make your own: lavender eye pillow.

At my six-year-old’s behest, I have made a lavender eye pillow. We live a short walk from a lovely little herb shop that Faye has dubbed “the soothing shop.” Like all neighborhood herb shops worth their salt, they sell beautiful silk eye pillows and crystals and their shelves are lined with glass jars of loose herbs that they pour into small paper sacks that crinkle in our bag as we walk home. On a visit to restock our ever-dwindling supply of lemon balm, Faye spotted the pillows and as six-year-olds are wont to do, promptly added them to an ever-growing list of things to covet.

In an effort to infuse the week with a bit of calm and a bit of rest, I decided to make her a pillow myself. Since I’m quite sure we could all use a bit of soothing, here are the very simple instructions for making a lavender eye pillow of your own. The silk charmeuse I used here is a scrap leftover from the lining of my wedding dress. It’s the perfect thing for an eye pillow, but any tightly woven, lightweight and preferably soft fabric will do. I hand- sewed the pillow and I’ll extend to you the same allowance I gave myself, which is that this is absolutely not the time to strive for perfection. If you prefer to dump a few tablespoons of dried herbs into a cotton drawstring sack and throw that over your eyes, I’ll be first to encourage you.

Materials:

Dried Lavender*

Dried Chamomile*

Rice, or flax seed, or small lentils for a bit of heft*

Silk; a rectangle roughly 10 inches by 6 inches should be plenty

Needle

Thread

*Quantities are deliberately vague here because you should use what you’d like, but I’d guess I used a few tablespoons each of lavender, chamomile and rice.

Directions:

+ Fold the rectangle of fabric in half with the right side of the fabric facing inward.

+ Sew along the bottom and side of the rectangle, making a simple sleeve with an open top.

+ Turn the sleeve inside out so that the right side of the fabric is now facing out.

+ Spoon or pour the combined ingredients into the pouch.

+ Sew the top closed. (If you’re feeling ambitious use the ladder stitch to hide—or attempt to hide—your stitches!)

Use with restful abandon.