Baby Shoes

A little while ago, I found this tutorial for baby booties.  I thought it would be a fun addition to a gift for a baby girl.

Modern Baby Bootie Tutorial by Tao of Craft

Before I gave it as a gift I wanted to try it out with scrap fabric.  I wanted to make sure I understood the directions before I tried making it for someone else. 

The directions looked fairly easy at first, but as I was going I found that they were actually a bit confusing.  I will try to tell you what I figured out, so that you can avoid the being confused part. 
This first picture is the final product of the first attempt.  It was finished after working at it a couple of hours.  I had to recut, resew and pick stuff out.  By the end I was a bit frustrated, but finally figured it out.

This next picture is the second attempt which I was able to give as a gift.  The second pair probably took me less then 15 minutes.  Once I figured it out, it was actually quite easy. 

The two problems I ran into were:
1.  The picture shows the lining being seamless.  While this is not possible, however, it is possible to make it so the lining looks just as nice as the outside with all seams inside.   Skip step 4... do not sew the lining sole to the actual sole.  What you want to do is sew the right side of the lining sole to the right side of the lining U.  Then sew the right side of the sole to the right side of the top U.  Leave a little hole when you sew the two lining pieces together so that you can turn it inside out. 

If this does not make sense... there is a comment near the very bottom of the tutorial by a Susan W which helps explain it.  I am not sure if I did what she said either, but it helped me figure out what to do.


2.  The second problem I had was that the first picture showed sewing the Velcro on first, and then in the consecutive pictures it doesn't show the Velcro, so I assumed the Velcro was on the other side.  I followed what I thought was the right way, and my Velcro ended up on the wrong side.  I never actually did figure that part out.  I ended up just sewing on the Velcro last. Every time I tried to picture it and sew it where I thought it went, I would visualize it backwards and it would still wind up wrong. 

Also, I had never used interfacing before because I didn't know what it did.  I didn't have any on hand so I skipped that part.  Now that I have actually used interfacing and understand how it works, I would recommend using it because it will make your shoe a lot sturdier.

 I also didn't know what topstiching was either, and while you could probably skip it, it would probably give your shoe more shape, and keep the lining in place.  It would also give it a more finished look. 

Ha ha.. just writing this, I've realized how much I've learned in just a few short months.