Boot-ies to Boot: A DIY

Man, we are already 2 days into the week?! Sheesh! We are gearing up for a pretty crazy weekend needless to say with the hurricane coming nearly straight for us ...thanks Irene! ... Our families in NC reported feeling the aftershocks of the East Coast earthquake earlier today (5.8/9 yikes!) and we are thankful that all are safe and well! Such a crazy thing! I guess I have never thought twice about earthquakes, being on the east coast my whole life (although some people growing up, I remember mentioning they had witnessed small tremors), but this jolts, at least me, back to reality!A huge reminder of the time we are living in and what the bigger picture truly is. Deep stuff.

Anyway....on to lighter things!

Remember that little sewing project I was working on when we all had the sickies? Well, I finished it yesterday-ish... more like today ( I finished up the last snap on one shoe)...

little shoes for the little bird.

I love how they turned out!

I have made baby shoes before but, believe it or not, never for one of my own kids...go figure.

So since the little man has such, ahem, chunky little feet, (it is super hard to find shoes that fit his feet width-wise...not so much length-wise...just like his big brother gah...) I decided to make him a pair knowing that I could alter the dimensions to fit him specifically. I used this pattern from Shwin&Shwin as a guideline, though, when it was all said and done, I could only use the template and had to improvise the rest...I don't mean to say its a bad tutorial...quite the contrary- I recommend it, but for my birdie's foot I had to do a lot of improvising!

 For the shoes, I wanted a lightweight, breathable material since it will still be warm for a little while, I also wanted a material that would mold to his foot and not the other way around...the best for learning walkers because many times baby shoes that you buy from the store do more harm by constricting the foot than good...also many little ones have a harder time walking in those shoes than handmade ones. These little shoes are very natural...almost like he is wearing no shoes at all...but it allows his feet to stay safely away from dirt and germs...

Ok...that was a bit of a ramble...the whole  point of the before paragraph was to say...I made these little shoes out of one of the Mr.'s old shirts that he put into my reuse bin...( we do this at our house...when we out-use, outgrow, or out-love an item, clothing etc...we put it into the reuse bin or basket...and at some point or another I figure out something else to make with said items...like these shoes) so these shoes cost me...yep, you guessed it $0!!! That would be zip, zero, nada....and I don't have to worry about those fussy old store-bought shoes that he can't stand on his feet...and takes off  2.5 seconds after they are put on...these he wore all day...and never took them off once!

...see those little chunks?!?! I love em...even if they are hard to fit!

Have you guys been crafting lately? I'd love to see! Leave me a message with a link to your latest creation!