Cloth Baby Shoes Completed!

Here they are! Two cozy little baby shoes, size 0-6 months.

I used navy corduroy with blue fleece for the right pair. The left pair are blue plaid wool with the same fleece.

I deviated from the pattern in just a couple ways. First, I used the main fabric for the sole instead of the recommended suede fleece. Since these fabrics are already heavy, I did not use a double layer of the main fabric for the sole. I just interfaced it. These shoes will never be walked in. That should be sufficient.

The second change I made is on the heel. I left the main fabric showing with the fleece as trim. The pattern shows doing the opposite.

The instructions on this tutorial are excellent. My only advice would be to follow them!

The first pair I made, I decided I knew better. The pattern says to fold down the top heel, sandwiching the elastic inside. I feared catching the elastic as I stitched. Surely I could just thread the elastic through after everything was sewn together.

Wrong!

I think it took me over an hour to thread the elastic through. The multiple layers of fabric and interfacing made threading virtually impossible. Lesson learned!

If you use heavy fabrics (as I did) make sure to use a heavy weight machine needle. I can't emphasize that enough. You truly need a denim or similar weight needle and go slow. Or you'll be breaking needles!

If you want to give these shoes a try, check out the Cloth Shoes Flickr group. There are lots of cute ideas. I've made my shoes very plain because of time constraints. But the toes of these cloth shoes just cry out for embellishment!