French Lavender Eye Pillow

Quite some time ago, I saw an idea for how to make your own soothing eye pillow filled with lavender over at Centsational Girl.  I am talking about one of those pillows you hear about that you can put in your microwave to heat up or place in your freezer to cool down.  Either way, they bring soothing comfort and if filled with lavender…well, relaxation. :) 

Recently I saw a technique on how to transfer an image from your printer using freezer paper over at the blog called Home Frosting.  I thought it was a great idea and had to give it a try.  And then when I saw a graphic for a French Chocolate Label over at The Graphics Fairy, I knew that was what I wanted to use.  I wanted to transfer that graphic to some leftover “Painter’s Cloth” fabric that I had and then I wanted to take that fabric and create a microwaveable/freezable pillow with it.   And of course I had to add some lavender to it.  So I was able to combine all three of these ideas into one project.

First thing I did was read the  Home Frosting tutorial on how to transfer an image from your computer onto freezer paper.  It wasn’t too difficult.  It required me to cut a piece of freezer paper exactly the same size as piece of regular printer paper.   I am in the process of making another bag and since I didn’t take pictures of the French Chocolate Label after it printed out onto the freezer paper I thought I would show you here with this Graphics Fairy graphic of some old fashioned eye glasses. 

 

I just laid the printer paper over top of the freezer paper and cut around it.  I used some tape to keep it secure while I cut it out.  Be sure to leave the waxy side of the freezer paper exposed.  It is the waxy side that you will be printing on.   Then carefully load that into your printer so that when it prints it prints on the waxy side. 

I used the French Chocolate Label from The Graphics Fairy as I said.  Karen made it so easy by already giving you the mirror image graphic you will need for this project.  If you use some other image, you will have to flip it in your word processing program so that it prints out backwards.  It will look right side up after you transfer it. 

When your printout comes out of the printer, be careful not to bend or smear the image.  It will be wet.  Then immediately turn it over and carefully place the image on your fabric.  Tape all four corners to secure it.  Then take the back of a spoon and burnish or rub it firmly and to completely transfer the image from your waxy paper to the fabric.  When you are sure you are done, carefully lift up the paper and reveal your transferred image. 

Now, to make the actual Lavender/Rice filled bag, I followed the great tutorial over at Centsational Girl.   She actually ran her fabric right through her printer.  I wasn’t brave enough to do that quite yet.  :)   Click and go see how she made hers.  It’s a great tutorial and very easy to do. 

After I transferred the image to my fabric I cut out two pieces about 1/2 inch larger than I wanted my finished bag to be and then I sewed the fabric right sides together with my machine and left a small space open.  I used a funnel to get the rice and the lavender into the bag after I sewed it the fabric together.   I think I used about 3/4 rice to 1/4 lavender.  I found my lavender in the spice and herb section at The Fresh Market here in Greensboro.  I have seen other tutorials that mixed their lavender with some essential lavender oil.  I did not do that and really my bag still smells wonderful.  Now, I am not sure how long that will last but for right now I am okay without using the essential oil.  Then I sewed the opening closed.  It looks better if you hand sew your opening closed and that is what I will do if I make one of these for a gift.  But for today, I zipped it closed on my machine.

    

And here it is!  It has a old vintage look to it don’t you think?  It smells heavenly and it really does heat up in the microwave.  I micro-waved mine for about 20 seconds and it was nice and warm.  This will work nicely all warmed up in the wintertime. I can see myself climbing into bed with it on cold winter nights.  And  in the summertime or when a sore muscle is calling I’ll be pulling it out of the freezer. 

I think the new eye pillow I am working on with the old fashioned glasses is going to turn out cute.  I’ll keep you posted.  :)

I am linking up to Brag Monday over at The Graphics Fairy!