Category: Sew

I have a love/hate relationship with facial tissues. They are handy to have around for various things…blowing your nose, wipe a teary eye, wipe a runny nose. Unfortunately, they are never around when you need them. Or they are a blobby mess at the bottom of your purse, bag or whatever. Those little plastic pouches that the travel sized ones come in just don’t do a great job of keeping them neat and tidy. Or you forget to take them out of your pocket before they hit the washer. Not pretty.

And then there’s the environmental aspect of facial tissue. You are spending quite a pretty penny for something that’s single use (if you even get to use it before it’s unusable). They are flimsy. Most of the time, they won’t even hold up to a single blow. Or, they are the triple/quadruple super-duper heavy duty aloe coated tissues that will not decompose even if you poured a bucket of water on it. (You end up just smearing your snot around. Sorry about the visual on that but it’s another pet peeve of mine.)

This has been an especially bad allergy season in the bay area. I’ve been wheezing through the past couple of months. And in place of facial tissue, I’ve taken to using men’s cotton hankies that I used to buy for Martin every couple of years. But they are big. Really big. Not exactly dainty. And good quality cotton hankies cost upwards of $40/dozen.

I came across this post on Purl Bee several years ago on making your own rolled hem handkerchiefs. In fact, I went straight out and bought some nice fine cotton fabric with small prints and cut them into dainty lady-like sizes (9.5″x9.5″) that are just a little bit larger than regular facial tissue. I even took it along with me to SOAR 2008 (yes, that long ago), thinking that it is the perfect project on the plane.

But the problem was that I never could get past the hump on making nice neat hand rolled hem. I even broke down and tried using my rolled hem foot on the sewing machine. (Didn’t take to it either.)

This weekend, as I worked my way through the dwindling supply of scratchy facial tissue, I thought about those squares of cotton again. I pulled them out, and gave it another go on my test samples.

These look pretty good, don’t they? I think I’ve finally got it.They don’t have the soft rolled edge because I used my fingernails to do a rough pressing, but it works for me. It was just a matter of finding a method that worked for me. The hems definitely are not as neat and tidy, nor as refined, as the ones from Nordstrom.

I have no idea what to do with these little squares, since they are only about 3″x3″ for practicing the rolled hems and corners. They are too thin for coasters. In any case, I’m now ready to stitch up my own hankies.

Of course, this begs the question of how to carry a supply of clean and used hankies.

Anecdote 1: One of the things I remember about Martin, back before we were dating, was that he always had a fresh, pressed hankie at the ready. This was really helpful to a young freshman gal who was always having drama with her then boyfriend. I remembered thinking that some girl was going to be really lucky one day.

Anecdote 2: A clean handkerchief was a required part of my kindergarten uniform. We had to have a clean one pinned to our little coverall/aprons each day. I think I still have a picture, somewhere, of me all dressed up in my kindergarten uniform.

I gave my tummy pillow to Penny a few months back. She’s since asked me for the instructions on how these were made. I have to say, it’s embarrassingly easy. It’s almost not an instruction.

Finished dimensions:

• Eye Pillow: 9″ x 3.5″
• Tummy Pillow: 15″ x 9″

Filling:

This is where you can get creative. You can use flax alone, or add lavender, rose petals, rosemary for some aromatherapy.   Don’t forget to look in your spice cabinet.  There are lots of nice smelling herbs too.

I started with 4:1 ratio of flax to lavender. This is about the average ratio I found online. I made the eye pillows, and found that I didn’t quite have enough lavender mix to fill the tummy pillow, so I kept adding flax. I think the final ratio was more like 6:1 flax to lavender. The ratio for a tummy pillow isn’t nearly as important as the eye or neck pillow, since it’s not close to your nose to give the full benefit of the aromatherapy.  And remember, a little goes a long way.  Or, if like me, you run out of lavender before you get to the “correct” fill amount, just keep adding flax seeds.

What’s the correct fill amount?  It’s really individual.  The eye pillows need enough weight to fill the contours, but not too much so that it feels like your cat is sitting on your head.  I used about 1 cup of the flax/lavender mixture.

For the tummy pillow, you want a little more weight, but not so much that the pillow is so stuffed that it no longer drapes over your tummy (or shoulders).  Just think about when you have cramps, it helps when you push on your tummy with your hands.  That’s the slight pressure you want to achieve.  I’ve asked Penny to weigh the pillow I made originally, since I forgot to write it down.

Aside: Before I had a tummy pillow, my favorite tummy pillow was my first cat, Izzy.  She always knew when I had cramps.  She would crawl up on my belly and go to sleep.  Her warmth, weight, the purring, and drape was perfect.  We would both snooze a bit, and my cramps feel better for it.  Somehow, I was never able to train any of my other cats to do it, hence the need for a pillow.

Why flax? I found online that flax holds its temperature best of all the other typical fillers: rice, beans, buckwheat. It also forms to your face/body better than beans, due to its size.

I found both the flax and lavender in bulk at my natural food store.

Fabric:

For the eye pillows, I made 2 with silk charmeuse plus a silk cover, and 1 with muslin plus flannel cover. I kept the cotton for myself, and gave the silks to friends. I have to say, I like the silk much better. It feels cool to touch, and warms quickly. The silk also drapes to cover contours of the bridge of your nose and your eyes much better. This keeps the light out.

For the tummy pillow, I made the core pillow out of unbleached muslin, and a flannel pillow cover for it. You can toss the cover in the wash whenever it’s needed.

Usage:

For the tummy pillow, just pop it in the microwave on high for a couple of minutes (YMMV, since all microwaves are not equal. Keep an eye on your microwave for the first few times until you know your optimum time for the temperature you desire.) And place it on your tummy (or any other areas that needs a little heat). This works wonders on menstrual cramps. I should know.

Back in May, when I threw my back out, the chiropractor was using something similar (unscented). They were long lengths of these, with periodic stitching to keep the fillers in place. I think they were filled with buckwheat and kept in steamers. They put the pillows (wrapped so you don’t get burned) on the table under your lower back and your shoulders, and put you in a dark room for about 15 minutes after your chiropractic session. Hmmm. Lovely.

The pillows were about 20″ long by 4-5″ wide, with stitching running the width every 5″ along the length. Sort of like the channels in your down comforter.

Since I gave Penny my tummy pillow, I need to make myself another one. I also intend to make a few 6″ x 6″ flax pillows, without lavender, so that I can stick them in the freezer to use as ice packs. So much better than using ice, since you don’t have to deal with a drippy mess, and it’s reusable!