “extra fabric” to make a mask out of is hard to come by in our home. 

I figured, I can’t be the only one that doesn’t have any cloth to spare to create a mask at the moment. Or, perhaps you want to go pick up some spare cloth, but need to wear a mask to go do so! Quite the conundrum.

So, I did some rummaging around on the internet and in our storage to find items to make a face mask using everyday items. I’m still looking for a no-sew cloth solution and will post that later as cotton has been recommended by the CDC as a better material to create masks out of, but if you’re in a pinch and need SOMETHING, this DIY paper towel face mask will come in handy. 

It was easy to use and put on just before leaving my car to go to the store. When you’re done, it’s disposable and can be easily thrown into the trash. 

What items do you need to create this DIY face mask?

This mask is simple and easy because it only takes two items to create (well three if you count the scissors):

1. Paper towels – one full sheet or two half sheets still pieced together
2. Two pieces of something elastic–in this case I used jewelry elastic, but you could easily use rubber bands, hair ties, or fabric elastic for this no-sew face mask tutorial

And that’s it! Watch the video for step-by-step visuals, but here’s how it’s done.

Directions for creating a now-sew face mask:

1. Using either a full paper towel sheet, or two half sheets still pieced together, fold the sheet in half.
2. Then, fold the paper towel accordion style, as if you were trying to make a fan. 
3. Tie each elastic piece to create a loop (skip this step if you’re using hair ties or rubber bands that are already looped).
4. Grab each end of your paper towel fan and tie the elastic loop around it very tight. Feel free to double knot if necessary to keep the elastic in place.
5. Place the elastic loops on your ears and fan out the paper towel around your nose and mouth.
6. Adjust the elastic loops as necessary, knotting them to make the mask fit tighter against your face