Shoes!

I make shoes! And now I can add them to my product line!

Here's a bit of history: My oldest son takes after his dad (who is built like a linebacker) so, needless to say, he's on the large side for kiddos. I've always (ok, "always" being since I've had a kid) been a fan of not putting my kid in shoes until he was walking around. I had read that shoes, especially very structured shoes, can cause restricted movement and therefore stunt growth and development of the foot in babies and toddlers. Barefoot is best, so they say. In any case, with my very tight budget, I went in search of soft soled shoes for my son which are supposed to be the best for budding walkers since they can feel the ground below them and this makes them more sure-footed as walkers. What I found was disheartening. There are several manufacturers of soft soled shoes, though, not a ton and often you have to look in specialty stores or online to find them. Also, they tend to be pricey. You can find them on sale sometimes for $20 but often they cost more and you can spend upwards of $40 on a pair. This upset me since I pay that for MY shoes and they last me a lot longer (because, let's face it, my foot doesn't grow two sizes in 6 or less months). I managed to find some of these shoes at Target in the baby section for about $20 and picked them up - one pair. I'm cheap like that. Before I knew it, my son needed the next size up so I got those. By the time he was 20 mo old, his feet were too big for the 18-24 mo size which was the biggest size available. I started looking in other places and found that even the bigger brands of soft soled shoes typically cut it off at 18-24 mo. I was disheartened. Just because my child was bigger didn't mean his feet were as developed, and I really wanted to keep him in a soft soled shoe. I decided the only thing left to do was make them myself.

The practice shoes

I lucked out and was able to find a pattern. Not one that I could really use though. It was made for very small babies. I had to adapt the pattern and make one the correct size for my kiddo. After measuring his foot and creating the pattern I thought would work, I used some scrap material and made a practice pair of shoes. These shoes were a joke as far as providing traction goes, but I really wanted to see how they would come together and make sure the size fit. A flexible leather sole would be more expensive than using scrap fabric and I didn't want to waste it if the shoes didn't fit. Luckily, they did. They fit perfectly.

I was set to make the real ones then. I gathered up my supplies, making sure I had sturdy fabric, leather for the sole, heavy duty thread, and last but not least - a heavy duty needle for my machine. Let me tell you, that pair of shoes caused me so much anguish! I had major tension issues and apparently, I didn't get a needle that was the degree of heavy duty that I needed. I ripped out so much of the stitching on those shoes, it's not even funny. Eventually though, they came together. My poor kiddo practically had his toe poking through the pair of shoes he had been wearing and they must not have been very comfortable for him so it's a good thing I figured it all out. Now, they weren't perfect, and the elastic around the ankle was a bit loose, but they worked, and he was so happy to be in a pair of shoes that fit him!

The too big shoes on the right and the ones that were just
right on the left. It's like the three bears...

A few months later, he started growing out of those shoes, so it was back to the drawing board. The pattern needed to be adjusted for a larger size. After getting that done, I made up another pair of shoes using the same fabrics as the first. The problem was, I overshot it. A lot. So the shoes I made were too big. So big he would have tripped over the toes. It was back to the drawing board, again. I re-sized the pattern once more and made yet another pair of shoes using the same material again. These shoes worked out well and fit him with room to grow but not so much that he'd trip. I figured with the other, larger pair, he could wear them when he grows out of the new ones that fit. The good news is that it got easier to make the shoes with each subsequent pair. I had gotten the heaviest duty needle I could find, and even though I broke three of them in the process, I still managed to finish the project.

My kiddo's most recent shoes

Because my kiddo only has the one pair of shoes, it didn't take him long to wear out that pair. They are canvas after all, so while sturdy, they aren't bullet proof for a very active toddler with only one pair of shoes. I decided to mix it up a bit and make him a new pair of shoes. These were similar to the first several, but I used a different canvas material on the top of the shoe so he'd have some variety.

My homemade shoes started getting attention in my mom group and this lead to comments that I should sell them and one interested buyer. Check out my next post for the details on the shoes I made for her.