Hello friends!
I am reposting my Baby Booties I shared over with Delia.
Happy Monday to you!
Hello Nesting friends! I’m Amy C from from this heArt of mine, a blog about good food, a creative home and loving my family. I am excited to be a part of Delia’s nesting series. The projects so far have been so neat, don’t you think? I’m excited for more to come. Today, I’m sharing fleece baby booties.
This project came from necessity to keep the cute toes of my 8-month-old son warm during the winter months of Minnesota. Baby socks weren’t cutting it. You see, my son, Sweet J, has cankles. Very cute, very fluffy cankles. (For those who aren’t familiar, cankles is the term given when calves seamlessly blend into the foot, without a noticeable taper for the ankle.) Cankles and baby socks make for a frustrating pair. The socks did not stay up and they did not not stay on which led to a few lost socks.
After lots of trial and error, I came up with a pattern that worked. These booties are easy to put on, they stay on his feet and cankles and, most importantly, they keep his toes warm.
The pattern is fairly simple so excuse my over-explaining. I’m not what you would call a natural seamstress like most of the rest of these ladies. I love doing it but I really have to think. :)
Are you interested in making some yourself?
Then you’re in luck, there’s a link at the end of the post for a free download of my pattern.
These booties don’t require much, especially if you’re making wee little booties.
- Fabric – One fabric or two coordinating fabrics. A quarter of a yard is plenty for most sizes.
Couple of things about fabric:
Fleece is the easiest to work with (and warmest) because it doesn’t need to be hemmed however, if you are willing to add bias tape, any woven fabric will work too, like the corduroy ones above.
Take care to note the word “stretch” and coordinating arrows on the pattern piece and place on your fabric accordingly.
- Elastic – I used 3/8 inch elastic in my son’s booties and 1/2 inch elastic for the smaller ones. Fit to your baby.
To begin, cut out the pattern pieces. Because there is an inner and outer fabric, I found it easiest to fold the fleece which enabled me to cut out two pieces at once. Excuse the prototype pattern pieces.
I did this for both colors.
Match up all the pieces, putting the wrong sides together. To make a pair of booties, there should be two of each part and with each part, there should be an inside and outside piece.
Using the pattern, mark where the elastic channels go.
Connect the dots and sew the elastic channel lines on both the FRONT and BACK pattern parts. There are two channels on each.
Once the elastic channels are sewn, sew around the top of the FRONT piece, using your presser foot as your inseam distance.
This is what the top section of the FRONT piece looks like sewn. Notice the bottom half-circle is not sewn.
Here is a picture of the BACK piece with the elastic channels and top part sewn.
With both FRONT pieces and both BACK pieces prepared, begin constructing the bootie.
Match up the “1” notch on the BACK piece and the “1” notch on the SOLE piece and secure with a pin.
Once the notches are matched up, bring either side of the BACK piece to meet the SOLE piece and secure with pins. Sew, again, using the presser foot as the inseam guide. Trim just the BACK piece, cutting it close and evenly around the stitching.
Next, take the FRONT piece and match up the “2” notch with the “2” notch on the SOLE piece. Pin in place.
Again, match up the rest of the FRONT piece with the SOLE piece.
The FRONT piece will overlap the BACK piece.
Pin in place.
Sew around the FRONT piece, using the presser foot as the inseam guide. The bootie on the right shows the FRONT piece newly attached.
Trim down the FRONT piece and around the SOLE. The one on the left is trimmed down.
Now to the elastic. Peel back the FRONT and BACK pieces.
On the inside of the FRONT piece, cut two tiny openings in each channel, one on each side, about 3/8 inch in from the edge.
On the outside of the BACK piece, make another two openings per elastic channel, 1/2 inch from the edge. Obviously only one side is showing here. Make sure the other side looks the same.
Thread the elastic through the elastic channels starting with the bottom channel, in the hole on the BACK piece.
Continue threading it around the BACK and then through the FRONT piece, ending where it began. Repeat with the top channel.
Sew together the elastic to fit your babe’s leg/ankle/cankle circumference. You will want the bottom elastic to be the tighter of the two to ensure the bootie stays in place. If it’s not right the first time, resew.
To complete the bootie, rotate the elastic so the ends are inside the channels.
Then they are finished. One sweet pair of booties.
I don’t have a wee baby to try them on anymore but if you’re in the same boat, rest assured they make perfect baby doll booties as well.
This is my Sweet J with his booties.
His have a bit of a ‘brushed’ look from speedily crawling everywhere. The best part is they stay on even then.
If you would like to make some booties for a sweet baby in your life, click here to download the pattern.
The pattern can be enlarged or reduced to fit any cute little feet.
Thanks for having me Delia! I look forward to seeing your new family member soon!
Take care.
Thanks for reposting…I can’t wait to make these for my grandson!
Thank you so much for this!! I was searching for booties for my baby boy who also has cankles AND potato feet! :) I look forward to trying this out!
Haha! I”m so glad it will help you. Now I think I need to learn how to make shoes because his thick feet don’t fit into any shoes either!! :)
Love your Baby Booties And Would Like To Try And Make Some For My grandsoN But Having Trouble downloading The Pattern . Would You Send It To Me? Sorry About All The Caps, SWYPE keeps Capitalizing All Of My Words.
I like the style of the bootie. Also having trouble downloading the pattern. Would you also send it to me via email. Thank you.
Hello, I love your blog!!! And have a 6 month old with cancels and potato feet too, and we live in Alaska. I would love to try your pattern. I couldn’t grind anything like this at the craft store. Thank you and have a great day!!
Enjoy!!
Hi i’m loving the design of the baby booties Don’t have any of this in the netherlands. But i’m having troubele downloading it. Keep getting error. Could you send it to me by email please?
Thank you
I can’t wait to make these! My little guy is due in December and I’m going on maternity leave Dec 1.
I have a bunch of extra fleece so I’ll be using this patter to make booties to donate to homeless shelters/children’s hospitals.
Have fun!
I am going to make these for my DGD who will be one shortly. Can you tell me how you decide what size to make them? I traced her feet. Should I and an extra 1/2″ so her toes have room? What do others do to make sure their toes are comfortable?
Thanks for sharing your tutorial,
Michelle
I’m making these for a gift…what age does the original downloaded pattern fit? Thanks!
Thanks for this great tutorial! I’ve been scouring the web looking for a tutorial I understood and wasn’t afraid to tackle! Yours wins- so thanks for the great pictures and arrows and pattern!
Thank you so much for your generous pattern. I would love to do a non-fleece option but haven’t used bias tape before- can you recommend which step to add it to during the assembly? Thank you!!
Hi, I’m a little confussed as to what the stretch means. Sorry I’m really new to sewing, this my second attempt at it and I’d like to make booties for my 6 month old son. Also would i need to make the picture smaller before printing or should they fit him using the pattern as is? :)
Thank you!
You will need to decide if the pattern is sized correctly. And the stretch refers to which way the fabric itself stretches. Fleece has a definite stretch one way or another. Other fabrics do not have a stretch. Hope that helps!
Hahaha–I never heard of potato feet before, but my grandson sure has them! No shoes fit him at all, and since I’m right next door in Wisconsin, I need something warm… Thank you very much for sharing your creativity. This 12 month old little man needs warm feet!
hi
I downloaded the pattern, no problem. However, despite trying three times to make these booties I find it is labour in vain! I just cannot fit the front/back to the sole. I am using fleece, but just cannot make a tidy join where front and back join at the sole.
Disappointing, especially as you seem to turn them out without a problem.
I am so sorry, Pat! I wish I could sew the project with you. I wonder if making the front/back pieces just a little bigger than the sole piece might give you a bit more fabric to work with?
I would like to know when and how to put on the bias tape!
Thank you so much. I’m making booties for baby in a family that my daughter’s school has adopted for the holidays. These will be perfect. As I’ve made some dolls with pj bottoms with footies, I expect fitting the sole to the top will be somewhat similar. I can’t wait to make several pair. Thank you so much for the tutorial.
Hi. Could you give me some guidance on how to enlarge for longer feet. Do I just add the length I need and then add to the sides so I can get the overlap I need on the sides. I’m assuming I don’t need to add the exact same width to the sole as I do length since her foot isn’t too wide, just long. Thank you
I’ve made 2 pairs and they are very simple to make! I did have to create a larger version of the pattern for my 7 mo olds huge feet. Thanks for sharing!
I just made a pair of these for my niece for Christmas. A couple of tips: 1. I pulled up the pattern on my iPad and traced it after enlarging it and taking a screenshot with it at the size I wanted. That way I know all the pieces are to scale based on my measurements of the sole.
2. to get the elastic through, I sewed a loop on the end and pushed a crochet hook through the elastic channel, hooked the loop on the elastic and pulled it through. Fast and easy! I can’t wait to try another pair, I think next I’ll add a suade sole for soft sole boots!
Thanks for posting this!!! I can’t wait to try them. My 6 month-old has plump feet and socks aren’t enough for Montreal’s cold weather anymore. His foot is 4.5inch long already. I downloaded and printed your pattern but the sole is less than his foot. Is it a question of lenghtening the sole and the front (or back?) for the same amount? Not quite sure how to size it right for him, any tips you have are very much appreciated!!
Love these – thanks for posting. I made a pair for my grandson a couple months ago and they are one of the only things that will stay on his feet – great for taking him out and about in the cold. I just reprinted the pattern in a larger scale to make him another pair to fit his growing feet. He isn’t walking yet, but I might put some think on the bottom for grip for when he pulls himself up to stand :)
Love these – thanks for posting. I made a pair for my grandson a couple months ago and they are one of the only things that will stay on his feet – great for taking him out and about in the cold. I just reprinted the pattern in a larger scale to make him another pair to fit his growing feet. He isn’t walking yet, but I might put some thing on the bottom for grip for when he pulls himself up to stand :)
I’ve been making these boots for my kids (now on #5) for years, and they never fail! This is my favorite design of any kind of baby/toddler shoe by far. They stay on their feet and are super fast and easy to put on. Easy to make variations and they are simply adorable. Fleece makes for an easy warm boot for tiny toes, and they have withstood the test of countless camping trips. Thank you so much for the pattern and tutorial!!