Baby needs a new pair of shoes!

Could these be the cutest thing you have ever seen in your life?

One of my favourite pass times of late is spending hours proweling the Etsy website looking at anything and everything. A few weeks ago I found these adorable little baby shoes in the sweet pea pattern etsy shop and just fell in love!

A few nights ago I was once again drooling over these beautiful little shoes and thought, 'Why the Heck not' and so I bought the patterns!

I chose the 3 for $12 option and when I emailed the lovely Cheri and told her I was having my 4th baby, I think she took pity on me and threw in an extra pattern for me! Cool hey!

Anyway, I told her I would do a bit of a review of her patterns and so here goes....

Let me start by saying I am a self taught sewer. I learn as I go from trying new things. One thing I have had trouble with is following the patterns from people like Butterick etc. so when I first did a quick read through I was a bit worried because it was written in such a professional way, especially the cutting guide, I was worried I wouldn't be able to follow it.

I must admit that my first effort was not perfect (when is a first effort ever perfect) but once I decided that I would just follow the tutorial one step at a time, the pattern was incredibly easy to follow.

I guess the problem I have is that I'm a quilter, not a dressmaker and certain things like a 1/4" seam are a given for me. In fact I find it hard to do anything else, so when I see things like draw a 1/4" stitching guide I just skip over that and move on to the next step.

What I learned with these patterns though, was that if I just do each step as it is written and don't try the old 'I know a better way of doing that', It works out perfect ever time. Funny that :)

Anyway onto the pictures, These are my first attempt. As I said I did have a few problems and one was miss reading the pattern and using fusible web instead of fusible fleece (ie. Pellon). This caused me to have to have the seams showing on the inside of the shoes, as once I ironed the top seam it had fused the top and bottom fabrics together and so I couldn't open it back up to hide the seams, but in the long run I think it was an O.K. effort for a first go.

I sent Cheri an email and told her of my mistake and she adjusted the pattern with the different wording, we both assumed that different countrys call them different things. How good is that! Some people can get very touchy when you offer constructive criticism.Cheri did suggest having a trial run of the pattern, but of course, me being me I just jumped in. :) I still like these Mary Janes and just want to add a little button or bead onto the tab for an added cute factor.

So Lessons learnt I moved on to the second pair and again made the Mary Janes pattern (I'm very stubborn, I have to get them right :)) This was my second attempt.I chose to use ribbon this time and am thrilled with the results! This time they are reversible as the first pair should have been, Yeah! The only disapointment is I prefer the pink and brown fabric I used in the first pair. I will definately be making another pair of these.

Next up was the Kimono Shoes (I chose to do these two first because I didn't have the elastic I needed for the Bella and seamless crib shoes). I found this pattern so easy to follow after my success with my second pair of Mary Janes.

My only critisism of the patterns is that there is a bit of wasted fabric using the suggested layout, again though I think this is because as a quilter I hate throwing any fabric away. :)

I think next time I will adjust the way I cut out the pieces to minimise wastage, but as I said before, if you decide to buy these patterns, follow it word for word the first time, or make just one sample with muslin or calico, so you 'get it' first.

I absolutely love these kimono shoes and I'm going to make another pair with polar fleece on the inside to use as slippers, nice and warm for my new cherub.

The beauty of Cheris' patterns is that each one comes with heaps of different size options, so I can remake these shoes as my angel grows. They go up to a size for 18 month olds.

Now I just need to make some matching outfits :)

I made the spotty ones to go with the spotty bibs I made the other day, they look so cute together.

I was going to give you a sneek peak at a new birdie project I started today too, but this post is already very long... oh why not, just a pic for now though. ;)

A bit obscure but just wait. A bit of embroidery and all will be revieled!