Baby Shoes

Not baby shoes for my baby.  My husband wouldn't approve of ruffles and bows for baby boy number three.  I have taken a break from sewing baby shoes, as they take quite a bit of work, but something came over me, and I decided to restock baby shoes at the local gift bazaar.

Satin with ruffles.  What could be more fun.

I have some sort of need to make things for the baby, unfortunately there isn't much more to make for this little guy.  Instead, I get to focus on dressing other people's babies. Even people that know how to make baby girls! What a treat.

Double Ruffle Silver Baby Booties

I'm sure that you're probably a bit tired of having me post baby booties, but I post what I make.  I recently finished this pair of silver baby booties for a friend's niece.  They are just the standard mary jane bootie, with a double layered ruffle along the toe.  This particular silver material is quite thin, and a single layer ruffle just didn't do the trick. 

Thanks as always for reading. I sure do like you!

Itty Bitty Remix at Me Sew Crazy

Today I'm joining a wonderfully talented collection of bloggers and sewists for a fun little series called Pattern Remix, at Me Sew Crazy.  Jess is our gracious (and extremely talented) host,  and today it's my turn to show off my itty bitty remix contribution.

Hop over to her blog to check out my project, and don't forget to check out the past entries.    

Brown Bow and Pearl Baby Booties

Included in the bag of baby shower gifts for my cousin's family, was a pair of sweet and simple faux leather baby booties.  I added a small bow with pearl to the straps of the baby booties. The edges of the upper shoe are pinked for a bit of added detail.

They perfectly match a sweet little dress that I made for their little girl.  Unfortunately, you are going to have to wait to see the coordinating dress, I'm saving it for something special later on in the month.

The booties are a twist from the Reversible Mary Jane Pattern from Sweet Pea Patterns.  Obviously these booties aren't reversible, but I think that they are just as sweet.

One added touch that I really like is stitching the sizing to the insole.  I wish that I had tags and labels for everything that I make, but I'm just not to that point.  Having the size of the shoe will make it so much easier for the new mama.  Thanks to my Brother PC-420 I was able to make it work.

Thanks for reading.

Personalized Blessing Booties

I know that you've seen the wing tipped bay booties before, but I made these special for my nephew's blessing that is happening this weekend.

I thought that it would be nice for him to have a special pair of shoes for the special occasion.

Using the font stitches on my machine, I stitched the date in one shoe, and my nephew's initials in the other.  Hopefully they will be a special keepsake from his special day.

Thanks for reading.

Silver and Aqua Baby Booties

This weekend we had a shower for my Sister in Law.  She'd seen most of the dresses and outfits that I'd made for her baby, so I wanted to add something to the gift that she hadn't seen before

I ended up making these silver faux leather mary janes. I added three simple flowers on the side of the booties, and used some metallic thread for the center of the flowers.

I also made a coordinating headband.  

Thanks for reading, and a big thank you for all of your kinds words about our expected bundle of joy.  We are thrilled about having another baby, we just wish that we could do without all of the pregnancy discomforts.

For the Shop: Baby Booties

As I mentioned last week, I've been very  busy sewing for my new booth space at the gift bazaar where I'm going to start vending. 

I love being able to post new tutorials and projects for you, but this week you are stuck with a collection of my most recent creations.

 I think that it is always quite fun coming up with different styles and versions of the same pattern.  The crocodile mary jane's are my favorite for the girls, but I'm loving the plaid booties at the top of the page.

Herringbone and houndstooth, two of my favorite prints.  My husband thinks that the sheen on the houndstooth version sends pushes them out of the realm of gender neutral, and over to the feminine side, but I disagree.

Baby Brothers

In the past six weeks my family has welcomed two new baby brothers.  My sister had an adorable baby boy a week and a half before Christmas.  Just last week my brother and sister-in-law welcomed their third son to the world.

The grandson total is now 5, meaning that we can now officially have a basketball team of boys.  I am so excited about my new nephews.  There is something so special about holding a brand new baby.

We too recently welcomed a brother to our home.  I am thrilled to have my second little guy, this one comes in the form of an overlock server.  I am so EXCITED.

Brother 1034D 3/4 Lay-In Thread Serger

I'd been saving my pennies for a serger of my own.  I received some money  for my birthday, and set it aside.  Unfortunately December brought with it many unexpected expenses....plumbers, root canals, and pending surgeries.  Needless to say the money that I had set aside was used to pay off other bills.

I cried, when some very generous family members gave me my new serger.  It was totally unexpected, but extremely thoughtful. I really feel that I received much more than a new overlock machine.  Their gift really helped me understand how much I am loved, and cared for.  They were aware of the roller coaster ride that we had been on that month, and did something for me that I will not forget. Thank You.

I've used a serger before, but only for the basic overlock stitch.  I've got a lot to learn and explore.  I'm excited to see just what this machine can do.  I'm working on a skirt, and am going to try to figure out a narrow rolled hem, hopefully today.


Welcome baby brothers everywhere.  I'm glad your here.  I'm looking forward to the time that we are going to spend together.

Hip for the Holidays: Baby Boys

 I want to give a big thanks to Terra for guest posting last Tuesday, and sharing her adorable baby dress. It is lovely, and it sure looks like a lot of fun to dress up those little girls.

 

Dressing up a boy can be quite fun as well, you just have to work with what you have. So today we are going to try to get away from footed newborn pajamas, and get our newest bundles of joy ready for the holidays.

 I love baby booties (I know you know that).  My Sister in law, who is expecting her third little boy, recently made a request for some cute baby boy booties.  This is my first attempt at baby boy booties, I decided to make a wing tip version for the little guys (see the little girl version here). I added the second layer of faux leather, and punched holes in varying sizes around the shoe.

My husband informed me that he thinks that they are borderline girly, but I would say borderline unisex.

Now that baby has a new pair of shoes, let's work on the rest.  When Clark was a little guy I loved having him in pants.  We had a pair of navy blue cords that he wore for quite a while.  I wanted me nephews to have some comfortable and stylish pants to sport this holiday season.

I pulled out a pair of Clark's newborn pants, and made a pattern for this pair.

 I added some faux pocket details in the front and back.  I'm quite enamored with these little pants.  I plan on making several more pair for the little guys. I'm also hoping to figure out how to create a print at home pattern for these pants. (would anyone be interested?)

Photo Credit: Crap I've Made

To complete the holiday look, why not add a cute appliqued necktie onesie.  I'm sure that you've seen them around, but they sure are cute.  Char from Crap I've Made, has an easy to follow tutorial here. I've been meaning to make one of these for my sister's little guy, but I haven't found the time. 

If you can't find the time now either, perhaps you'd be interested in one of the many versions for sale on etsy. I am quite fond of this holiday bow tie number from Teeny Punks.

I hope that this inspires you to dress up those baby boys.  For more Holiday Apparel inspiration check out the Hip for the Holidays link party.

Thanks for reading.  I'll be linking up here. 

Itty Bitty Baby Girl Gift

A friend of ours just recently had a little baby girl.  I jumped on the opportunity to indulge in a pink project.  I found this adorable apple corduroy at Joann's and thought that it would make a fun autumn dress for the new little lady.

I used Rae's free Itty Bitty Baby Dress pattern.  Because this would be a winter baby, I thought that I'd have to make some coordinating long sleeve onesies to go with the little dress.

I used Rit dyes to color a couple of packs of onesies.  

 I experimented with a couple of dyes to get a range of colors.  I have some green onesies on hand for a couple of little boys that are on their way.

I also whipped up a pair of these baby booties to go with the new dress. I had intended on making a pair of ruffle bum leggings, but my sewing machine is on the fritz.  I might have to send them off later.

I'm linking up here.  Thanks for reading.

Baby Booties

I mentioned in my faux leather belt posts that I had some projects in mind when I purchased this faux leather at the Home Decor Store.  I fell in love with how soft the back of the material was, and I loved that it was thin and would be fairly easy to sew. This is the very project that I was planning on making.

I had found a really simple template for baby booties on Martha Stewart.  Her instructions were intended for felt baby booties, but this faux leather worked perfectly.  The inside lining was super soft, and I didn't have to worry about finishing off the edges.  I was pleased at how easy the material fed through my machine (I didn't even have to use a special needle).

These baby booties would be cute on their own, without any bells and whistles (or ribbons and ruffles), but I decided to dress them up a bit. Here is what I came up with...

The Red Ruffle Booties

Aren't they cute?

Ruffles seem to be quite in right now, especially for babies.  You find them on onesies, headbands, shirts, and even shoes.  I wasn't quite convinced that the faux leather would gather well, but it did.  Hooray! I used an all-purpose thread, but I am sure that a heavy duty thread would have been even better.  I created the ruffle, sewed it onto my shoe piece, and then attached the shoe to the sole.  It worked like a dream.  I tried to leave about 1/2" of ungathered material on either end so I wouldn't have to fight the bulk of the material when seaming together the booties.

Wing Tip Booties

After creating my punched leather belt, I couldn't help but make a pair of wing-tip inspired booties.  I traced the end of the top bootie pattern piece and designed a shape that I liked.  I then worked out a pattern of punches that I was satisfied with.  I then cut my pieces of faux leather, transferred the punch pattern, and put my leather punch to work.  As you can tell I as I got going I decided to omit some punches that I had planned on.  I also should have factored more spacing for the seam allowance when determining punch placement.  I used a pinking blade on my rotary cutter and pinked both the edge of the back seam of the booties, and the top of my tip piece (pinking shears would have worked better for this project).  I added a couple of punches along the straps of the baby booties and did some topstitching along of the edges of the shoe.  This is definitely a first attempt, and needs some adjustment before I gift them, but I kind of adore them.

Red Soled Ribbon Booties

What fancy lady doesn't want a pair of red soled shoes.  I couldn't help but make this pair (plus I ran out of black material).  I kept this pair of booties pretty basic.  I added some decorative stitching to the top of the booties, and punched a couple of holes to ends of each strap.  I used a black satin ribbon to tie them.  Don't forget the fray check on the ends of the ribbon.  Now I need to find the perfect little lady for these.

These baby booties were so quick to make.  Any level of sewer could easily tackle this project.  The baby bootie template that is provided is not to size.  I compared it to an existing baby bootie pattern that I had and made adjustments. 

Click here to check out the great link parties I'm participating in today.