How to make a DIY Sleep Mask (incl. Templates) - Red Ted Art

Come and make a Simple DIY Sleep Mask with us today – the perfect Slumber Party Activity. Making a fabric eye mask, is a great opportunity for beginner sewers to give basic hand stitches a go! And is also a super fun sewing party craft. In fact, we are making 10 (!) of these at our sleepover party (wish me luck!). In our case, we were inspired by our sloth crafts, but you can decorate these sleep masks anyway!

We decided to make these DIY Sleep Masks as a party craft – the perfect sleepover party gifts too! You can of course make them yourself and add them to party bags, or make a special Christmas set (wouldn’t a Reindeer Sleep Mask be adorable – wouldn’t that make a great gift this Christmas?!).

We have included the basic sleep mask pattern as part of one of our many free patterns here on Red Ted Art – ENJOY!

So.. let’s learn, how to Make a DIY Sleep Mask and see our Step by Step Instructions!

What is the best fabric for a homemade sleeping mask?

Almost any fabric will work. We used some soft fleece and felt. But you an also use silk (ooh how lovely that would feel) or cottong combiend with some quilt batting. If you are making these kind of masks, you can still use our free sleep mask template, but you will need allow for a seams allowance!

Using felt is a great way to make sleep masks with kids, as the sewing process is much simpler!

Do sleep masks actually work?

Oh yes they do! My kids made some crochet sleep masks in the summer and have been wearing them ever since. I think the super soft fleece backing was key though.

Supplies needed for your DIY Eye Masks:

For our sleep masks you won’t need a sewing machine, as they are easy to assemble and make by hand!

Free Sleep Mask Pattern & Printer
Desired fabric – we used some felt for the front of the mask, and a non fray fluffy material for the back
Elastic – approx 40cm/ 16inch is nice, but make it fit you
Felt scraps for details
Hot glue gun (optional – depends on how much time you have)
Needle & thread
Pins
Fabric scissors
Paper (for template)
Pencil (for personalisation of template)

The beauty of using felt and no fray fluffy fabric, means you don’t really have to include a seems allowance. You can also do NO SEWING and only use a hot glue gun, if you wish. However, we like to encourage the kids to practice their sewing skills AND we love the finished looked, with some hand sewn seams better. But as always, adjust it to suit your needs.

Please note this is a handdrawn item. If I get enough feedback/ hits on this article, I will update it with a professionally drawn mask. But this is drawn and traced from the actuals we made, so it is pretty good start for any novices. I have added a little measure at the bottom for how big the printable should be printing (cm and inches) adjust your printer settings if yours is coming out too big or small. Also note – I have added overlaps/ seams to things like the piggy’s ears etc, designed to stick inside your sleep mask when sewing.

Grab our basic eye mask shapes download here:

How to make a DIY Sleep Masks – Step by Step Tutorial

The kids at the sleepover party are aged 12 – 14yrs. I think they are old enough, that with the correct preparation, they can work fairly independently. If I was working with younger kids, I would keep the gropu to 4-6 kids (instead o the 10 that we are doing!).

Also: we used the larger of the two sleep mask templates for the tweens and teens. For younger kids, I would use te smaller one.

Cut the basic sleep mask layers

Begin by choosing your felt and colours!

sleep mask backing — If you don’t have pins to hand, safety pins work too!

Our “backing fabric” happens to be purple, it is the only colour we had. But as it will be on the back, it really doesn’t matter. It is super soft and just perfect for DIY Sleeping Masks. If you don’t have any of this fabric, you can just use felt too! It will still be comfy! You can even fill your mask a little with some cotton wool.

Select your mask size and use pins to attach to your fabric and cut. I cut two at a time.

As we were using these for our sleepover party, I need 10 of these backs.

Design your DIY Sleep Masks

Now it is time to think about your sleep mask designs! My sample sleep mask, is that of a sleeping sloth. It felt appropriate. So I chose some light brown and mid brown felt as the main sleep mask colours.

sketch a sleep mask sloth — Have fun designing your front piece!

Then I went on to sketch out a sleep mask face. First in small (to use up less paper) and then I transferred it to the paper mask template. Sloths are easy, you basically need an eye pieces that curves down to the side and a little nose.

cut the eye mask details — Create your own pattern piece for the sloth design

I cut out one eye part (as I can cut two pieces in one go) and the nose part.

Next, I cut out my felt pieces. Note how I made my eye pieces bigger.. I did this, so I could trim them for a perfect fit later.

I actually add the eyes after the glue gun bit. But I think it is better to add them at this stage. This way, if you accidentally mess up (which is quite possible!) you can simply cut out another eye piece and start again.

Assemble the fabric sleep mask

Once you are happy with all your decorative eye mask pieces.. it is time to either sew on your details or hot glue them on.

glu the sleep mask details — Fabric glue would also work really well

We opted for the hot glue gun at this stage, simply because it is part of a sleepover party and we have 10 kids sewing/ crafting. Not all kids have the same attention span, and by gluing the sloth eye pieces, you are speeding up the process a little bit.

If you don’t want to use a hot glue gun, you can also use a little fabric glue.

Now you can trim the sides to for the neat fit of the eye pieces.

get the thread and elastic — You will sew this together right-side-out!

Time to get sewing. But the “wrong sides together – so the right sides are showing on the outside. As mentioned, you don’t have to sew these with a seam allowance and turn these inside out, as felt doesn’t fray.

We cut a piece of elastic approx 40cm/ 16inch long – this felt like a comfy length for us.

sew the elastic, running stitch — Make sure the elastic strap fits comfortable around your head

Time to sew your two sleep mask halves together. I started off just below the right side of the elastic to secure the elastci in place with a couple of stitches.

I used a small running stitch to go all the way around. But you can use any stitches.. running stitch, over stitch or even a blanket stitch would look nice!

Ta-daaaa. Isn’t this a fun and easy DIY Sleep Mask? I do hope you have a go!

Remember that I have a the basic sleep mask template for you above – but you can customize it any way you want! I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see your finished creations. Do tag me on instagram, if you have been inspired!

More sewing projects for kids:

Collage of sewing projects for kids to learn to sew

If like us you LOVE Sloth DIYs, do check out these: