Simple quilted eye mask

I have been meaning to make some eye masks for a while. I have had the elastic, fabric and binding sitting in a bag on my sewing table for months. I thought I would make some as Christmas gifts, but we can see that plan was an epic fail now that it is already January.

Quilting Jetgirl’s recent post about the eye mask she made spurred me into action and caused me to make a few modifications to my original plan. At Yvonne’s suggestion, I made the side that sits against the eyes a soft flannelette and added an extra layer of a dark fabric to help keep out any light.

I used normal dressmaker’s bias binding, but you can make your own binding from scraps of fabric.

To make your own, you need:

• the following cut into 5 x 8½ inch pieces
  • a pretty fabric for the top (front)
  • quilt wadding (two pieces)
  • a dark fabric for blockout
  • a soft fabric like flannelette for the bottom
• 90 centimetres (1 yard) elastic
• 60 centimetres (2 feet) bias binding

The measurements for the quilted panel are generous to allow for shrinkage while quilting.

The dark fabric can be anything in your scrap basket. It does not matter. It will not show. I used an ugly brown.

I went hunting locally for pretty elastic, but, sadly, I had no luck. Ricrac elastic was as fancy as I could get. If anyone knows of a supplier of frilly, pretty or lacy elastic, please let me know.

I used red, checked bias binding that I bought. You can make your own binding from fabric scraps, but it must be cut on the bias to fit around the curves. Because of the curves, I suggest a narrow binding that is only single thickness. I think a satin binding would be nice.

Making a mask is really simple:

1. Mark any lines you need to guide your quilting on the pretty fabric. I marked two lines perpendicular to one another and used those as the starting point of my cross-hatch quilting. Later lines were sewn parallel to these guides.
2. Make up a quilt sandwich by layering the five fabrics from bottom to top as follows: flannelette, quilt wadding, dark fabric, quilt wadding, pretty fabric. Make sure the right sides of the flannelette and the pretty fabric both face out.
3. Quilt the layers together.
4. Cut out the paper template and trace around it on your quilted panel. Mark the guides for the elastic.
5. Cut out the quilted panel on the marked line.
6. Fold the elastic in half and machine baste the folded end on one side of the mask, between the markings and close to the raw edge, on the flannelette side. Wrap the mask and loose elastic around your head to gauge where to attach the other ends. Baste those in place. Check the size again before cutting off any excess elastic.
7. Pin the binding in a loop around the mask on the top (front) side. Join the two ends of the loop before machine sewing it in place along the fold line. With bias binding, you can ease in any fullness. I found I could not machine sew right into the nose area and had to sew a small section there by hand. I also found joining the binding into a loop a bit fiddly, and I ended up sewing it by hand with a tiny running stitch instead of having it squirm its way out from under my sewing machine’s foot. As you sew the binding down, be careful to keep the elastic loop from getting caught in the stitching where it should not be.
8. Hand sew the binding down on the bottom, tucking in the elastic ends as you sew, and you are done!

Sandwich the five layers from bottom to top as follows: flannelette, quilt wadding, dark fabric, quilt wadding, pretty fabric.

Quilt the five layers together as desired. I used a simple grid of lines on the diagonal.

Cut out the paper template and trace around it to mark the shape of your mask on your quilted panel. Then cut out the panel on the line you have marked.

Fold the elastic in half, and use your sewing machine to baste the fold on the wrong side between the two markings. Wrap the mask around your head, noting the position of the other ends, and baste those too. Check the size again before trimming off excess elastic.

Machine sew the binding in place on the front before hand sewing it down on the back, as you would a quilt binding. (The nose area is fiddly and I had to hand sew it on both sides.)

Maybe I should make some more shower caps to complete the look!

If you use this free template and tutorial to make your own mask, please let me know by sharing a photo on the Granny Maud’s Girl stuff Flickr group or on Instagram (@grannymaudsgirl). I would love to see your version.