Baby Shoe Tutorial

I received some requests to write a tutorial for the baby shoes I make so here it is. As I said in my last craft post, I used this pattern to make the shoes and only made a couple adjustments. I've never taken a sewing class or really been taught to sew more than straight lines so I made up some of this as I went along. As another side not, because of Zach I can only make things at night so please excuse the bad lighting on the photos :).

1.) Using the pattern in the link above (this website: http://goosiegirls.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/baby-shoe-tutorial/) cut out 4 of each piece - 2 from fabric and 2 from felt. Make sure you have pieces cut so that you'll have a left and a right shoe.


2.) Iron all the pieces of fabric.

Assembling the pieces

3.) Using an iron fold in the rough edges.


4.) Sew the strap onto a piece of felt.


5.) Cut off the excess felt and set aside. Repeat steps 3-5 for the 2nd strap.


6.) Place 2 corresponding sole pieces together with right sides facing out and sew. Repeat for 2nd sole.


7.) Place 2 corresponding side pieces together; wrong sides out. Sew leaving 1 unfinished edge so you can turn the piece right-side out. Repeat with 2nd side piece.


8.) Turn side pieces right-side out and iron.


9.) Sew around the inside of the curve, keeping close to the edge. Repeat.


Putting the pieces together

10.) I'm not sure the best way to explain this next part so hopefully the picture makes sense. I lined the pieces up as shown below so I wouldn't need to unpick part of the shoe and resew it to add the strap. Make sure you don't sew the strap down when you're going around the other side.
Due to the shape of the pieces I found that it was easier to position the pieces as I sewed rather than pinning it all in place ahead of time. The ends should overlap a little bit. There have been a few times when the side piece ended up being a little short to line up with the start. To fix this I would attach the side further in from the edge of the heel of the sole rather than lining up the 2 pieces.


11.) Turn the shoe right-side out. Because I didn't want the strap flapping around I attach it to the top of the shoe. See picture below.


12.) To make the strap into a buckle I hand-sewed on a hook and eye. Velcro also works.


13.) Embellish as you like and you've got a finished pair of baby shoes.


Here are a few other shoes I previously posted in case you would like a few more ideas for embellishments.