Baby Shoes - Simplicity 1677 and Simplicity 2278

I was looking at my old Craftsy account and noticed I put some free baby shoe patterns on my wishlist ages ago. There have been 2 babies, a boy and a girl, born into my family recently so I thought these would make great gifts.  Then the JoAnn's ad came in and Simplicity patterns were on sale. So after looking at their website catalog, which is in the middle of being updated, I saw they had several baby shoe patterns to sew. When I got got the store, there were only 2 available so I bought those along with pink felt and fleece, on sale, and some fusible fleece to make them.

I absolutely fell in love with view G on Simplicity 1677. They are the cutest little felt and fleece Ugg style booties and I knew I'd have to sew these up right away. It was only 3 pattern pieces but it took longer to sew than I anticipated. I made them over a couple of days and I stayed up too late to finish them. The color is best in the first picture.

The sole on one of them ended up put in turned 180 degrees! I should stick to my sewing curfew of 9 pm! Since they're for a newborn, I don't think she'll mind and they should still fit. Besides that, I had a blast making them. The inside seam isn't finished and exposed which kind of bothers me, but not much. When I make the bigger ones, I think I'll leave an opening in the lining and turn them. I still want to make views A, C, E and F from this pattern. Those are all the basic variations but it lists a total of 8 styles. This is an awesome pattern and I highly recommend it.

Next, I made the boots from Simplicity 2278, aka view D. These were different and still cute. They were also three pattern pieces but with a sewn in toe top. Now, this pattern calls for Jiffy Grip on the sole of some of the views but says it's not suitable for walking in!?! Other reviewers, on Pattern Review, also didn't know why it's even in there except the patterns are from an indie designer online and she doesn't give that warning. A newborn doesn't have to walk anyway, so I didn't buy it and this view didn't require it. 

The pattern/instructions did say to use interfacing but since I used felt I thought they would be stiff enough and they are. The lining is a scrap of cotton left over from a quilt. These went together quick and easy. They are turned right side out through an opening in the lining, as the instructions say, and I like the finish much better. 

 I'm thinking of sewing down the back seam to anchor the lining and topstitching around the top. I'd also like to add some sort of baby safe decoration. The use of buttons on baby shoes make me pause. When my daughter was a baby, she ALWAYS put her feet in her mouth. Buttons seem, to me, to be too much of a choking hazard.

You can see the pieces cut out for view B, kimono style shoes, from this pattern. 

These called for the grip in their construction but I left it out and changed the way they go together. I did use the fusible fleece but I may have used too much. It went on the outer fabric of the shoe upper OK. I had to topstitch the lining down. Then, I put the fusible fleece on both the lining and the outer fabric of the sole but this made it hard to sew together. I sewed the upper & sole together then zigzag stitched the seam allowance because it was so thick. The toes are really chunky on these. I want to do these again but with interfacing in the shoe upper and one layer of fusible in the sole. The instructions said to sew the upper to the grip stuff sole then sew the sole pieces WST, turn & stitch closed and insert the sole to cover the seam allowances. I think I'll do either that or something similar next time. 

Now I need to get some blues, blacks and browns to make more. All in all, I've had so much fun sewing these the last few days. I'll have babies for the next year to sew for then I'll have to find some to make more of these! 

Happy sewing!

ETA: I shared this at Whoop Whoop Fridays.