Showing posts with label shoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shoes. Show all posts

Friday, May 13, 2016

Wild Things all over!



You know I love animal inspired clothing, so I was over the moon when I heard that Big Little is releasing two Wild Things foot wear patterns. One of them, the baby shoe version is part of the new One Thimble magazine*. One Thimble is a digital sewing magazine which contains twelve patterns and 26 articles/tutorials. Besides the Wild Things Baby shoes*, I also tested the Poly Roly Critters* by Swoonson Says for this One Thimble issue.The other Wild Things foot wear pattern I am showing you today, is the Wild Things Boot in kid's and youth's sizes.


Let's start of with those cute shoes.  I was part of the design testing group (fit and sizing were already thoroughly tested. None of my kids have baby feet, so no modelled version shoot. These little pairs will all get gifted to new borns, arn't they great gifts? There are seven different animals and they are all crazy cute. Check out the pattern* to see all the different animals. I sewed all these shoes from scrap fabrics. There were scraps from this coat, this coat and pieces of upcycled trousers.



The Poly Roly Critters ball* from Swoonson Says has four different versions, panda, fox, raccoon and sloth. I decided to go for the raccoon. I thought the raccoon shoes and ball combined would make an even better baby gift, but my middle daughter did not agree. Even before the ball was finished she confiscated it. She was treating it like a true Wilson from the movie Cast away. The ball actually slept next to her for a few days. I made the ball from upcycled denim (old trousers), so the fabric is indeed very soft. I filled the ball with small fabric scraps, so the ball is relatively heavy. Also a great scrap buster this ball!



I adjusted the ear construction slightly. The instructions call for a two layered felt ear. I wanted to use denim, but denim frays. So, to solve the problem I used a blanket stitch in white thread. This way the ear has two colors and it does not fray. For the shoe ears I had used Fray check, to avoid fraying. I did not have a official safety nose, so I just embroidered one. Coincidentally I did have eyes, I think it would have been cute with embroidered eyes as well though.


The first two projects were not made with my kids in mind, the third definitely was. My kids had been drooling over the baby shoes, and really wanted their own Wild Things feet. I made this cute tiger pair for my eldest daughter. I upcycled a fleece baby blanket and used some grey denim for the sole. This time I embroidered the face by hand, for the shoes I did it all with my sewing machine. I am very satisfied with my handy work, great thing to do outside on a summer evening.



The boot pattern has (mostly) different animals than the shoes, and there are some very cool ones. There is a snail, ladybug, frog, dino, dragon, deer, bat, shark, lion, tiger, cat, fox and giraffe. Again, you just have to check out the link to get an overview. The drawings are already so pretty. The rest of my kids were understandably jealous and they already ordered a ladybug and dragon. I have seen kids walking outside on leather soles, does anyone have experience with that, I know my kids would love to take them for a walk.



You can buy the entire One Thimble magazine* here for about 18 US dollar (site prices are in Australian dollars), and you can buy the individual patterns here*. The boots are available on the Big Little site, they are discounted over the weekend and available for just 8.40 US dollars.



I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian). If you buy anything through my affiliate links (*), I get a small commission (the price stays the same for you), I am very grateful for everything that feeds my fabric addiction.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Testing: baby leggings

Emma and Mona put out a testers call for her free baby leggings pattern. I saw this as a sign to stop procrastinating making clothes for my youngest. Baby leggings are very quick projects and I do not know why I have not made a ton of these yet. Yesterday evening, I  made one baby leggings in one hour (from taping pattern to end). I chose for the version that I could totally do with my overlock which means that the sewing part is about 10 minutes. I expect a next leggings to be created in less than half an hour.



Following a pattern is not my strong suit, but this time I really tried. I cut a size 74 and only made the waist part a bit longer than the pattern suggested, to avoid having to use elastic in the band. The legs are a bit long, but because I made the part and the end of the legs extra snug the extra length does not create a problem, and simply makes the leggings suitable for a few more months. For the next leggings I make I will follow the pattern again, which means that the pattern is great.




I felt I could not just show the leggings after seeing the great completed outfit at LilyandWoody, and the fabric of the leggings is not stunning enough like the one from Liesellove to work on its own. My youngest also needed shirts so I quickly made shirt of the scrap fabric from this dress. This time I did not use my twin needle but used a zigzag to finish the bias and seams as Mie Kantoentje usually does. Although I am great friends with my twin needle this zigzag is much quicker (especially because I used the thread and neelde that were already on my machine) . The shirt is still a bit big as well. I used an old cutted Ottobre pattern I had laying around and added a bit more seam allowance.



The outfit is made complete by the boots I made a few weeks ago but did not blog about yet. The boots are upcycled from a thrifted woman's vest and I simply followed this pattern. The biggest size is already a bit small for my youngest, but by adding a bit more seam allowance I will be able to  make a few more of these (I am always planning more..)





What do you think? Please leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian)