Special Handwork....Tooth Fairy Pillowcase

We've dropped everything around here for some urgent handwork...Toucie has her first loose tooth and it could fall out at any second now...we need a special tooth fairy pillowcase.

We have a very special pillowacase that that my grandmother made for me when I was small. It has sweet embroidery and a tiny pocket stitched on where one can stash one's tooth in case a tooth fairy should come in search of a trade. I used it faithfully as a youngster, and so did Naya, Sodie, and Mado when they were small. Well, it is Toucie's turn and the pillowcase is nowhere to be found. Time to whip something up!

I thought I would zip up a little case out of linen, add a pocket, and maybe a bit of embroidery like my grandmother did, but Toucie had grander visions. After a peek in the scrap box, she was committed to a plan that involved color and variety and a lot more work than mine. So we turned it into a homeschool handwork project. Toucie tore strips of favorite fabrics and ironed them all smooth. We laid them all out side by side.

I stitched all the strips together and pressed all the seams flat. Toucie used marks that I had drawn on the fabric to cut a neat rectangle. This made a 4 inch border for the pillowcase. I pieced this together with a blue fabric and constructed the case.

Next we chose a bit of fabric for the tiny pocket and stitched that on by hand.

And here is a not-so-good photo of how it turned out...but wait a minute...

Toucie had further plans...she made a pocket all by herself  and wanted to stitch it on the other side of the pillowcase.

Can you see her little pocket there above the bunny? (I think she incorporated some packing tape, too, but who am I to question the methods of an artist?).

So now we're ready. Oh, and guess what I just found?