Sleep mask making tutorial
Jul. 11th, 2004 05:59 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
the-moonshiner.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
craftgrrlI got bored so I'm writing one up. I made one about two weeks ago, and though it's sort of ragged looking, it works wonderfully. They're an especially good idea if you're woken up by sunlight very early in the morning and have difficulty getting back to sleep, if you keep odd hours, or if you live in an area with a lot of nighttime lighting. I'm sure people in here could come up with some really cute things to do with them.
Materials:
-Paper and pencil
-Fabric (at least one piece of fabric should be dark-colored, preferably black, and soft)
-A few handfuls of fabric scraps - 1-inch squares or triangles seem to work the best.
-Scissors, needle and thread
-Elastic strap cord (I like the 1/4 inch width kind best)
-Measuring tape
-Miscellaneous supplies for any sort of decoration you want to put on it
1. Press the paper against your face and draw a sleep-mask-shaped line along your brow ridge, the outsides of your ocular bones, the tops of your cheekbones and over the bridge of your nose.
2. Cut out two separate and identical pieces using the paper mask as a pattern. Leave about 1/4 inch of outside edge, then sew a hem along the outside of each piece to prevent fraying.
3. At this point, put any sort of decoration you want onto the piece you've chosen to be the front of the mask. If you're using two different fabrics, use the darker and softer piece as the back (the part that presses against your face.) Brighter colors and any sort of pattern on the back of the mask will affect its functionality. Stencil painting, lace sewn around the outside edge, and things glued onto it are all good ideas (mine has clear plastic jewels on a black fabric background.)
4a. This is the tricky part. Measure around your head, using the point between your nose and your browline that recedes furthest back into your face, and the depressions at the outside of your eyes right beneath the ending of your eyebrow as reference points. The tape should rest right behind the top of your ear, and be neither too snug or too loose. Write the measurement down.
4b. Take the back side of the sleep mask, and find the point at which that imaginary line running across your nose/brow region, eyelids and ears crosses the mask. It will usually be about 1/3 of the way from the top of the mask. Measure across that line on the mask. It may help to mark that point with pins.
4c. Subtract the number you got in b from the number you got in a. Add one inch onto the result, and then cut a piece of elastic that length.
5. Attach each end of the elastic to the outside of the mask at the point where your measurement in 4b crossed it. Leave 1/2 inch inside the mask at each side, and sew them onto the mask piece securely.
6. Starting at one end of the mask (the one that covers the left or the right eye), sew the back piece and the front piece together. Once they are halfway sewn together, stuff half of your fabric strips into the mask. Continue sewing the two sides together until you have roughly a one-inch gap between the beginning of your stitch and the current position, then stuff the rest of the fabric strips through the remaining hole. Sew it up, aaaaaaaand you're done.
Not the greatest photo, but you get the idea.
Materials:
-Paper and pencil
-Fabric (at least one piece of fabric should be dark-colored, preferably black, and soft)
-A few handfuls of fabric scraps - 1-inch squares or triangles seem to work the best.
-Scissors, needle and thread
-Elastic strap cord (I like the 1/4 inch width kind best)
-Measuring tape
-Miscellaneous supplies for any sort of decoration you want to put on it
1. Press the paper against your face and draw a sleep-mask-shaped line along your brow ridge, the outsides of your ocular bones, the tops of your cheekbones and over the bridge of your nose.
2. Cut out two separate and identical pieces using the paper mask as a pattern. Leave about 1/4 inch of outside edge, then sew a hem along the outside of each piece to prevent fraying.
3. At this point, put any sort of decoration you want onto the piece you've chosen to be the front of the mask. If you're using two different fabrics, use the darker and softer piece as the back (the part that presses against your face.) Brighter colors and any sort of pattern on the back of the mask will affect its functionality. Stencil painting, lace sewn around the outside edge, and things glued onto it are all good ideas (mine has clear plastic jewels on a black fabric background.)
4a. This is the tricky part. Measure around your head, using the point between your nose and your browline that recedes furthest back into your face, and the depressions at the outside of your eyes right beneath the ending of your eyebrow as reference points. The tape should rest right behind the top of your ear, and be neither too snug or too loose. Write the measurement down.
4b. Take the back side of the sleep mask, and find the point at which that imaginary line running across your nose/brow region, eyelids and ears crosses the mask. It will usually be about 1/3 of the way from the top of the mask. Measure across that line on the mask. It may help to mark that point with pins.
4c. Subtract the number you got in b from the number you got in a. Add one inch onto the result, and then cut a piece of elastic that length.
5. Attach each end of the elastic to the outside of the mask at the point where your measurement in 4b crossed it. Leave 1/2 inch inside the mask at each side, and sew them onto the mask piece securely.
6. Starting at one end of the mask (the one that covers the left or the right eye), sew the back piece and the front piece together. Once they are halfway sewn together, stuff half of your fabric strips into the mask. Continue sewing the two sides together until you have roughly a one-inch gap between the beginning of your stitch and the current position, then stuff the rest of the fabric strips through the remaining hole. Sew it up, aaaaaaaand you're done.
Not the greatest photo, but you get the idea.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}