Handmade Teether Toy

Baby toys can be incredibly inexpensive, or ridiculously expensive. I have a little munchkin that likes to chew on everything (which could have something to do with the 4 teeth he's working on right now). I like to keep toys around so he always has something to play with chomp on. I, of course, ran to my local Target store to find some inexpensive toys/teethers. I noticed one specific teether that I thought Kid would enjoy, but was irritated by the price.

Five bucks for a little stuffed ring? I could spend five bucks to buy six baby washcloths and make three teether toys for that price!

And that is what I opted to do. I found a package of cute colored baby washcloths, which are super soft and set to work.

I've only finished one of the three toys. The other two are in various stages of complete. They'll be finished shortly, but I wanted to get this post up and running.

Depending on the size of the teether, each toy will take 1 to 2 washcloths. I went with two for each, because I wanted to vary the pattern and color on each toy. They toys will also need some craft stuffing, which is super cheap at any craft store.

First, the washcloths should be washed. More than likely, they'll end up in someone's mouth. There may be some nasty chemicals on the washcloths due to manufacturing and/or shipping.

Once the washcloths are washed, and dried, deciding upon a shape for the teethers comes next. I went with a nonsensical shape to start, then moved on to a tooth, and a ring.

Place the washcloths together with the right sides facing each other. Here's the catch. There is no right or wrong way to do this. The texture of the teether can be either side of the washcloth. The ones I bought had a smooth side and a side that looks like the typical terrycloth of a towel. I wanted to have a toy with multiple textures, so I put the smooth and bumpy sides together and pinned the crap out of it. One would typically trace or draw a design on the fabric with one of those fancy disappearing fabric markers.

Not me.

I just cut. This worked out, because I didn't have a specific shape in mind for the first one. But, a shape can be traced onto a piece of paper, which can then be used as a sewing pattern for the toy.

That's not how I roll.

Once cut, sew the two pieces together. Leave an opening in the sewing, for two reasons:

1. to flip the toy right-side out.
2. to stuff the toy with some craft stuffing.

After stuffing the toy, sew up the opening with a needle and thread. I'm not too picky about the finished look, especially since it's a baby toy, but I didn't want to have any threads hanging out for Kid to potentially chew off of the toy. I followed this tutorial on how to make an invisible seam.

Here's the finished product:

I promise that I will get better with pictures. It's one of my New Year's Resolutions for the ol' blog...