Baby shoes

This has to be my favorite baby gift ever.  Darling little shoes.  I will admit to a bit of a learning curve, but once I figured them out, the process became pretty easy.

I made each of these pairs of shoes from a free pattern from another generous blogger.

Kimono Shoes (fabric from JoAnn, buttons from my stash)

Faux Robeez (leather from Brettuns Village, leather dye from Angelus, lining bleached muslin, buttons from my stash)

Mila Shoes (lace from Walmart, lining bleached muslin, fold over elastic from my stash)

(though if I had it to do over again, I'd use black for the inner most lining so the stitches wouldn't show.  Live and learn.)

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Faux Robeez and a simple Fabric Flower

I love Robeez.  I think they are awesome shoes for baby.  And I also think they are pretty expensive shoes for baby, and I don't like to spend so much money on shoes they will wear for such a short time!  But making an imitation pair is pretty quick and VERY inexpensive.

A few years ago, a friend of mine gave me an awesome free pattern she had found online for these shoes.  You can find it here from stardust shoes.  I won't give you step-by-step instructions for sewing the shoe, as you'll find that in the pattern.  But I will tell you about the supplies I chose and how I made the decorative flowers.

So I chose a faux leather from the home decor fabrics at JoAnn.  This one.  And then plain ole bleached muslin for the lining.  Since the faux leather is so heavy and sturdy, I skipped the interfacing.  (If you want to do real leather, check my pinterest board here for some inexpensive scrap leather sources.)

Now making that simple leather flower!  First, cut six circles out of your leather (or other fabric), three for each shoe.  Mine were inch circles that I cut using the Sizzix Circles No.4 Die and my Big Shot.  Now fold the circles in half,

and sew a little triangle from the middle point to the edge, making sure you backstitch at each end.

Then trim off the excess.

Fold out, and voila!

Your petal.  Repeat.  Then arrange in a triangle shape, overlapping edges as you go.

Sew into place.  Add your embellishment (in my case, buttons from my stash), and you're done!

These simple flowers make great accessories to add to shoes, handbags, jewelry, hair accessories, etc.

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Sewing Knits

Just wanted to pop in real quick like and share a sewing tip.  Are you afraid of knits?  I was.  Until yesterday.  I've always avoided knits like the plague after I tried a t-shirt redo and failed miserably.  But I needed a navy striped shirt for my daughter for this upcoming wedding.  Couldn't find it in the right shade of blue.  Found some awesome fabric on sale at Girl Charlee and decided to give knits a whirl, using this tip from Jessica at Me Sew Crazy:

It worked like magic.  And it's like a Whole New World (cue Jasmin and Aladdin) has opened up to me!  I can sew knits!  Ah, the possibilities!

Anyway, if you're afraid of knits, try this.  It will CHANGE YOUR LIFE.  ;)

You win some, you lose some.

We had our yearly jaunt to our favorite photography studio today.  Lots of thoughts swirl around the planning of apparel.  Something coordinating but not matchy-matchy.  Something that fits our personalities but still has some current style.  I usually find a piece I love, and then build from there.  This year, I found (or rather my husband spotted) an awesome plaid shirt at Old Navy, in the general color scheme we were going for.  And we went from there.  As usual, I ended up making something for my daughter (last year's dress here).  I wanted our pictures this year to be more casual, so I opted for a skirt rather than a dress.

Unfortunately, this is how little princess spent the majority of the session.

What a waste of a great skirt.  Let's try one more shot...

This is after her daddy set her down and she started running towards me to get a fruit snack...the only way we could get her next to her brother without one of us, if only for a millisecond.

The family shots were better... no smiles from her, but at least no tears!

Anyway, who wants to know how to make that skirt?!  (don't all raise your hands at once...)

We have here a bubble skirt with two layers of lace poking out underneath.  This skirt can be made in seven seams (well, eight if you use the machine to stitch the elastic together).

Step one:  Measure your little one around the waist, and from the waist to the knee.  My daughter was 16 inches around the waist, and 8 inches from her waist to her knee.

Step two: Cut out your fabrics.  My cotton fabric was a 33 by 19.5 inch rectangle.  I got that by doubling 16 inches and adding an inch for seam allowances (33 inches), then doubling 8 inches and adding 3.5 inches for seam allowances and elastic casing.

I then cut out a 33 by 10 inch rectangle of lace (make sure the finished edge is along the 33 inch side), and a 33 by 9 inch rectangle of lace (ditto).

Step three: Fold all three of your rectangles in half width-wise (i.e., fold the 33 inches in half to make 16.5 inches), right sides together.

Sew along the 19.5 inch/10 inch/9 inch sides, using a half inch seam allowance.  Press seams open.

Step four: Turn the cotton right side out, and pull the 9 inch lace over it (still inside out) and pin in place along one of the edges (does't matter which at this point).

Now take the 10 inch lace and pull over it and pin into place.

Step five:  Sew all three layers together, half inch seam allowance.  If you have some excess lace or fabric, just sew right over it, it won't matter.

Step six:  Bring the bottom unfinished edge of the cotton up inside, so the wrong sides are facing together.  Zig zag stitch as close to the edge as you can, all the way around.  This edge will be exposed, and you don't want it to fray.

Step seven:  Measure 2.5 inches from the top of the fabric to the top of the three layers sewn together, and pin into place.

Step eight:  Fold raw edge over, and measure 1.5 inches and pin into place.

Sew along the raw edge, using a small seam (1/4 an inch or less), and leaving about 1.5 inches open.

This forms the elastic casing.

Step nine:  I've read somewhere when using elastic as a waistband to take the measurement and take away 3 inches.  I just guessed by pulling it around my daughter's waist.

Anyway, take your elastic and feed it through the opening (I stick a safety pin on the end to help me get it through).

Once you've got both ends, sew them together (but make sure the elastic isn't twisted!).  Push elastic into place inside casing.

Step ten:  Finish the seam on the casing by closing off that open 1.5 inches.

You're done!

And for your viewing pleasure, our silver lining shot of a frustrating photo shoot:

Red eyes, swollen lips, but sweetly snuggling with Daddy.

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Duck Slippers

I just made the cutest pair of little slippers ever!

This is a pattern I got off Whoopdwhoop, that crafty swapping site I've mentioned before.  Peek a Boo patterns created this pattern, and the minute I saw it, I knew it would make the PERFECT baby gift for friends we went to law school with at the University of Oregon, home of the Ducks!  (Get it?  Duck slippers?  Ha!)  They were quick and easy to make, and the instructions were clear and easy to understand.

Peek a Boo patterns has lots of adorable patterns, and if you don't have anything to swap on Whoopdwhoop, you can always check out their Etsy shop.

And I didn't get compensation of any kind for this post, just sharing a good find again!