DIY: Lavender eye pillow

Recently I discovered the benefits of eye pillows, which has relaxing effects (I didn't even know that pillows for eyes existed!). These are used to relax after yoga, or just to fall asleep. I am really happy for mine with lavender fill (for extra relaxation). It is a very easy DIY project, which doesn't require too many ingredients or skills.

Use only the flowers and not the stems

Ingredients: 
1. Dried lavender flowers
2. Linseed
3. Some leftover fabric
4. Sewing machine, or you can also sew by hands (after all not much sewing is required for such a small pillow)
5. If you need even more aroma, you can add some lavender essential oil (for me that was't necessary)





Steps: 

1. Sew a small rectangular pillowcase (the size is up to you), leave a little opening for the filling.



























2. Mix approximately equal amount of linseed and lavender flowers and fill in the pillowcase. I rolled  a paper tube to make it easier to put the mix in the pillow.

3. Sew the opening and voila!

 
I would suggest to make a separate removable pillowcase, so that you can change them and keep them clean.

DIY: My first kantha blanket!

I was always fascinated by colourful eastern patters and textiles. One of these that I find lovely is the Indian kantha blanket. So using a couple of old sarongs, an old fleece blanket I decided to make my very own kantha. Although I am not a sewing person - just not accurate and patient enough for big sewing projects, I find that making kantha was fun (especially because the stitches don't have to be perfect and you can decide yourself the distance between the stitches). The stitches on my blanket have 0,5 cm in between in the middle of the blanket and 1 cm on the rest of it. Except for not requiring a huge accuracy and sewing techniques, the advantage is that you can use old fabrics, pieces for kantha, so you don't have to spend a lot of money to buy fabrics. Using an old fleece blanket in between the fabrics means that you can wash it safely wash it.

And of course the best advantage of it all - I found hand sewing soothing and fun while binge watching "Orange is the new black".

Now that I know how to make it, I ordered a number of beautiful used saris from India (you can find them on eBay for a very good price) which can perfectly make a huge blanket (saris are rather long - 4 meters on the length and 1-1,5 meters wide).

1 cm stitches in different colours 

Final result