Crafty Carnival: Easy Tooth Fairy Pillow Tutorial

Soooo.... My oldest daughter has her first loose tooth, and so... we just HAD to have a new Tooth Fairy pillow!!!!

Here I will show you step by step how to make the pillows pictured here. You can vary them in many ways! Be creative!

Supplies: 2 6" squares of cotton fabric, 1 6" square of white felt, and 1 of blue felt, ribbon and embroidery floss.

A little note about felt before we get started.... there are different kinds of felt, craft felt and wool felt are the main two. Do yourself a favor, and use wool felt... it's much easier to work with, it looks nicer when your done, and it's hardier. Craft felt tends to tear easier, and it just doesn't look as nice. Craft felt is WAAAYYY cheaper, but as they say, you get what you pay for, and you don't need very much.... so spring for the good stuff!

The pattern for the tooth is available here Download tf_pillow_2.pdf Print this out on plain ole paper and cut out the pattern of the tooth.

Pin the paper tooth to a white piece of felt and clip out around it. You can pin in to a double later and clip out 2 teeth at a time, it's just as easy, and if you are making the tiny tooth fairy pillow, you will need two teeth anyway! You only need one for the bigger blue pillow.

After your tooth is clipped out from felt, embroidery the face on. It's nice to do this step now because it keeps the back of your pocket free of strings, so no little fingers are snagging them when they are reaching for money! You can outline the cheeks, fill them in, or use pink circles of felt stitched on! The eyes are tiny french knots, but buttons would be cute too!!

Next pin the cute little tooth with face onto the blue felt square. You don't need the blue felt to be a full 6" x 6" but I like to start with it this size and applique the tooth. This way you don't have to get the placement of the tooth exactly right!

Stitch the felt tooth to the blue square using plain ole white floss... keep your stitches neat and tiny... not like mine! HA! :)

Time to trim the felt! I used decorative shears to cut the top part of the blue felt, because this is the top of the pocket and it looks cute! Pinking shears would work great too! I took about 3/4" off of the top total. Also, take about 1/2" off the bottom. This will make the pocket just the right size. And make sure your tooth is centered more or less.

next, I like to baste the pocket to the front piece of cotton. it just makes things easier. So lay the first 6" sq. of cotton face up, and then lay the felt pocket on top of it. Sew around it, very close to the edges so it will be hidden in the seam of the pillow.

Cut a ribbon to the length you think is good. It kind of depends on where you want to hang it. If you want it to hang on a hook or drawer pull, you don't need a very long ribbon, but for a door knob or bed post, you would need a longer ribbon. You can also forget about the ribbon all together, and it's just a pillow!! Tack the ribbon in place. When you sew the pillow together, you will leave the part in the middle of the ribbon open for turning and stuffing.

Now that the front of the pillow is all basted together, pin the back of the pillow to the front with right sides together. Sew around the edges with about a 1/2" seam. A big seam like this is nice and sturdy for lots of use! Remember to leave the middle top open for turning and stuffing. Before you turn the pillow right side out clip off the corners so they will look nice and sharp!

Stuff your pillow and hand sew the top closed with a whip stitch! Use Polyfil stuffing! It's the best! Cheap stuffing makes for lumpy pillows, and you've already done all this work, so make it nice! :) This version of the Tooth Fairy pillow is all finished! How does it look?!

If you want to make the tiny pillow that is made up of just the little tooth! Do this.... start at the beginning, cutting 2 teeth out instead of one... embroider the face on the front. On the back side, stitch a little pocket on. I cut out a pink heart from felt and just simply stitched around the bottom half. This is a very tiny pocket. It's great for a tooth, but I'm not sure where the fairy is gonna leave the big ole dollar bills she lives here!

Once the face and back are completely stitched, pin them together with right sides facing out. Using white floss, whip stitch around the edges. It's good to start towards the top of one side so you can easily stuff those fang things.

Before you get all the way around, stop and add a little polyfil to your pillow. I use hemostats for almost everything, and especially this! They are like scissors, but they grab instead of cut. So you can grab some stuffing and shove it right down into the bottom there! Do you need some hemostats? I sell them here. (shameless plug, I'm sorry.) Once the little tooth is stuffed, finish stitching him up and knot off your thread!

That's it! You're all done! This is just a tiny lil' pillow that would fit right in the palm of a child's hand! How special and fun!!

That's it! We're all done! I hope you had fun and found a little bit of use from this! If you're feeling frisky, send me a picture of what you made! Maybe someday if enough people make this, I'll set up a flickr group where we can all post pics of our cute little darlings with their lost teeth and their pillows bursting with money :)!

Another idea is to grab a little tiny Manila envelope and label it with your child's name and the date. This will help the tooth fairy keep organized!

Please feel free to make these for your self or as gifts, but do not make them to sell. This pattern and instruction is only intended for your personal use, not commercial. It is copy right to me, Missy ballance, 2007. THANK YOU!!!! now go sew! and then come back and leave a comment! LOLOLOL!

UPdate: I just added a flickr group so you all can add your pics there, please :) Thanks!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/26763512@N00/

Comments

merci pour toutes vos jolies choses!!!
i will try...

Posted by: Claire k | April 26, 2008 at 07:56 AM

My little girl is 4 1/2 and is very excited about losing her teeth. She has yet to loose one but has friends that have. I have been looking around for a pillow to make for both of my children (I had a really cute one when I was little). This is by far the cutest pattern I have seen. I can't wait to get started!!

Posted by: Debra Asmussen | April 06, 2008 at 11:09 AM

very cute. I think I will make one for my granddaughters who seem to be losing all their teeth at once, poor things, how do they eat? lol. Thanks for sharing the pattern. Hugz, Scary

Posted by: ScaryCheri | February 21, 2008 at 08:57 AM

Thanks so much. I think even I could make these for grands...hugs Lady D'Onne

Posted by: Lady D'Onne Smith | February 18, 2008 at 09:59 AM

it's very nice!!!!

I put a link in my blog!

antonella from Italy

Posted by: antonella | March 18, 2007 at 12:55 PM

thank you my oldest has lost 2 teeth and I NEEED to make one of these thanks Jen

Posted by: jennifer peterson | February 04, 2007 at 06:25 PM

That is the cutest tooth fairy pillow! Thanks so much for sharing it! My daughter will love it!

Posted by: Mel | January 31, 2007 at 03:46 PM

Pure Sweetness!