Tooth Fairy Pillow DIY

Posted on July 5, 2016 by oliver's fancy

We had our first loose tooth experience this weekend! I can’t believe that this season is upon us already… he’s only 5! But apparently 5 is not too young so there you have it.

We were out shopping this weekend and saw a tooth fairy pillow, and Oliver asked if I could make him one. What can I say to a request like that? We made one together the very next day!

After looking up lots of tooth fairy pillow ideas online, we settled on a teepee version. Oliver picked out the all the fabrics… I think he did a great job matching them up! The background is a print from the Lorax Dr. Seuss line (Truffula Tree Tufts- sold out now) and the pockets are fussy cut from the Celebrate Seuss Tossed Characters print (still available here).

I thought I’d explain how I made the pillow in case anyone else would like to make one too. I made an equilateral triangle template- 10″ wide at the base and 10″ tall- and used that to cut out two triangle pieces from my fabric. Before I sewed the triangles together I made two little pockets and sewed one to each triangle piece…about 1.25″ from the bottom.

After I had the pockets sewn on, I sewed the triangle pieces right sides together- leaving a 2″ unsewn section at the bottom. I clipped all the corners and flipped the pillow right side out through the unsewn bottom section. Then Oliver helped me stuff the pillow with polyfill, and he even helped me handsew the bottom section closed!

Easy, peasy! Finished pillow size is 9″ high x 9″ base. The whole operation took less than an hour from start to finish! And when we were finished, Oliver told me that it turned out exactly how he had wanted it…fist pumps all around. 🙂 Nothing better than a satisfied customer and it was fun to have him so involved in the whole process.

Notice there are two pockets- we decided that one side was for the tooth lost and the other for the forthcoming money to be left by the tooth fairy. 😉 He hasn’t lost that first tooth yet, but it’s getting looser by the day so I anticipate this pillow getting used very soon!

Dr Seuss Halloween Quilt

Posted on October 27, 2015 by oliver's fancy

Here’s the second project I made with the Spooktacular Seuss fabric. You can see the first project here. I wanted to make something that we could enjoy for longer than one season so a quilt seemed like the logical choice. I don’t quilt very often but it is fun to have holiday themed quilts. I actually made a Grinch one last year that I never blogged so I’ll try to get pics of that this season! You will notice, I’m not an intricate piecer. My sewing time is so limited and Halloween was coming so quickly that in order to get this finished, I needed to do something quick and easy. While fancy quilts are nice, in my house they never get completed!

I decided to have fun with the Suess theme and go with stripes of various widths and colors- pulling from the colors in the main fabric. I found all of these Kona cottons as my local Hobby Lobby. They don’t have a huge selection but they are close by my house so I was happy to see that they had exactly the colors I needed. I got a half yard of each fabric and cut a few different widths to get the length I wanted for the quilt. I used the entire width of the fabric to make the quilt as wide as possible. It ends up being a great lap quilt size about 41×62″.

Once I had the front pieced, I used up all the remaining Konas for a random striping back. I didn’t even lay the colors out beforehand- just picked up the next one in line and sewed them all up. I love how fun the back turned out! I had a few little Seuss people left from the boys’ applique shirts so I appliquéd them to the back of the quilt to give the boys something fun to look for and give the back a little more interest. I can’t decide if I’m 100% sold on whether they add to or take away from the quilt, but the boys really like them so that fulfilled my main purpose.

I used a curvy stitch on my machine to quilt lines at random widths across the quilt. That meant I didn’t have to stress about how even my lines were, plus the waviness adds to the Seuss effect. The binding is pieced from random leftover bits I had on hand- aqua, purple and orange. It’s the first time I’ve done a pieced binding and I kinda love it!

This was pieced over the weekend and then quilted and bound yesterday. Super crazy fast for me, but I’ve learned to push through and finish something like this while I’m in the mood or it will languish undone forever. I’m pretty excited to have a fun Halloween quilt to pull out every season and put on my quilt ladder! Though if I’m being honest, this will probably stay out until Thanksgiving so we can really have time to enjoy it. The boys (and I 🙂 ) love snuggling under quilts- especially ones with Horton and the Grinch. I wish I could say that in Eliot’s Grinch voice for you. It’s the most adorable thing. He quotes lines from the Grinch movie in his mean Grinchy voice and I just die. We are kinda Dr. Seuss fans over here, can you tell? 😉

Dr. Seuss Toddler Backpack

Posted on May 30, 2013 by oliver's fancy

Checking back in here again to let you know I am still alive and baby is still happily swimming around his little cocoon. 🙂 39 weeks tomorrow and trying to relax and not anticipate his arrival any second…soo hard to do!

Well I hadn’t sewed in over a week because I am just so tired at nap-times that I take naps myself. My poor Bernina was looking so sad and neglected I just had to give her some attention yesterday! A few weeks back I had started a toddler backpack for Oliver using Rae’s pattern and some Dr. Seuss fabric I have been saving for just the right project. I got the outer backpack all finished and there it has been sitting waiting for a lining. Really happy I got to finish it yesterday because Oliver’s old backpack (also Dr. Suess 🙂 ) was a cheap nylon bag, and it is all but in shreds so he really needed a new one.

Thoughts on the pattern and construction:

I used Craft Fuse 808 to interface all the exterior pieces because they are quilting cotton weight. The lining is a medium weight twill fabric. I was worried it wouldn’t be sturdy enough but am happy to report that the interfacing and heavier weight lining combined to make a great sturdy bag! Now about the bag construction itself- This bag pattern is not for the faint of heart! It has quite the involved instructions and takes a bit of time to construct. However, like all of Rae’s patterns, the instructions are well-written and easy to follow- just be prepared to take your time. I am especially impressed with how professional-looking the strap turned out!

I got to use some of my new feet for the bag construction and really liked how easy the piping foot made that section come together. I also looked through the flickr group before making my bag in order to get some ideas and decided to add pockets to each side panel. They were pretty straight-forward and easy to add except that I think the gathered one needs to be just a bit bigger in order to hold his water bottle. Oliver loves his new bag and likes to carry it around one-handed to show people…kinda cool that he’s old enough to appreciate what I make for him now!

Project Run and Play: Week 3

Posted on September 26, 2012 by oliver's fancy

This week’s challenge was to make clothing using a white sheet as the main resource. I brainstormed for quite a bit about what to make for my little man. I knew that white pants would not really look that great, and a white shirt is a little boring. Hey, what about pajamas? I thought that would be a fun idea- kinda mixing up the whole white sheet idea. You know, sheets go on your bed, and you wear pajamas to bed. Ok, ok you get it; maybe not as funny as I think it is? Anywho I remembered Rae had made some cute pjs for her munchkins a while back, and a quick google search led me to the Oliver + S bedtime story pj pattern. Thank goodness they are offering it as a PDF download now! I plunged right into my first Oliver + S pattern, and, let me tell ya peeps, they do not disappoint! Very well written and easy to follow along. I flew through the construction of these! I see many more Oliver + S patterns in my future!

I knew I wanted to do a fun contrasting trim to offset the white fabric on the pjs, so I chose this Robert Kaufman stripe from his Dr. Seuss line. I originally thought I would do more embellishing of the outfit- using my Thing1&2 fabric, but I decided I liked it more simple. I did add a little applique to the side as a nod to my inspiration.

The hubs had the idea to make a nightcap for the photo shoot. Happy to announce it stayed on most of the shoot! I just made up the nightcap pattern. Made some loose measurements based on my head circumference, connected both ends to a point about 30 inches high to make the triangle, then sewed right sides together to make the cap. I added the stripey trim and some elastic to keep it on his head. I lurves this outfit muchly! I know it will get dirty easily, but hey, it’s pajamas. He won’t normally be wearing them out-of-doors. And I am happy to report that, so far, the ties have stayed nicely tied in place! I made the 12-18 month size and it fits him perfectly. Oh, and as I picked up the white sheet at the thrift store for 59 cents, this is quite the economical outfit! 🙂

Enjoy these pictures as the Little Man leads us to the Land of Nod with a lantern, his doggies, and a book to guide him along the way. 🙂