Shoes!

I made shoes! Or mostly made them - the soling material is still on the way. So I guess, technically, at this point I made slippers. Slippers! That'll be shoes some day!

We looked at many free patterns on the wonderful world of internet but eventually decided to shell out the big bucks for a pattern (I can use all the help I can get when learning something new). Yes, we spent $15 to buy an Oxford shoe pattern from this site: http://www.livingdiystyle.com/category/all-sewing-patterns. She's got instruction videos and the pdf pattern included very detailed sewing instructions. Bonus - the pattern range included both our shoe sizes.

For my first attempt I figured I'd better use some fabric from my stash. I cut apart an old Tai Kwon Do uniform because it's a nice heavy canvas that had been softened by lots of use and washing, plus it was cool colors. 

Laying out the pattern (wrongly it turned out)

Fortunately I read the instructions before actually cutting anything (that piece on the left is to be cut from interfacing, not your actual fabric).

As is typical the first time you do something, it took forever to cut out and prep all the fabric.

Left shoe parts and partially assembled right shoe

I used a leather punch to cut perfect little circles for the shoelace holes. Then used embroidery floss to  reinforce and highlight the eyelets.

Oooh, coordinating colors

 Cooper helped as usual.

Spare fabric, comfy dog, sewing books. A mess.

Some small adjustments to the fit and I've now got a pattern that I can use to make Chris many pairs of shoes.

Oooh...

Ahhh!

The soling material should arrive next week and we'll see how we do with heat molding and attaching soles. So cool!

I see many more of these in our future. I'm working on a pair in quilting cotton for myself (bright yellow and purple!) and the process is much quicker this time around. This pair will probably just have puffy paint on the bottom for light traction in the house. Slippers, shoes, and lots of variety. The fabric is inexpensive (I'm making mine from two fat quarters, which amounts to $2 in fabric), the process is easy, and the possibilities for customization are endless. Leather! Wool! Bright colored cottons! Oh, this is going to be fun.