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DIY Eye Mask!

For my trip to Europe this summer to visit family, I knew that I needed to bring along an eye mask.  On a work trip overseas last year, I had so much trouble sleeping with the huge television monitor hanging over my aisle.  I decided then and there that for any next trip, a DIY eye mask would be in order!  🙂  Having the eye mask this time around made my trip much more comfortable.  Another great use I’ve found for this super simple DIY eye mask?  Hospital appointments!  You know when you’re sleepy and in chemo, but the hospital lights are super bright?  This DIY eye mask would definitely make it easier to slip off to sleep for some much needed Zzzzzs.

First, start by download this pattern (just right click on the image below and choose “save image as…”).  The pink, dashed lines show the size the finished eye mask should be while the blue, dotted lines show where you should cut the outer boarder of your fabric.  This is important because your sewing allowance will take up a bit of your fabric and you don’t want the eye mask to be too small.  The horizontal lines on the side show two different placements possible for your elastic band that will keep the DIY eye mask on your head.

eyemask_pattern

Next pick your fabrics.  I chose two flannels that were super soft and cozy.  Then, sandwich the fabrics (nice side in) that you will be using for your DIY eye mask with the pattern pinned on top.  Cut around the outside.

layer

cutfabric

Once you’ve cut out the fabric, decide how long the elastic for your DIY eye mask needs to be…I literally measured one around my head and one around my husband’s head to decide how long to make the elastic for each eye mask.  I chose a 1/2 inch wide braided elastic but you can choose something different if you want!  Then cut off your desired length of elastic band after adding on an extra inch.  You’ll want about 1/2 inch of extra elastic band on each side of the eye mask for sewing purposes.

elastic

The next step is a bit tricky so stay with me 🙂  The bulk of the elastic braid (the part that will encircle your head) and the pretty, outsides of the fabric will need to all be outside of the finished DIY eye mask.  Therefore, when we are sewing, all of these pieces need to be inside of your pinned sandwich.  Soooo, with the fabrics still sandwiched nice sides in, fold up the elastic band so that most of it is in between the sandwiched fabric, and leave 1/2 inch of the elastic poking out of each side.  Make sure when you are pinning the elastic band inside of your sandwiched fabric, that the finished band is the correct length.  Then pin around the outside (making sure that the bulk of the elastic band is not caught in these outer pins…you don’t want the main part of the elastic band to accidentally be sewn into the seam of the eye mask).

sandwich

sew

Then sew around the outside of the sandwich.  Be sure to leave about 2 ” of the eye mask unsewn at the top.  Through this little gap, you will flip everything right side out and then stuff the eye mask with some fluffy batting.  How much batting you use it totally up to you.

batting

Sew up the gap using a hidden stitch and you’re done!

handsewtogether

I ended up making two of these, one for me and one for my husband.  On mine, I have a different fabric facing out compared to the darker fabric that faces in.  On my husband’s DIY eye mask, I used that darker fabric on both sides.  What do you think?  Have you enjoyed an eye mask before on trips or at hospital visits?