Baby Shoes. Whose Shoe Fetish?

What fun I've been having this weekend-I've been making baby shoes & seem to have produced a wardrobe of them for my expected GDTR-is this how girls develop a shoe fetish?

When no1 GS was born I was in Canada just prior to his birth & picked up a pair of ROBEEZ shoes-they were so cute I couldn't resist them ,but boy were they expensive for what they were. (I don't begrudge anyone earning a living, just that sometimes you have to wonder at why we pay so much for something so small & that you know will only fit them for 5 minutes!)

After doing a bit of 'surfing' yesterday I came across this site that gave a pattern for free shoes very similar to the Robeez ones.

I also ordered a pattern form this site. I'm still waiting for the pattern to be sent-has been nearly 24 hours which I think is a bit slow in this age of instant gratification. Their tutorial is excellent & well worth a read.

I took the free pattern from tacky living & re sized it on the printer by 75%- I felt this gave me a good size for a new born-it would appear that an average newborns foot is about 2.5" long- give or take- the pattern as printed straight from the site gives a finished length of about 5.5" which looked way too big for a newborn.

After rummaging about in my stash I found some 'cow print' fake fur- this would do to experiment with & to see if they would look any good.....all went well, so then it was off to do some deep mining in the stash (I still cant find the lovely red & navy suede leather I've put somewhere safe!)-I came out with ultra suede & leatherette- both furnishing fabrics-you don't need much on the little sizes-about 13" x 10" is ample.

The next pair I tried a little machine embroidery on, then another pair where I made a flower embellishment & then a fourth pair with scraps stitched on.....I decided I better stop before yet to be born GDTR has a wardrobe of shoes & not enough days to wear them before she grows out of them!

While making these little shoes I can see so many different ways of changing them & when they only take about 30 minutes to make-you can soon sew a wardrobe up of them! I can see this will be my new gift for the babies being born this year!
Happy Crafting,
Oz-Tralien