DIY Sleep Mask

Hello One Artsy Mama readers and followers. It’s Amy, from While Wearing Heels, your “sewing expert”.  Are your ready to get sewing?

Today, I’ll show you how to make your own sleep mask.  This tutorial can be adapted depending on your skill level.  Add embroidery detail, buttons or leave it simple YOU decide.

Last year, for Christmas, my daughter got a sleep mask in her stocking.  Little did we know that this sleep mask with turn into a sleeping necessity.  After misplacing said sleep mask one too many times, causing additional turmoil just before bedtime, I decided you can never have too many sleep masks.

Using mostly things I had on hand: elastic, scrap fabric for the front and scrap lining for the back, fold over bias tape and some embroidery thread, I was able to make a back up sleep mask and save myself some frustration at the end of the night.  It’s harder to misplace 2 sleep mask than just one.

I started by embroidering some sleepy eyes onto what would be the front of the sleep mask.  I used Sherpa for the front of the sleep mask and it was incredibly frustrating to work with.  It’s very thick and fuzzy requiring very heavy embroidery stitches to get the look I wanted.  I’d suggest using a flannel or a cotton fabric, especially if you intend on adding embellishments.

Pin the front of the sleep mask fabric to the lining material.  Make sure you have right sides facing out.  Pin so that the wrong sides are facing each other.

Cut your sleep mask out.

The pattern I used, below, was roughly 7 inches wide by 3 – 3 1/2 inches.

Pin your elastic (I used 13 1/2 inches in length) to each side of the sleep mask.

Fold and pin your bias tape over the back edge.  Using only half the bias tape, attach it to the sleep mask, sewing around the entire perimeter and over the elastic.

Sew the other half of the bias over the front of the sleep mask.

By starting with the back of the sleep mask first, finishing with the front of the sleep mask last, any errors in stitching will only be visible on the back.

Add embellishments, if desired.

Hopefully this sleep mask brings some restful nights of sleep to the recipient.

Until next month.

Happy Sewing!