Cute Tooth Fairy Pillow

So, we are now up to our eyeballs in Tooth Fairy lore here.

(the first pic is Maddie in the am all dressed and hair done for school, the second is right before bed and just a headband thrown on.....that's why the lighting looks so different in each)

A few weeks ago Maddie, my oldest, got 2 wobbly teeth (and then lost 2 wobbly teeth). So, I went looking for a cute Tooth Fairy tradition to start for all my girls.

That's when I stumbled accross Larissa's blog Mmmcrafts and saw this. I was blown away by how A-Dorable it was (as well as the others she made here)!!!

Plus, it's wwwaaaaayyyyyyy easier for the TF to get the tooth from a pillow hanging on the door than it is for her to go digging under pillows and trying not to even breathe for fear of waking up the sleeping child who is already sleeping lightly in anticipation of her. hands down.

So, I decided I was going to try to make one for each of my 2 older girls (so I'll already have one when Aislyn starts losing teeth next year :) and one of the cute "Tooth Marshall" ones for my nephew, who is the same age as Maddie and is already losing teeth too (I'll show pics of that one soon).

Well, Larissa has an awesome tute here on her blog already, but I'm gonna do one too since I did a few things differently.

The first thing I did was go to the store and get some yummy fabric!! I decided to use flannel instead of felt because I have a hard time sewing with felt and was afraid I would ruin them somehow (trust me, I would've found a way :) 

But, that meant that I now had to make sure and use Fraycheck on all the raw, unsewn edges like the crown and the skirt and mouth. You could probably even use just about any fabric, but i like the look and cuddly~ness of flannel.

In addition to fabric, you will need:

• Fraycheck
• Fabric glue
• Matching ribbon to hang it with
• Sewing stuff (sewing machine, scissors, pins, needles, etc)
• Matching thread
• Buttons for the eyes
• Stuffing

So, I cut all the pieces out thanks to the pattern Larissa has on her blog, but since there wasn't one for the teeth, crown, and cheeks I just made my own.
*Update: Larissa e-mailed me and said she's now added the cheeks and teeth to the pattern!! That's so very nice of her to take the time to do that, so be sure to thank her (and for the great idea in the first place :)*

Then, she suggested to sew around the mouth before cutting it, so I traced that part onto the wrong side of the front piece by laying the material over the pattern on the window (so the light shines through and I can see the pattern underneath).

I sewed around it and then cut a slit for the mouth and put Fraycheck on it.

After that dried, I glued the teeth onto the back and positioned them so they just peeked through the mouth.

Then, I glued the back of the mouth over that (remember, use a thin line of glue all the way around).

After those dried, I went ahead and did the face. I LOVED the way she embroidered the cheeks and teeth, and the eyebrows so I did that too (look closely and you can see the teeth). 

Then, the little button eyes went on.

Now, before you pin the right sides together, make sure you add the crown and ribbon and pin those in place. Also, make sure you cut a slit in the back so you can stuff it.

I used ALOT of pins to make sure nothing moved while I was sewing it up :) Use a 1/4" seam allowance for this.

Then, I trimmed a little off and cut notches all the way around (yes, I did realize you only have to cut notches on the curves AFTER I did it on all 3 pillows).

I then turned it right-side out and stuffed it and hand-stitched up the back.

This is her up to this point.....pretty cute huh?

Oh yeah, and I also stitched the crown to the ribbon to keep it from falling over (can you say OCD?).

But, my girls HAD to have a skirt too (I guess we must be halfway modest for the Tooth Fairy), so I let them pick out the fabrics they wanted. I measured the waist and used a mixing bowl as a pattern (just like the one I used for this craft......and it's super-reflective, so you can see me taking the pic in my messy office. That one's for you Kristen :)

I cut them each out with pinking shears too (and Fraychecked around each). Then, glued them together around the waistband part and whipstitched (is that the right term?) them onto the tooth. Be careful not to sew through the mouth....like I did :(

So cute! And now the Tooth Fairy will be pleasantly surprised when she visits YOUR house too!!

 A few weeks before her teeth came out, and they were still wobbly, Maddie wrote the TF a letter letting her know. So, the TF typed up a note saying thanks for the heads up and left it under her pillow. Then, when the teeth came out and were then put in the pillow, the TF left little "thanks" notes each time. Madison really liked that part.....almost as much as the $$!!
The TF also left a short trail of fairy dust on the floor when she came for the tooth :) Both the older girls REALLY LOVED that.

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, but these took a little more time and effort than I expected since there were so many little components.
I'll be back for Freecycle Friday!

Have fun!