Felt Baby Booties

I whipped these up for my son when he was tiny still, with the intention of making more for friends as they had their kids. Though I actually made my own pattern, which I`ll describe below, you could also just download and print this one.

You`ll need two colors of felt for this project, a small piece of Velcro and embroidery thread in a complimentary color (though I`ve also used bright yellow with dark blue with great results).

Making Your Own Pattern

It`s really not that difficult, if you have a baby on hand, to make up your own pattern. Basically, you`ll need to trace around the baby`s foot and then add half an inch all round, smoothing it out until you have something that looks like a lopsided egg, with the wide part being the toe area. This is your sole. You`ll need  to cut two from the felt.

That`s the easy bit. Next, take a string and measure around the entire perimeter of the sole. Add a half inch or so and cut the string. This will help you create your main shoe pattern. Lay the string on a piece of paper, curving it into a U shape. When you have a shape that pleases you, trace it with a pen and then mark up 1.5″ and draw another U. In the bottom of the curve, you`ll need to create the tongue of the shoe, which will be about 2 inches long. At this point, you should have something that roughly resembles this:

Decorating

Cut two of these shoe parts out of the felt, as well. You can cut your design out of contrasting felt. I used stars, but you could easily make this a heart or fish, car, just about any simple design you can think of.

Stitch the design onto the center of the toe, leaving room for the embroidered words.

To make sure your words turn out right, it`s a good idea to write them in disappearing ink on the felt before stitching. I didn`t do this for these shoes and you can see how that worked out! Use a simple backstitch to embroider the words. You could also embroider little flowers or anything your heart desires.

Construction

Start at the toe and pin the top part of the shoe to the sole, all the way around. The seam will be facing outwards, like in the top picture. Make sure you pin the heel seam, as well, since this tends to pull apart as you go.

Using a blanket stitch, stitch the top of the shoe to the sole, then up the heel. Presto, a shoe! Now you just need to fold over the tongue and sew in place with an X to form the loop in front. Use the blanket stitch to decorate and finish the raw edges.

For the fastener, simply cut two strips of felt, 3 inches by half an inch and use the blanket stitche to finish. Sew to the side of the shoe that will face in, thread through the tongue loop. Sew the Velcro to the appropriate places on the fastener and the shoe and you`ve got a soft little bootie for any baby.

If you`re interested in turning your crafts into a business, check out my blog for tips and ideas.

Tagged as: Baby, booties, Embroidery, Felt, shoes