How-To: Tooth Fairy Pillow

Kelly started losing her teeth a few months ago, right now she's missing her top tooth and has the most adorable lisp.  I keep recording her saying "suffering succotash" - I'm glad she thinks it's funny too!

When she lost her first tooth we needed something to hold it under her pillow.  Kelly is a light sleeper and I knew if the tooth fairy had to dig around for a teensy tiny baby tooth in the middle of the night, she'd get caught red handed.

First we came up with an embroidered muslin bag - I just traced a tooth icon I found online and split-stitched the outline.  It worked out but we needed something bigger.  Like an entire pillow.

Sewing a pillow is easy.  If I can do this, you can do this.  It's a rectangle.  It's stuffing from a bag.  Easy Peasy.

Kelly picked some soft fleecy fabric at JoAnns (which sheds like crazy when you cut it). I measured two identical rectangles and cut them out.  For the tooth pocket, I used white felt and cut out a large tooth shape (which was the same tooth I found on the internet).  I used a blanket stitch at the top of the tooth so it wouldn't fray, then sewed three sides of the tooth to one of the pillow rectangles.

Turn the rectangles so they face each other (inside out), and sew them together, leaving a hole at the bottom of the pillow to stuff it.  If you don't have a sewing machine you can do this by hand, it'll just take longer. Turn it right side out, fill it with stuffing until it's fluffy, then hand stitch the hole closed.   If you want to be fancy, do a hidden stitch to close it.

When we have a tooth ready for pickup, she places it in the tooth pocket, where the tooth fairy replaces it with a two dollar bill.  Because my husband thinks that's the only currency she would carry.

Kelly was so sad to never see her teeth again, so we asked the tooth fairy to leave her teeth on my dresser at night so we could keep them.  What the heck does she do with all those children's teeth anyway? Kind of a creepy. 

Supplies that will make this project easier:

cutting mat
rotary cutter
embroidery hoop
sharp fabric only scissors

Heart a Day - Day 14

Heart a Day, Day 14

This morning I was tweeting with Liz Smith from madeinlowell and took a peek in her Etsy shop - her cupcake pincushions are so sweet - so I made a little heart to hold my pins.  It's kind of gory if you think about it too much, so don't.  

One of my favorite aspects of this 365 project is finding inspiration in random places, like chatting online.  It makes me keep one creative eye open on a regular basis, which I think helps inspire my jewelry and photography.   I can't believe it's been two weeks already!