DIY Pleater Board for Face Masks
Have you been making the pleated face masks? Are you getting frustrated with how your pleats are turning out? Does making pleated face masks seem to take a long time? That’s what I was thinking until I realized that a pleater board would make this process so much more efficient! Take a look at my video tutorial for a DIY Pleater Board, download the measurements and start making masks, more efficiently!
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Pleater board Materials list
- Pleater Board Measurements
- Cardboard (I used a Comic Book Board)
- Tape
- Ruler or measuring tape
At the beginning of the Corona Virus pandemic, and during our Stay at Home order, I was making a pleated face mask and became frustrated with making pleats. I was making large batches of face masks for the healthcare industry, first responders and also for our local nursing homes. I wanted to make lots of masks and I wanted to make them as efficiently as possible. I was becoming frustrated because my pleats were turning out uneven and it was taking longer than I thought necessary to pleat a single mask.
I was chatting with a fellow sewist and she told me that I should use a pleater board for my pleats. To be honest, I had never heard of a pleater board before. I am a novice at garment sewing and this was not a term that I recognized. I did some research and quickly learned that this tool would be a GAME CHANGER for making pleated masks.
I enlisted the help of my friend’s husband, who is an engineer. This guy is a regular smarty pants and made me a prototype of my first pleater board. I loved it and used it and even tweaked it to make it perfect enough to share it with you all!
Before you watch my quick video tutorial, I will tell you that my un-pleated mask measures 8 inches wide and 7 inches tall. I know that there are a ton of pleated face mask tutorials out there. I made my board work specifically with my pleated face mask measurements. You can certainly try my pleater board with a different mask pattern – but do so knowing that your results may vary. Just sayin’
This video tutorial shows you how to assemble and use your DIY Pleater Board. Be sure to download the DIY Pleater Board Measurements and gather your materials. This project will only take a little bit of time, but save you LOADS of time with your mask making efforts!
I am so proud of how valuable the sewist has become, in these difficult times. If you are making masks for yourself and/or others – I applaud you! Thanks for making a difference! I truly hope this little face mask hack will help you help others.
https://www.sewmuchmoore.com/product/metal-support/
Pleater board, what a great idea! Thank you. Now to find the right board material. Again, thank you.
If you don’t have comic book boards (I use them to organize my fabric stash), you can always use a cereal box or something similar. Good Luck!
Awesome, thank you and the friends who helped you! (Y)
I am so thankful for you posting this pattern, I have been making masks a lot here and the need is more important than ever due to this emergency our people are in need. Not just medical but patients, like y sister who has cancer, she needs masks that can be washed and reused. I know these are not classified as medical use, but for her, and many like her and their loved ones, this is perfect.
Made Pleater board and made tweaks for 9 by 6 inch masks as follows:
Piece A 1 1/8 “ x 6 3/4”
Piece B 3 3/4” x 6 3/4”
Piece C 2 5/16” x 6 3/4”
Piece D 3 3/8” x 6 3/4“
This is not perfect by any means but seems to be working for me so I thought I’d share! Thanks for all your help in making sewing masks as efficient as possible!
What is 25 16th. ???
I think she meant 2 5/16
Sorry! I typed exactly what I wrote 25/16 is simplified to 1 9/16 inches.
so its 9/16 or 5/16?
What is the measurements for the bottom piece?
The base measurements are listed on the PDF. All you need to do is add the Pleater Board Measurements to your cart and proceed to checkout. Thanks!
tks
My husband made me the pleater board. Exactly like video and measurements. Every time I do the pleats with the pleater board I only come out with 3 pleats total. I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong. I am using the correct size of fabric as suggested. Any advice would help if available.
This pleater board is designed to only give you three pleats. You are doing it correctly!
Thank you will try it now
hola porfavor en centimetros me puede dar la plantilla gracias
La descarga en PDF tiene las medidas en centímetros enumeradas. ¡Gracias y espero que les sea útil!
The 9/6 mask seems to small when opened up, why? cam you use the same measurements with a larger size such as 7/9 or 8/9
I encourage you to make your own pattern adjustments as you need. That’s the beauty of DIY!
Finally I can make the pleats! I simply could not master the pleats until I found your instructions for the pleater board. Thank you.