It is widely recognised that sleep is vital for our health and wellbeing and in a fast modern world, eye masks can hugely help to improve the quality of sleep. Then last year it came onto my radar that eye masks are most commonly made in cotton fabric, which is totally unsuitable for a number of reasons. Aside of cotton being a much less than eco fabric, cotton is so not a textile to put the delicate skin around our eyes - we know from our bathroom towels, cotton is mega on absorbing moisture!
By contrast, silk fabric not only has a smoother feel against our skin, it is breathable, hypoallergenic and will maintain a comfortable natural temperature and is therefore much more suited to placing on our eyes. Now it is worth highlighting at this point, that there are many types of silk fabric and some can be fiddly to stitch with. I was therefore amazed to find that vintage kimono silk was the most stable silk fabric that I had ever worked with and that the naturalistic designs are just stunning.
The standard width of vintage kimono silk is around 14" and can be purchased from a number of online sellers in short lengths. Approximately 10" is required for a silk eye mask using my pattern on this link. Print the pattern out A4 size and cut out the template and lay diagonally on the reverse of the kimono silk - laying diagonally is important to get the best fit for the final mask and maximises the available fabric for binding.
It is best to press a piece of lightweight Vilene to the back of the Kimono silk before starting the construction. Then draw around the paper template onto the Vilene.
Then take a piece of contrasting silk, and ideally wool felt or prefelt, that is slightly larger than the eye mask template. Furnishing silk is another very stable silk and sample pieces can sometimes be picked up at reasonable prices in good quality curtain shops. Then quilt the silk and wool pieces together with simple lines - I stitched diagonal lines that were 3/4" apart.
Now to cut out the interfaced shape on the kimono silk and place onto the quilted silk piece, wrong sides together. Machine stitch a scant seam all the way around through all the layers.
Now for the magical bit for turning the tube right sides out. Carefully trim the seam and the corner where you stitched across the piping cord. Now cup a hand just above where the silk is anchored onto the piping cord and start to gently ease it back over the short seam and down the other end of the piping cord - once you get a bit of the tube over the short stitch line, the rest should turn quite quickly.
To elasticate the band, cut a piece of elastic of a depth that will lie flat within the tube and where the length fits snuggly around the back of the head. Thread through the silk tube by using a large hand needle and strong thread to pull through and pin at both ends of the tube. Machine stitch at the ends to prevent the elastic disappearing back into the tube and then machine stitch to the back of the constructed mask - matching raw edges.
Finally create a double fold binding from the remaining kimono silk to cut all around the edge. This needs to be cut diagonally and any lengths joined diagonally - I cut 1" strips to make for a very neat bound edge. I machine stitched the binding to the front of the mask and folded over and hand stitched on the back of the mask. For anyone who finds binding a bit too fiddly to apply, an easier alternative for edging would be to machine zigzag some chunky wool all around.
This is a lovely simple stitch project that has been enjoyed by a number of my Somerset students and most importantly, they do a highly effective job of protecting eyes. Eye masks make marvellous presents and fit perfectly into my vintage kimono silk Kinchaku Bags on this link. I hope that I have inspired at least a few people to stitch and I would be delighted to see photos of finished creations.
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