We all know how stressful the holidays can be. It seems that, a few days before Christmas, the city or town you live in doubled its population overnight. Everywhere you go there’s a traffic jam, too many people in stores, in the street, in parking lots. Everyone doing their best to find that perfect present. It’s no wonder, once you get home, that your head is hurting and you feel completely drained.
I’ve got a solution you can make now to have ready for the stressful times ahead. All you need is a sewing machine, some cotton fabric (scraps will do just fine) and flaxseed.
Gather the above mentioned supplies and download my pattern here.
You’ll need about a cup of flaxseed and cotton fabric of your choice.
Before we start, just a reminder: If you’re using cotton fabric (recommended), make sure to wash and dry it as you’d normally do, to avoid shrinking. There’s nothing worse than spending hours sewing a beautiful piece only to watch it shrink or twist out of shape. You won’t be able to fix it afterwards. Yes, it has happened to me. Yes, it was awful.
Let the fun begin
First, print and cut out the pattern. Fold your fabric and place the pattern on the fold. Add a 1/2” seam allowance or, if you’re feeling adventurous, reduce it to 1/4”. Cut.
Place pattern on folded fabric.
Pin or wonder-clip both pieces together. If you’re using printed fabric, pin right sides together. Make sure to mark a 1.5” opening on the top part.
Cut two pieces of fabric
Using a short stitch length (I use 2.5) sew around the edge. Take your time. This is not a race. Curves can be difficult if you rush through them. Feel free to pivot the fabric as many times as you need to keep your seam allowance, just make sure to keep your needle down to avoid unwanted fabric movement.
Having trouble keeping an even seam allowance? Draw it onto the fabric with removable ink or chalk. Click To Tweet
Keeping a 1/2″ seam allowance, sew around the edge
To help your fabric lie flat, make a few nips around the concave curves and notches around the convex ones. Be careful not to cut through your seam.
These cuts will help your fabric lie flat.
Open seams. Use an iron to press them flat, just be careful not to burn yourself.
Open seams
Turn fabric inside out and smooth out curves. To do this, you can use a knitting needle or a chop stick. I like the latter because it has a flat tip that won’t poke through the fabric or seam.
Press again to smooth out the curves. Your finished piece, before filling with flaxseed, should look like this:
Use a funnel to fill the mask with flaxseed. Don’t fill it to the top, it should stay malleable enough to lie over your eyes or forehead comfortably.
Sew the remaining opening by hand with the ladder stitch. You will use the seam allowance fold to guide yourself. Insert the needle under the fold so it comes out at point 1. Insert the tip of the needle at point 2, pivot over to point 3 underneath the fold. Gently pull at the needle thread and continue to point 4. Repeat until done.
Close with ladder stitch
You’re done! You can now pop the mask in the fridge for a cool relief or put it in the microwave for 30 seconds or a minute, just be careful when putting it on your skin because it can get very hot.
Now make yourself a big cup of tea and let that awful headache melt away.
