Bean started walking this week, and so the hand-me-down sandals from his brother weren’t cutting it. I had see this tutorial, so I decided to make some for Bean. However, I decided to use real leather instead of faux leather like the tutorial. I bought a bag of leather remnant scraps, and here’s what I ended up with:
The good part about leather is that you don’t have to do as much stitching as Ashley does in the tutorial, because it’s thicker and doesn’t rip easily, and you don’t have stitch facings on, as the backside of leather is fine for the inside of shoes.
But what’s harder is stitching through more than one layer (which I don’t recommend if you don’t have a pretty heavy duty (read: all metal) machine (my 1960s Singer can handle it; the plastic Brothers I use to teach students how to sew could not). Even with a strong machine, the binding was a booger to get on. I’m not even going to show you a close up of the stitching; it’s not pretty, but it seems to be holding.
If my Bean didn’t have such small feet I would not have attempted this, but where does one find size 9-12 month shoes sturdy enough for walking without having those stiff, stiff soles? Especially when you consider the bag of leather remnants (which has enough to make at least one, if not 2 more pairs) was only $8.99.
One tip I’m happy to pass on – I found the brown elastic for the back straps on one of those really stiff cardboard notebooks. I had one around, and I’m pretty sure the fabric store doesn’t carry brown elastic, but all my notebooks with elastic have brown.
Rose and Heather
You did a great job!
We would love to have you over at our link party, Crafty Lassie Tuesday. We are having a giveaway! hope to see you there!
Heather & Rose
http://www.sewstylishboutique.blogspot.com
Richelle
So cute!
Tanya Anurag
Lucky boy… his mom makes sandals for him. You are super talented.
Thanks for linking up at Tea Time Thursdays @ Kreative Korner and adding to the fun. The party for this week is going on… hope to see you there again 🙂
http://tanyaanurag.blogspot.com/2011/08/tea-time-thursdays-4.html
Aliyanna
I was wondering what weight you were using for this and the roses…..I would love to do the roses….but not sure of what weight works….I doesn’t look like a chamois weight…so am assuming heavier?????az