Okay all my fellow Corona shut-ins, I have been promising to post my reusable mask instructions here at Small Talk Mama and I’m finally taking a few moments to pass along the pattern.
Tag: sewing
Missing Tooth Monster is a Tooth Fairy Pillow
My little guy lost his first tooth Sunday afternoon after a couple of weeks of some serious wiggling. He was so excited about his first visit from the Tooth Fairy and asked all sorts of important questions like, “How big is she?” “How does she get in the house?” and “What does she do with the teeth?” Sorry Dwayne Johnson, my son assumes the Tooth Fairy is a she.
Anyway, I wanted to make this event special for our son, so I decided to whip up a Tooth Fairy pillow before bedtime, which required some serious Pinterest inspiration and a quick trip to JoAnn’s (oh, darn). When I was a girl, I had a soft pillow with a tooth-shaped pocket on the front and I loved to place my lost tooth in it at night and awake to see what had taken its place.
I found so many great ideas on Pinterest for this project, but settled on a lost tooth monster pillow and combined a few ideas for my cute little creation. While I created my own pattern for my son’s monster, I did use Leslie’s Art and Sew post as a great tutorial. She walks you through this project step by step, but pay special attention to the teeth placement in relation to the pocket fold.
I think our son was tickled to have his little monster pillow as a safe spot for his itty bitty baby tooth, but I think he was more looking forward to a visit from the Tooth Fairy. I, on the other hand, was simply excited to carry on a family tradition. I sure hope he remembers his little missing tooth monster thirty years from now. . . and I hope it makes him smile (with all his teeth).
IKEA Calls It Tablecloth, I Call It Valance
February has been a very long month at our home, which is really weird since it’s actually the shortest of the calendar year; but when you’re struggling with the revolving crud that’s been plaguing Winter it makes the weeks really drag.
So now that the month is almost over, I’m finally feeling like doing something productive with my days. In fact, yesterday I was so energetic that I hung two cordless shades in the dining room and converted a tablecloth into a valance. . . and all that before noon! These projects were simple, but were a long time coming. Why is that sometimes the easiest tasks are the ones that take forever to complete?
The shades and the tablecloth came from our local IKEA store and were very affordable. The shades were under $30 each and the tablecloth was on sale for $8. I’ve been looking for a valance for a seriously long time, but when I saw this cute country pattern I had a feeling it would fit the bill.
These cordless IKEA shades are some of the easiest I have ever installed, and I highly recommend this choice (especially if you have children in the home where cords can be dangerous). They come with installation brackets but mounting screws are not included. Go figure; but some basic screws will work just fine.
To create the valances, I simply tore the tablecloth in two pieces lengthwise and then hemmed the torn edges. I then created rod pockets by folding each piece of material in half and sewing a straight stitch a couple of inches in from the folded edge. The finished product is actually a double thickness, which adds some weight and opaqueness to the valances.
I was so happy with my completed project and it felt so good to finally be useful again that I happily took an afternoon nap!