Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Cheshire Cat Costume - Mask

I started my nieces Cheshire cat costume about a month ago. I have been slowly working on it. I started off by sketching out a mask. My niece is 4, so I wanted to use a material that wouldn’t feel too rough so I decided to create it from felt.








Sunday, September 19, 2010

Gone Batty Baby Boy Booties

I version of my Gone Batty Mary Jane Booties, but for a boy. I'm starting to really like these! The blue really stands out against the black felt.




Saturday, September 18, 2010

Gone Batty Felt Mary Jane Baby Booties

My attempt as using a single layer of felt. I think I’ll go back to using a double layer. These aren’t as sturdy and don’t hold a shape as well.

The pattern I used was really simple. Two 9 1/2 x 5/8 strips of felt were used for the straps.  I folded them in half, sewed velcro on the ends and edged them with a contrasting color of embroidery thread (I used a blanket stitch). The other size of the velcro was sewn to the tops of the shoes. The back seam was sewn and then I top stitched the back to keep the edges flat. Then I just sewed on a contrasting color of felt for the sole. Again, a blanket stitch was used to finish off the edges.

I designed the bat applique myself. I applied it after the booties were complete so that made it a bit difficult. In order to keep the bat straight while I embroidered, I used Beacon’s Felt Glue. It starts to dry within an hour and is completely dry within 3-4 hours. Once the bats were applied with the glue I used a smaller blanket stitch (2 strands of embroidery floss) around the edges and two french knots for the eyes.

The finished bootie measures 4.5” long (about the size for a 6-9 month old).







Pumpkin Felt Mary Jane Baby Booties

So I’ve been toying around with the possibility of making a baby booties line. I’m starting with themed booties and then I’ll move into other designs. My first attempt was okay, but I’m not loving them. Here are some I made today. I started by fusing 2 pieces of $.29 felt (can be found at any craft or fabric store). I used Lite Steam a Seam to fuse them. Once assembled I used a blanket stitch to edge and added a pumpkin detail. The velcro closure makes it pretty baby friendly. Let me know what you think. The double layer makes it pretty hard to work with and makes the bootie a bit bulky. I may try a single layer next.