Monday, November 14, 2011

Baseball Toothfairy Pillow

This is a great handmade gift for any little slugger on your Christmas list! 
This Baseball Toothfairy Pillow has been a "hit" with every little boy I've made one for.  It also lends a much needed hand to the Toothfairy....no more stealth mode trying to swap out a tooth for money under a sleeping childs pillow.  It's fairly simple to make and requires minimal materials.
What you'll need:
  • 1/2 yd of white fabric-not to thin, you dont want the the red stitching to show through to the front.
  • 1 Skein of Red embroidery floss- DMC 321
  • Polyfil Stuffing
  • 8"x8" white posterboard
  • Pocket & tooth pattern

You'll cut out 2 circles 9 1/4" diam., 1 pocket piece, and 1 boxing strip 29"x2 1/2".


Press down 1/2" hem at top of pocket, topstitch.  Then press 1/4" under on sides of pocket.

Pin pocket to front of pillow and topstitch close to side hems.  The next step is to topstitch along the pocket stitching line that is marked on the pocket pattern piece.  I don't draw it,  I simply mark the line placement with a pin on both sides of the pocket like shown above and start stitching at one pin and stitch across to the other pin.
Cut a 36" long piece of Red embroidery thread, (I used 6 ply) knot the end and begin to stitch "V's" beginning right next to the pocket. 






Continue to embroider the "v's" along the side of the pocket.  When you get to the top of the pocket where there is no more pocket to guide your stitches, I make a visual line with pins and pull them out as I stitch up to them.  Stitch all the way into to the end and knot thread on back about 1/8-1/4" from top edge of pillow.
Embroider the "v" stitching on the other side of the pocket using pins to mark the way.

Pin boxing strip to right side of pillow clipping the into seam allowance about every 3/4 of an inch.  Stitch all around pillow  1/2" from the edge.  Starting and stopping about 2" from the beginning and end of boxing strip.
Pin the ends together and stitch with a 1/2" seam allowance.  Then finish stiching this area to the face of the pillow.

Pin, clip and stitch the back pillow piece to the boxing strip leaving about 4-5" open to turn and stuff.  Turn right side out and stuff as full or as light as you like.

Turn down 1/2" on remaining boxing edge and pin.

Hand stitch closed.

Trace the tooth pattern on a piece of posterboard and cut out.  Write this little toothfairy poem on the top portion of the tooth and nestle it in the pocket.

If you want to personalize this pillow, you could always embroider your little guys name across the top of the pocket before you attach the pocket to the pillow.  Also, if embroidering just isn't your thing, you could use paint pens instead for the red stitching.
Pocket and Tooth Pattern:

Pocket and Tooth Pattern Pin It

3 comments: