Happy Go Holiday!

Inspired by Holly GoLightly’s sleeping mask in the classic Breakfast at Tiffany’s, I decided it was a perfect time for a mini holiday and a Cosmo, but first I need my ‘On Holiday Sleeping Mask and tassled Ear Plugs!’ That’s right, summer is here and I’m not letting another moment pass by without sleeping in and getting some quality shut eye. The parties my dear, the parties… 

 What better way to sleep in and forget about the world than with the fabulously remade Audrey Hepburn inspired Sleeping Mask and those perfectly fashionable tassled Ear Plugs? Ohh and yes darling, they are divine. That’s what design + fashion + necessity is all about. Fabulousness at its finest!

So go ahead and enjoy a lovely little get away, whether it’s at your desk on a quick break, sleeping that last seven minutes before class begins, at your favorite spa or actually on holiday. Either way these will help with the rest and you will definitely be feeling the breeze ;) 

I had no idea there were so many versions of this mask out there until I was searching the net for some photos of the original. I was simply hand sewing something spectacular one day and thought…Breakfast at Tiffany’s will help make this go a lot faster (and you know once I was reminded of the sleeping scene in the beginning that I just knew I needed my very own!). I was very happy to find all of the materials when I hit the shops.

I sleep under a big beautiful window so a sleeping mask will be quite welcomed, not to mention when traveling. I also seem to lose those nude colored ear plugs when traveling so tassels will only help making finding them easier on the go. For the sleeping mask, I wanted a solid black backing as well and had a nice silky black so I went with that for the backside, with a stiff interfacing for the middle, black mesh to cover up the eye holes under those heavy eye lids.  

I’m very happy with the results and I have a few listed in my etsy shop if anyone wants a lovely little Breakfast at Tiffany’s inspired Holly Golightly Sleeping Mask (link here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/102347897/breakfast-at-tiffanys-inspired-sleeping )

and if you’re in the mood to craft, well, here is how I did it…

Sleeping Mask: Materials needed:

blue felt

gold & blue thread

interfacing

gold trim for the eye lashes & eye brows

Gold trim for around the outer edge of the mask

Elastic or string to hold the mask in place

Black mesh (small amount to cover the small eye holes under the eye lids-optional)

Scissors

Sleeping Mask: Instructions:

Take the felt and cut out the eye mask shape. Once you have the shape you want, cut out a piece of interfacing and the black lining for the underside of the face mask. Cut small holes where the small round holes are going to be (these will be covered up with black mesh to offer some visibility while also keeping the light out. The holes will also be covered up by the big eye brows once the mesh has been put into place). Back the small eye holes in the blue eye mask with the black mesh pieces and sew around the eyes so the mesh is held in place. Cut the small eyes in the piece of interfacing and the lining piece in the same places as you did on the felt. Lay the lining piece over the interfacing piece and sew close around the edges so they are now one piece. Add a tight zip zag stitch to seal the raw edges where you cut the holes for the eyes. Place this backside piece to the side for now.

Cut out a set of big eye brow pieces, add the gold trim and sew the eye brows to the face mask so that the eye lids cover up the black holes almost entirely. I have seen a few masks where the black eye part was lower and popping out from beneath the eye lids, your choice here. Depending on the notions you found to make this project, you can either use the trim you got for the braid around the mask and pull it apart and use a piece of the strands to create the eye brows, or you can go with just sewing on eye brows with the gold thread. I say go with what you have and you will find it works perfectly ;)

Sew a piece of elastic or string to each side of the felt and then place your lining piece wrong side up on top of the felt piece, tuck in the ties you added to the sides of the felt and sew all the way around the face mask, leaving a small space, about 2” or so side of unsewn space, so that you can turn the mask right side out, and then tuck in the seam and sew the mask closed.

Add the gold trim all the way around the mask and tuck in the end on the backside and seal with a small left over piece of felt so that the ends of the trim do not unravel. Turn the sleeping mask over to the backside and hand stitch around the black eyes so that the blue felt layer and the lining layer lay flat together.

And You’re done. Now don’t you want those lovely little tassled Ear Plugs?

I thought you might….

Tassled Ear Plugs: Materials Needed

set of tassles

set of ear plugs

Blue thread

Scissors

Sewing needle

Tassled Ear Plugs: Instructions:

This is an easy one. I originally planned on using glue but before hunting down the appropriate glue I decided that just plain sewing the tassles on might just work. It did. The Ear Plugs were soft enough that I could easily thread the needle with a blue thread and sew them on and then if there is any excess like a look or anything of that nature at the top of the tassle, you can just wrap that around the front facing part of the ear plug and sew it down. You are going to want a pretty slim needle so you don’t tear up the ear plug form, but I found I could put in quite a few stitches and it didn’t lose form or start to tear in anyway and the tassles were on really well I didn’t feel as though they were lose or weak in anyway. That’s it, you’re all set!

Just a quick note here for customers: When I originally made this set I wanted it to be as authentic to the original as I could and that meant going with the shale-blue colored tassles. Since then matching teal colored tassles have since come in that match the mask itself perfectly so when ordering you are free to request matching teal ear plugs (please put that into the comments when ordering-Matching Teal Ear Plugs) then I will send the teal as opposed to the original shale-blue colored tassles :)

Aren’t you just darling…

So go on holiday darling and dream (& craft) up something spectacular!

Happy Holiday!

Lindsay ;)

p.s. These will work for Halloween costumes too ladies! ;)