Women on a Mission: Mom Edition: Gettin' My Sleep On!

Posted by Ethne~

I’m not really a high maintenance girl, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a few minor, special traits that might cause you to draw that conclusion. For instance, I have high self-esteem, which means I think I’m skinnier and prettier than I really am. It also means I take a while to get ready each day since my motto is that we only live once, so we should live life gorgeously (pretty sure I made that word up).

A proud moment: singing 'Love Hurts' at Lor's wedding

But I also work really hard and I do my job well. And I work really hard at being a good wife & mom, even though I’m not perfect. Juggling work and mom is tough, but my mom did it, and a lot of you do it, so I bear that in mind every day. I’m proud of those facts more than I am of my fine abilities at applying make-up on all of my friends for their weddings. J

Whit did Lori's wedding make-up

Ok, so after that super long rambling introduction, here’s one of my special traits – I sleep with a sleep mask on. I can sleep just about anywhere, which totally rocks. I can fall asleep with the TV on, or my lamp on, on the floor, on a couch, but then those things eventually wake me up, and I hate that. And, since I’m not as young as I used to be (I’m 29. Forever.), I’ve noticed that when the sun starts to rise, I begin to wake. And that usually causes me to start thinking about work stuff, and I think it’s only fair to think about work during awake hours.

Having kids = the end of sleep as I knew it.

I’ve got 3 sleep masks. One is lavender that I’ve had forever. The elastic is all worn out and that means it doesn’t stay on very well. One is black that’s so-so in its light-blocking performance. The third is a really nice one that has a Velcro closure.

The purple one needs to go.

This pattern is the easiest thing ever. Here’s what you need:

- a 10” x 10” scrap of light-medium weight fabric – the size isn’t as important as long as the mask pattern fits on it. I used some flannel I had.

- a scrap of black fabric with a fleecy medium-heavy weight. I bought 1/8^th of a yard of black fleecy fabric with nubs on it. Black is important because dark color is good for light blockage.

- I didn’t use any, but in retrospect, a piece of interfacing would give the mask some nice strength. If you use the iron-on interfacing, but sure you don’t iron it to the fleecy material or the material will melt. If you use the sew-in interfacing, make sure you put it on the outside of your fabric sandwich so it will be on the inside when you turn the mask fabric right side out after sewing.

- thread of your choice. It really doesn’t matter since you’re going to use it for sleeping. I used black.

- 14.5” of black elastic. Be creative. I have the Goody brand of hair elastics that are meant to be headbands but don’t stay on my head right. They have grippers on them to keep it on your hair. It doesn't have to be black, either.

- chalk pencil, ruler, sewing machine, iron, scissors, pins

I didn't end up using the velcro on the bottom left

I traced my black face mask onto white paper to make the pattern. I added ½” around the pattern size for seam allowance. Cut out a piece of the light fabric (my flannel), the fleecy fabric and interfacing (if using).

Can you see the chalk tracing?

I'm no good at photography

Place the fleecy fabric on your work surface, right side up. Pin the ends of elastic onto it centered on the short sides of the fabric.

Now place the lightweight fabric onto the fleece, right sides together. If using interfacing, place that piece onto the back of the lightweight fabric.

Layers pinned and ready to sew; See the double pins
at the top? My friend RM taught me how to do that to
remind myself to leave the turning hole open

Pin the fabric sandwich together and sew all the way around edges with a ½” seam allowance. Leave ~1” open. Turn the fabrics right sides out and pull the edges out so it’s fully spread out. Sew around the entire edge with ¼” to 1/8” seam and this will add strength to the mask and close up the turning hole.