Baby Archie is really on the go, and has nearly worn out his shoes from "crawling" (a sort of commando move that requires the use of a single toe). Since he refuses to leave his socks on, I thought I'd make him some new shoes for around the house. It took a bit of trial and error (don't all sewing projects?), but here's how they came together.
His current shoes are made of four simple pieces: a sole, a back part (technically called the quarter – thank you, Google!), a top part (or vamp – thanks again!) and elastic to hold them on. I traced the sole and quarter onto some scrap fabric (leaving a bit extra for seam allowances), but it took a bit of trimming to get the quarter to wrap properly.
Once I had the shapes right, I traced the patterns onto denim to make the lining. For the outside, I used blue cotton for the quarter, corduroy for the vamp, and cute woodgrain-patterned cotton for the sole. I also cut a piece of elastic, and heavy interfacing to stabilize the sole.
Now it's time for assembly.
1. Place sole pieces right sides together (with interfacing on top) and stitch, leaving a gap on one side. Turn right side out and press. Baste opening.
2. Fold in ends of inside and outside quarter pieces and stitch. Place right sides together; stitch along top and bottom length. Turn right side out and press. To make a channel for the elastic, topstitch along one long side of quarter. (This will be at the top of the shoe.) Starting at bottom of quarter, topstitch up side, stopping a centimetre away from the top. Turn and stitch across length; turn and stitch down other side.
3. Before attaching the vamp, secure elastic to right side of inside vamp piece, about two centimetres in. (I used a million zigzags back and forth to make sure it was on there real good.) I also zigzagged on some dog-patterned ribbon. (Who knew it had so many uses!) Place vamp pieces right sides together and stitch, leaving a gap on one side. Turn right side out and press. Baste opening.
At this point, you've got three neat and tidy parts. My sewing machine refused to participate any further, so I had to do the rest by hand.
4. With right sides together, stitch quarter to sole. Stitch vamp to sole, placing it so it overlaps the quarter when turned right side out.
5. Turn shoe right side out. Thread one end of elastic through channel in quarter and stitch ends together (real good).
6. Attach to baby. Watch as baby does commando crawl away, and plan for next pair of replacement shoes.
