You know that your little one is growing when….
… her first tooth starts loosening!
We are exactly in that moment of our lives when one of her teeth started to move, we went to the dentist and she said to alert the Tooth Fairy… so this is what we did!
Let me introduce you a new softie in Serger Pepper House:
(drumroll, please)
the Tooth Fairy Cushion
(refashioned from baby tights!)
This is really easy, can be made in less than an hour… and it won’t cost you anything, since it repurposes preloved materials!
Just gather:
– white baby tights (but you can use any colour!)
– scraps of fabrics, leftovers are perfect: red/fuchsia for the mouth, white for the tooth and the other layer of the inside of the mouth (I used a white muslin that stabilizes the seam around the mouth too!)
– a couple of buttons
– thread, scissors, sewing machine, pins, pen
– filling from an old cushion
or you can get a bag of new one here:
The mouth
First step is to draw a big smiling mouth for our tooth… you can sketch it on paper (mine was roughly 10 cm or 4″ wide by 5 cm or 2″ height) and then on the white scrap of fabric (pin your muslin mouth in place on the right side of the tights):
I drafted it directly on the fabric because I love the risk… and have a secret weapon: Frixion Pens (heat vanishing)
Tip: you should better draw it slightly higher on your muslin than I did… in order to have a pocket/mouth below the mouth opening instead of above and below… as I noticed it later 😉
Sew all around the mouth with a short stitch length (2 is perfect in my book), just a mm or 1/64″ on each side.
Slide your scissors’ points between the two seams and open that smile!
Turn the white muslin to the inside of the tights, through the mouth:
Better pin it and press it to secure it in place!
Turn the tights inside out and take another piece of fabric (this time in red), same measurements as the white one.
Lay it above the other one, aligning the edges; put it right side down, toward the inside of the mouth.
Sew (or serge, like I did) all around, to close the pocket/mouth:
The tooth
This is optional, but I really loved the oddity of a tooth with a tooth…!
Just take a piece of muslin, fold in half and sew all around with a U shape (mine was roughly 6 cm or 2 1/2″ long by 2.5 cm or 1″ wide). Press, trim seam allowances and turn inside out, then press again: here’s your tooth!
It’s time to put it in place. I liked how it looked slightly off-centered. We’re going to stitch it in place while topstitching all around the lips!
Tip: use a short stitch (2 was good for me) and a triple straight stitch… it will be stretched multiple times from those tiny hands 😉
The head of the tooth
As you can see, my baby tights were cut off-grain… so when I went to chopping off their upper edge (the waist elastic) it ended up being off-centered… maybe you have better tights to use!
For the shape… just go and eyeball it, you need to give the illusion of a tooth enamel crown!
The eyes!
We’re nearly done! Choose two buttons for the eyes.
I thought those, coming from an old coat my dad had in the 70s, were pretty good.
I chose violet thread to match with the mouth and the hanging string loop (coming soon).
To be sure they’re not coming off in no time, I added a muslin, folded in four, to the wrong side of the tights, then sewn the button above it… this should ensure more strength!
Filling the tooth
One more time, turn inside out your hybrid half tights/ half tooth and stitch the upper edge closed, leaving a gap in the middle to be able to add the filling, later.
Las time, promised! Turn inside out and look at it… is it starting to seem a tooth, isn’t it?
Fill it with cushion wadding, taking your time to be sure you’re pressing it enough.
It will be lumpy, but nothing that you can’t fix by repeatedly squeezing it between your hands 😉
Last effort: the hanging loop!
Using the same fuchsia fabric you used for the mouth, cut a strip roughly 5 cm or 2″ by 40 cm or 15″; fold in half widthwise and press.
Fold long sides to the center, again, hiding all the raw edges.
Press again and stitch along the center (honeycomb stitch for me, decorative and stretchy!).
This will be the string that will be used to hang your tooth fairy cushion to your kids door (or closet, or wherever you like to hang it), hence it need to be fold in half and secured to the tooth, just where we left the gap for filling it.
Pin it in the middle and pin closed the rest of the gap to.
Slipstitch by hand with matching thread: nobody will notice it!
For added strength, I’d suggest you to stitch more times throught the base of the loop string.
Let’s try this pocket!
We still don’t have a tooth to put inside (the wobbly one… is still wobbling), so we tried with a € 10 banknote…
but I’m pretty sure my daughter’s Tooth Fairy will be more inclined to leave a € 2 coin!
And your Tooth Fairy, how much is she spendthrift?
Very cute, Irene! 🙂 Lisa
thanks Lisa!
And the tooth has fallen down today! i almost cried when I’ve seen that tiny pearl :'(
Che bello!
Sabrina
Ma grazie 🙂
What tooth coolest, here’s the Tooth Fairy is in charge of taking the tooth under her pillow and leaves money in place and it did mice with breast pockets, but your tooth seems very nice, I love it
Thanks Beatriz!
When I was young, Tooth fairy was taking my teeth from under my cushion too… but, you know: times are changed! I thought it could be cool and I created this softie for my LilPotato 😉