I don't know about you but I've got into the habit of using sleep masks to help get a good night's sleep. This is especially useful when the sun rises earlier and earlier in Scotland and it can be light at 4am in high summer. The ones I'd been using for years were free when we flew with Virgin Atlantic to the USA for a holiday on the west coast. But those eye masks were never intended for long term use and the elastic was really suffering from repeated washing. It's taken ages for me to get around to tracing a template from the old ones, adding a seam allowance and finding the fabric and elastic to make new masks. But here they are!
I also wanted the new sleep masks to be made from natural fibres so I dived in to my cotton scraps that I use to make pocket bags in trousers and jeans, and got to work. All in all it took me less than an hour to make one mask. Why did I wait so long to replace the old ones?!?
If you're interested, I used four layers of cotton fabric so the light wouldn't penetrate too much and so I wouldn't have to use interfacing. I pulled at the elastic a wee bit, just to relax it before sewing it into the masks. I left a gap along the top of the mask so I could turn it inside out, then did a row of edge stitching to enclose all the raw edges. I know some sleep masks encase the elastic inside a tube of fabric but I didn't like that idea. I just feel it would be too bulky to sleep on.
Hey, it's not exciting sewing but for me it's an essential! And it uses some fabric scraps and end bits of elastic that are too small to use in waistbands. Result!
Essential indeed! A funky sleep mask is always nice. I also use a sleep mask and in fact, I find it difficult to sleep without one now, even in the depth of the dark Scottish winter. I made mine a tad bigger than the Virgin Atlantic versions and I use a wide elastic because I like my mask firmly in place. I use quilt wadding scraps to make mine soft. Happy to send over some of my silk/bamboo wadding if you want to make more sleep masks in the future. Have a lovely week.
ReplyDeleteHi Christina, and thanks for your comments and lovely offer. Where did you get the silk/bamboo wadding? I actually have some cotton wadding that I bought for a jacket so have loads of the stuff. I really should try it on a sleep mask and blog the results!
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