Home-made Traveling!

A week ago, I promised you little things, so finally, here's a summary of the little things I made during my sewing spree.

The first thing I made was a neck pillow. I have an incredibly long neck and normal neck-pillows that you can buy in stores just don't cut it:

I <3 NY

The reason my head is even stopped from tipping in the one picture is because of the anatomy on the opposite side of my neck holding it there. I may be touching the pillow with my ear, but the pillow is not relieving the stress on the muscles and ligaments in my neck.

So I got down and dirty with some old foam my mom had lying around. I cut it in a rough U-shape, wrapped it in quilt batting, then covered it with a tan cotton fabric. I used old backpack straps to make it close in front:

I realized on my flight back to Berlin that my pillow can be used in a few other ways as well. Observe:

Normal use of a neck pillow.

Side neck pillow-- great for pillow-cuddlers like me!

Can you say lumbar support?

And if I can find another buckle the same size, I'll make an extension strap so I can strap the pillow under my arms and around my back, so I have something to lean my head onto while sitting in an airport during a layover.

If only the strap were long enough!

Too bad I have to open it up again to remove a wayward pin I found while taking these pictures!

The other things I made were two eye masks to wear while sleeping. Berlin is about 10° latitude further north than my hometown in New York, which means the longest days of the summer here only have about 4 hours of darkness. That's why I wear eye masks the whole summer through. I based these ones off the masks my grandfather got from first class the last time he flew.

Fronts

Backs

They're just made of cotton quilting fabric, organic cotton batting and a thick piece of black canvas. I've really been loving them! The next version will have two elastic straps-- one high and one low, so they don't rub the tops of my ears so much during the night.

I go back to work this week, but hopefully I can keep up with my sewing and blogging!