It's that time of year again! You know, when my inner craft geek comes to life and wants to MAKE and stuff.
And just in time for some Halloween decorating, I bring you a witchy-poo shoes pattern and tutorial. Enjoy!
You'll need 2-3 coordinating, witchy fabrics; 8 eyelets (& the insertion tool); thread; polyfill for stuffing; and the Witchy Poo Shoe Pattern. This is just a preview. Make sure you
visit my flickr HERE to download the full size pattern!
Cut 4 shoe pieces from your body fabric. Also cut one strip 1.5" x 10" for the hanging loop. Tear one 1" strip the full width of the fabric (45") for the ties. You'll want to tear each side instead of cutting so you have nicely frayed ties! Cut this strip in half.
Use your eyelet tool and a hammer to insert 2 eyelets on each shoe piece. I completely forgot to mark the eyelet placement on the pattern! I hope you can guesstimate using the photos below. Just remember that you have 1/4" seam allowances, and your sewing machine foot needs to clear the eyelet when stitching the shoe together too. Place your eyelet at least 5/8" away from the cut edge.
To insert the eyelet, carefully poke a hole through your mark with the point of your scissors. I turn my scissor point back and forth too, to make a little "circle".
Insert the eyelet with the prongs to the wrong side of the fabric. You'll place the tool over the prongs and tap with a hammer until it lies flat.
Repeat for all 8 eyelets (4 per shoe)!
Now you're ready to sew! Start stitching at the top front of the shoe, right sides together, leaving the opening for the hanging loop. Stitch down and around the toe point. I stopped after getting the pointy toe all stitched, but before I started on the bottom of the shoe.
You have to insert the ties now, before stitching the rest of the shoe! Or you'll kick yourself later. (You'll see that I did just that on one of the shoes. Kicking ensued.)
Spread the two halves flat, and roll the end of one of the ties into a point like so:
Insert it into a bottom eyelet from the right side, and thread like you would shoes. The ties go IN at the bottom outlet and OUT at the top. Cross on the wrong side or just go straight up to the top eyelet, it will never show, so doesn't matter!
Place the shoes right-sides-together again and continue stitching around the bottom and heel portion of the shoe on your sewing machine. Trim your corners and clip all of the curves so you will have a nice smooth seam when you turn right side out!
Fold in the long edges of the hanging loop (the 1.5" x 10" piece) and press. Fold again so that the folded edges meet, and you've created a long tube. Stitch close to the folded edge. I used contrasting thread so you could see better, and because I'm lazy. ;)
Now we're going to insert the hanging loop. Below, I've stitched all the way around, leaving an opening for stuffing on the back of the shoe (above the heel), and a smaller opening at the top of the shoe, near the back seam for the loop.
Thread the loop through the stuffing opening and then through the loop opening like so:
Stitch across, catching the loop in the seam! Trim off the excess loop.
Turn your shoe right side out and admire how cute it already is:
Begin to stuff! I use a bamboo skewer (if I can find it) like you use for shish kabobs to poke out tiny places like the pointy toe of this shoe. But you can also sub in anything narrow, like a pencil. Just be careful not to poke a hole in the point! Use the skewer to poke your stuffing all the way into the point. You'll want it nice and firm. Continue stuffing until full!
I used a plain jane whipstitch to close the stuffing opening.
Repeat all of the above steps to create your second shoe (obviously you can wait and stuff at the same time too. I'm impatient to see the finished product so I stuffed as I went.)
To insert the hanging loop in the second shoe, just follow the same procedure, threading the loop through the stuffing opening and up through the loop opening. It should be plenty long enough, even a stuffed shoe pair won't be in your way to stitch it closed!
The last little bit of crafty fun includes my favorite, glitter. I painted a translucent fabric paint randomly over the stars on each shoe, and sprinkled super fine glitter over the paint before it dried. Just to give it an extra punch of pretty!
Tie your raggedy ties in a cheeky bow:
And if you have some (I didn't have any handy) stitch a jingle bell on the point of the toe...preferably one that's been painted black (or whatever color matches your fabric). Now hang your witchy poo shoes from a door knob, on a Halloween wreath, from a dresser pull...wherever you might like to spot a touch of whimsy during the spooky season.
Don't forget to let me know if you used the pattern! I'd love to see!
Flickr group pool HERE!!
ps...Don't you think these would be uber adorable as ELF shoes for the holidays too??!!
(Oh, and its just a page right now, I was serious when I said I haven't posted yet! HA! That's on today's agenda.) Wordpress was pretty easy to setup, too. If you're a teacher and looking for a way to keep parents & kids involved, I'd recommend giving Wordpress a try! Our admin encourages those types of connections with home. I thought being a veteran of the blogworld, a blog was my best option.
