Last night I made a sleep mask. It turned out really cute. Had a few issues...
It all started when I decided I wanted a sleep mask. There is a street light about 2 houses down and across the street and on some nights when I am having my issues sleeping, it's one of the many things that get on my nerves. So I thought a sleep mask would be perfect. I went onto my fave site, Etsy, and did a search on sleep masks. There were some totally beautiful masks on there (and some not so great ones.) Of course the ones I like were $16.00. Um yeah.... I figured I could make one cheaper. So I decided to do a google search on sleep mask patterns. I found one I liked, printed it out, quickly skimmed over the instructions and with the hubby in tow, went out to get the supplies I needed, plus some lol
I gotta give it to the husband. He was willing to trek out in the rain and cold so that I could satisfy my whims. Anyway... tried to go to Joann Fabrics in a neighboring area, only to find out it was closed. Like, closed down, no more, thats it, bye-bye gone.So decided to go to the local Walmart. Yeah.... sorry but I hate Walmart (atleast our local one) But I'm not going to get into that here lol.
I found some fabric that I liked in fleece and flannel, a new measuring tape, new pins and white elastic. Great!! I was ready to go! Sunday night is dinner @ Mom and Dad's, so with everything in tow, we went there. Turns out this was perfect because I needed Mom to embroider "sleep" on the fabric I was going to use. When I got there, Mom and my niece were modifying a "snuggie" to fit my 6 year old niece. Apparently, my Pops had won one while he was at the gambling boats. It was a pretty seafoam green and was really soft. There were scraps of the sleeves laying around and I asked if I could have them. So I took the snuggie remains and looked thru Mom's fabrics to see if she had anything to match. (Of course nothing I bought matched) So I found fabric I liked, and found thread for the embroidery.
LOOOOOOONG story short, I cut out the pieces and got ready to sew after we got back home (dinner btw was de-lish of course, lasagna yummy!!) I had to hunt a little for my sewing machine. Its probably been 8+ years since I've used it, wasn't even sure if it would work. Took the cheap little cover off, wiped the dust off, and powered it up. Everything looked fine, so I sewed a test facric. So far so good!!
Now here is where the trouble started...
I put the mask under the foot, batting side down, and started sewing, slowly at first, because its been awhile. I did a few forward, a few back, and then started forward again. I noticed that it wasn't moving!! Cripes!! I quickly stopped, lifted the foot, and discovered a birds nest underneath!! (wish I had taken a pic) I carefully tried to cut my project out of the mess. I don't know if it was my cutting or the birds nest but my fabric got a little ripped (again wish I had a pic)
So I took the few stitches out of my project and started again. This time I thought I would sew with the batting up. Great idea huh? Nope! When I had cut out my pieces of fabric, I must have flipped the pattern on the batting so the pieces didnt quite match up. No problem when I was sewing with the batting down... BIG problem when I was sewing with the batting up. Sewed the whole darn thing. I was feeling really excited!! Turned it over to see the pretty fabric side... and parts of the stitches weren't even on the fabric!! UGH!! (again I wish I had a pic) Do I even need to tell you all the 4 letter words that were coming out of my mouth? I think I made the cats blush. So I found what I thought was my trusty seam-ripped and started taking the stitches out. Unfortunately, it was a cheap ripper that wasnt actually sharp, so no ripping went down. I had to pull each stitch out by hand. Can you say headache?lol
So I got all the stitches out and started again. "Third time's a charm" I said to my husband (even tho I was about to throw the mask out the window) I decided to sew it batting down again. I very slowly started. A few stitches forward, a few back, and then forward again. I did a few stitches and stopped. Did a few more, stopped. Did this all the way around the mask, feeling my confidence grow. The stps got fewer and fewer as I got more confident. Finally I was done!! I took my work off the machine, and trimmed my threads. Inspected it and even tho the sewing wasnt perfect, I finally made it!! I turned it inside and and it looked perfect (atleast to me after all I went thru lol)
There's the final result! Is it perfect? No... but I'm pretty satisfied with it.
Love to all,
6 Crafty Cats
P.S. I used the mask last night and had a really good night's sleep, my first in about a week :)
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