These Handsewn and Embroidered Baby Shoes Are Absolutely Adorable!

Sewist’s Name: Maria Kusel from Kohler, Wisconsin

Name of Pattern: Simplicity 2867

Featured Date: 09-25-24

Hello from Wisconsin! My name is Maria Kusel and I live with my husband and Belgium Shepherd puppy Nikita in Kohler, Wisconsin. I have been sewing/quilting for approximately 50 years or so and will try just about anything new.

I’ve had this bootie/shoe pattern for years and now that I’m a Nonna (Italian for Grandma) I thought I’d bring it out and try making my 1+ year old grand daughter a pair of shoes.

The shoes pictured are made from 100% merino wool from Etsy, glass beads, and embroidery which embellish the top of the shoes. I had an old deer skin laying around in the basement, so I used that for the soles. They are assembled with a hand-sewn blanket stitch, and I used a back stitch for attaching the first sole layer and Aileen’s Leather glue for the second layer. I did machine stitch the back seam and zig-zag open before blanket stitching around the shoe. I made her first pair using only one layer of deer skin leather but she “toddled” those soles nearly to the felt (sage colored shoes).

I had to enlarge pattern on copier for toddler size and used eyelet stitch and rat tail cord with button spring fastener for “ties.”

These were so fun to make and I did handwash the felt in Woolite to remove excess dye (minimal) then tumble-dried the felt with no heat. If you can still find this pattern (possibly on Etsy), I highly recommend it. The sky is the limit for what you can create with it! Thank you for letting me share this project with you.

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