DIY Ear Saver – No Sew

Tired of your mask pulling on your ears or slipping off your face? Make this easy no sew DIY ear saver in just a couple of minutes.

DIY Ear Saver and Mask

As my kids began the process of heading back to school this year, we were faced with a new challenge.

How to help my kids cope with having to wear a face mask All. Day. Long!

I began to look into making a few DIY ear savers so my kids didn’t have to have their masks pulling on their ears all of the time.

Now, there were a lot of really cute head band ear savers or button strap ones, which would work great for my girl, but I really wanted to find something that my boys could wear as well.

I came up with this DIY ear saver that is no sew and adjustable and so far my kids have liked how they work to keep the bands from hurting their ears. (All except my youngest, but you never know what he is going to say or do, so….. for now he has decided to boycott any ear savers. Sigh.)

This ear saver also works great if your mask is too loose since you can adjust the ear saver to fit your head.

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Materials You Need:

  • T-shirt material (an old t-shirt works great!)
  • Fabric scissors (I used an old one I had lying around, but I love these scissors. I used them when I worked in a theater costume shop and absolutely loved them!)
  • Name tag clips
  • The DIY Ear Saver printable template from my resource library available to my email subscribers. It’s optional, but allows you to skip measuring each piece. (Not an email subscriber? Sign up in the subscriber box at the end of this post.
  • Paper scissors (for cutting out the template)

Steps to Make a No Sew DIY Ear Saver

Step 1: Measure your/your child’s head

Determine how long your ear saver needs to be by measuring your head with a tape measure or string from behind the tops of your ears across the top of your head to the other ear.

Step 2: Print out and cut a template

You can download my free template available in my resource library for my email subscribers (Not a subscriber? Sign up at the bottom of this post.)
Cut out the band size that you need for your head. Don’t worry if it is not exactly the right size. You can adjust the clips along the band to make it larger or smaller. So it is better to make it a little bigger so you have room to play with.
You will need to cut the strip 1-2 inches longer than your desired end result because the braid will shorten your fabric, so if you want to make your own template, just make it 1-2 inches larger than your desired final product.

Hand cutting out diy ear saver template with scissors

Step 3: Cut out the t-shirt fabric

Use the template to cut out your fabric rectangle. You can pin it to your fabric or set a fabric weight on it. I just set it on top and held it while I cut. The great thing is that it doesn’t have to be perfect to work.

Cutting out t-shirt fabric with template and scissors

Step 4: Cut the fabric in strips

After you have your fabric rectangle cut out, cut it into three equal strips.

Three strips of fabric held in a hand

Step 5: Stretch the t-shirt

Use your hands to pull on the t-shirt fabric to stretch it into ‘strings’. This will add about 2 inches onto the length of each strip and make your fabric easier to braid. The strips will shorten again as you braid them.

Hands stretching t-shirt fabric strips

Step 6: Braid your ear saver

With all three pieces of fabric together, tie a knot at one end of your ear saver. Pull it tight so it doesn’t unravel
Loosely braid the fabric together. Your goal is to still allow the braided fabric to stretch so don’t pull the fabric too tightly while you are braiding.
I just held mine in the air as I braided.

Hands braiding t-shirt fabric into diy ear saver

Step 7: Tie off the braid

Once you have about an inch left on the end of your ear saver, tie another knot to close off the braid and pull that tight.
If you have any loose strands sticking out, you can trim them off with your fabric scissors.

Finished DIY Ear saver held in hand

Step 8: Attach the diy ear saver to your mask

Clip the name tag clips around your mask ear loops and then clamp them to either side of your ear saver.
Adjust them until the mask fits comfortably on your face.

Hand holding ear saver clipped onto mask

Finished DIY Ear Saver

DIY ear saver attached to mask

And that is it.

These ear savers only take a few minutes to make.

My older three love them and I use one on my masks as well because it keeps them from sliding down as I talk.

Here is the side view.

Lady wearing mask and DIY Ear saver

And this is what they look like in the back.

DIY ear saver stretched across back of head.

If you are interested in the mask pattern, I found mine at jennifermaker.com here. She also has a no sew option as well.

Want to save this idea for later? Save it to your favorite DIY Pinterest board.

DIY Ear Saver and mask

Interested in other fabric crafts? Check out how to make a fleece blanket or make a pillow out of a placemat.

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Smiling woman with brown hair

Thank you for reading! I am so glad that you stopped by! If you enjoyed reading this, I would love for you to share it on Pinterest and Facebook!

Creatively Yours, Erin

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