In the run-up to giving birth, some people let their nesting instincts run wild by cleaning the house from top to bottom, over and over. But before the recent arrival of our son, I think I went a little craft crazy – as well as trying to finish off all my existing projects, I decided it would be an excellent time to make something really intricate and completely new to me!
Because I didn’t know what size he’d be, I aimed this pattern at a 3-month-old baby, figuring he could always grow into them.
For this project you will need:
- 2 sheets dark grey felt
- 1 sheet light grey
- Scrap of white felt
- Scrap of black felt
- Dark grey embroidery thread
- Grey cotton
- Tiny amount of toy stuffing
1. Begin by cutting out the pattern and fabric, as shown above. For one pair of booties you need to cut the following:
- Two feet pieces from the dark grey felt
- Two feet pieces from light grey felt (for the lining)
- Two foot sole pieces in light grey
- Four eye pieces in light grey
- Four ear pieces in light grey
- Four tusks in white
- Four trunk pieces in light grey
- Four larger circles in white for eyes
- Four smaller circles in black for eyes
2. Next, pin the two feet pieces to the back of the sole piece, making sure you’re in the centre of the foot piece. You want the light piece to be on the inside of the bootie.
3. Using blanket stitch, sew the foot pieces to the sole pieces.
4. Then blanket stitch the top of the feet pieces together around the edge. You also want to stitch up the front leaving enough room to fit a tiny foot in but not too much that it falls off!
- Pin and sew the grey eye pieces, tusks and ears in place using cotton thread and backstitch. You want your tusk piece to be tucked under the eye piece so pin it under before sewing. When sewing the ears, only sew along the top of the ear and down the right side so the ears can be pushed out a little and made to flap. Repeat for the other eye, tusk and ear.
6. To add a bit more detail, add small snips along the curved edge of the ear.
- Sew the two trunk pieces together using embroidery thread and blanket stitch, leaving a gap at the base of the trunk.
- Using a skewer, push a small amount of toy stuffing up the trunk so it will stand up. Backstitch the trunk onto the front of the booties. Secure the top of the trunk to the top of the bootie with a few stitches.
9. Finally, sew or glue the whites and pupils of the eyes in place.
Little Button Diaries 