That’s bad at the best of times. I hate having a cart pressed against my back.
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I have been on kind of a mask-making bender since I posted about it on the last thread about this. Here’s the current version of my Ikea-style instructions. It is inspired by the ragmask pattern, but it only uses a single pair of tapes shoelaces.
Obviously the point of making your own is that you can use whatever materials you want. But, as I said on that other thread, I don’t think it’s a good idea to focus on the nominally highest-performing material if it’s hard to breathe through; in this context, that means more air going around the filter instead of through it. Based on a couple of the sources noted above, and my tests with actually breathing through different materials, my suggestion would be to use a reasonably high-thread-count cotton bedsheet / pillowcase / shirting poplin for the inner material (in this design, you’re breathing through two layers each of the inner and outer material).
Other tips I have found:
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take time to get the nose wire adjusted right; you want a snug fit, but if it pinches your nostrils then you’ll feel out of breath even just walking.
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7cm / 2¾" is a good size for that wire – it may seem like longer is better, but actually it tends to just make the mask sit off your face as it moves around.
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If you use a stretch fabric (e.g. from a T-shirt) for the outer layer, be sure to use a non-stretch fabric for the inner layer, and vice versa. Apart from being harder to sew, it’s harder to get stretchy masks to fit right.
I would be interested if anyone had feedback about my design! But mere name-calling doesn’t count.
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It changes your math on domestic usage. Given most people don’t pee overnight or pee at home during their 8 hour work day , 2 hour commute- their usual weekday usage is 6 hours worth. The additional 10 hours worth is significantly more than a 20% increase.
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I swear I’m gonna start making these as soon as I’m finished building my popsicle stick house.
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Interesting point in the NBC story: “Lesser quality fabrics also worked well, as long as they had an internal layer of flannel.”
I have a 1950’s era cloth surgical mask, purchased at a military surplus store years ago for a costume. It is made with two layers of heavy gauze-like fabric (useless for filtering) with a layer of heavy flannel sandwiched in the middle.
I wonder what research was done back in the day that caused them to settle on that design?
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…
But deadly through the Trump Years.
It’s Covid 19
We wear the face masks together.
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I imagine that it went like this, “Right, the only material we have to hand is gauze and flannel; and we’ve got twice as much gauze as flannel.” 
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Kind of doubt that. From what I understand from an older relative who was a nurse back in the day, that’s how surgical masks were made well into the 1960s. These were commercially manufactured products, there’s no reason to believe thought didn’t go into the engineering of them beyond just “what do I have in the warehouse.” However, they were trying to make something that would protect the patient, not the wearer.
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Success on first try. I cut open a small conical coffee filter as the insert and sealed up the bottom edges with a little double-sided tape, et voila. If I make another I think I would make it a smidge taller up and down and figure out a way to seal it up around the bridge of my nose. Maybe tape a paper clip in and bend it or something.
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Welcome to Happy Mutantville!
Like the experts are saying “It’s not nothing”. It’s one more layer of protection on top of social distancing, sheltering in place, etc. The danger is that people will feel overconfident about how protected they are, so;
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Basically, PPE is the last thing you should rely on. Not last as in “it’s useless” but last as in “last line of defense”.
Anything else you can do, do, as opposed to relying on PPE. Stay physically away from people, wash your hands, don’t touch your face. The mask is there when you can’t do the above, when you must go shopping and you can’t wash your hands in store, for example. And you can’t trust other people to stick to the 6 foot rule.
And really, it’s more about protecting other people from you than protecting you from other people. But if everyone wears them, you end up with a similar effect.
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I’m not cool enough for that 
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