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 41

A little sleepy time wish for Kelly - I think I'll make one of these with a pocket for the Tooth Fairy too, but plan on machine stitching the border next time and using a template for the letters, free-handing it was tricky.

Heart a Day - Day 34

Why do I keep thinking these tiny embroidery projects will be easy?  These tiny hearts beat me up - would have taken less time to make this twice the size, but I always have to do it the hard way.

Heart a Day - Day 27

It's a Shamrock Shake kind of day.  I used one of my small heart punches to make the template for each clover leaf.  I used split stitch again for the leaves and the stem stitch for the stem.  Embroidery is quickly becoming my downtime hobby.

Heart a Day - Day 24

Split stitch heart - I love embroidery, the control freak in me loves trying to keep my stitches nice and neat, this was a fun little project to work on split stitches, which are really easy.  For thicker lines, just use more strands of thread, but use an even number, since you will be splitting each stitch in half.  For this project I used two strands of embroidery thread.

Pull the threaded needle up through A.  Stitch down through B (the closer you are to A, the thicker your line).  Come up through C, in the middle of the stitch you just made, splitting the threads in half.

Come down through D, trying to make it the same distance as A was from B.  Repeat and you'll create your line - split stitches make a nice outline in patterns.  Make your line thicker by using more threads or by keeping the distance shorter, which makes your line seem fatter.

If any steps are confusing, let me know!  I'm a beginner myself, so if you see any inaccuracies, let me know too!

Heart a Day - Day 6

Day 6, French Knot Heart

Relaxed with some embroidery today - I adore French knots, they're so satisfying to stitch - this little heart was so easy.  I might make this into a coaster.  I might fill in the heart, but I had to take some pictures before my daylight faded.  Lots of possibilities.