Got you covered! by Apple & Fig
This pattern has all the features we felt created a good fit, including a nose piece for a close fit around the nose, pleats that allow room for your nose and mouth, and a drawstring-style binding channel for the ties. It’s designed with the all-important three layers, and has excellent instructions and tips for customising the size. While we rate it at an intermediate sewing level, it’s totally achievable by a keen beginner.

Hybrid Cloth Mask by Iris Luckhaus
This mask was a close runner-up (after much debate). It has a more complex pleating pattern and a trapezoidal shape, which complicate assembly. Using Iris’s photo tutorial may help, as the instructions are relatively brief. It does have a removable wire piece to prevent kinking in the wash, and its pleating pattern can be more comfortable for some face shapes. We recommend printing off the folding guide for this design as it makes the pleats a bit easier to understand and fold.

Cloth mask by DHHS
This mask is very easy to sew, and the drawstring sides create a similar fit to neater, pleated masks, although we found the scrunched material sat against our mouths. Adding a nose piece would improve the fit, particularly for people who wear glasses.

Origami-style mask by Aplat
This mask design was easy to sew and folds away compactly. Unfortunately, its lack of pleats and nosepiece limits its effectiveness and forces air out past the nose. Guaranteed to fog up glasses and safety glasses.

Florence Face Mask by Free Sewing
We’ve taken to calling this style the butterfly style of mask. This style is relatively easy to sew and is very popular in commercially purchased masks, although this version does not have a nose piece. The key drawback is a lack of pleating, which means the mask is quite flat across the mouth and is likely to shift during natural movements such as yawning, requiring constant adjustment (not great when you’re trying to avoid touching it!).