Get ready to be inspired because it's Arts and Crafts Week on RTÉ Player, and with that comes a brand new series of videos from 'Craft Queen' Mary Fitzgerald.
Many will remember Mary from How do you do?, a children's series that had kids across Ireland making everything from space ships to dolls' houses using empty toilet rolls and egg cartons.
To celebrate the show landing on RTÉ Player, Mary will be challenging some grown-ups to compete in 'Get Crafty' challenges. Today, Carl Mullan and comedian Kevin McGahern will be tasked with making homemade masks.
What you'll need:
- 2 plain pieces of cotton (you can use a t-shirt or a pillow case)
- 2 pieces of elastic to go around your ears (around 15 centimetres long),
- A needle and thread
- Scissors
What to do:
It takes about half an hour when you're doing it from start to finish at home, but you can make your own mask in 6 simple enough stages.
- The first step is keep your two pieces of cotton together. Fold them over about 6mm on the long sides."
- Using your needle and thread, carefully do a hemming stitch all along that line (a quick search of youtube will show you how to do a hemming stitch)
- Once you've done that, the next step is to fold in the shorter sides by about 2cm.
- The next stage is to get your elastic and thread it through the short sides. (A tip is to thread the elastic through the gap using a safety pin.)
- The last stage is to scrunch it all up together and tie a knot
- This can then be tidied up by pushing the knot back inside the material, to hide the elastic.
- You can use other coloured materials to customise your mask to add the finishing touches.
Read more: How to make your own face mask - whatever your crafting ability
