Baby Boot Tutorial

Last time, I told you how to make a baby boot pattern of your own… and then I gave you my template. So let’s figure out how to make this! This is my first tutorial, so please give me grace. And feel free to ask any questions in the comment. I will try to answer them. I’ll confess, I made some mistakes. It’s probably best to follow my instructions rather than my pictures. I might make a second pair and then I’ll fix the pictures to what they should be. Here we go!

Lets start with the finished product so we know what our goal is. Ok! Let’s do this!

First, cut your pattern, 2 of each. You want an outside and an inside. You can use whatever fabric you like. You could use different fabrics for each, like something softer for the inside (fleece or lambs wool) and sturdier for the oustide (suede or leather). I used flannel for both because it’s warm and durable. I knew the back, front and tab would show the inside, so I chose a fun pattern. The toe wouldn’t, so I went with brown (so as not to waste my fun flannel). Just to switch things up a bit, I actually used brown as the sole on the outside and the pink as the sole on the inside.

Now let’s start sewing. I used a serger and a sewing machine. If you only have a sewing machine, that ok! Just make sure your seams are small and/or trimmed so you don’t have a lot of bulk when you turn everything right side out.

This is where I messed up. I started by putting the right sides of the front and back together and serging/sewing the top. You can do this, but it won’t be as even in the end. Also, in this picture, I serged/sewed 3 sides of the tab, right sides together (leaving one short side open so you can turn it right side out.)

This is where I should have started, by sewing the front to the toe, right sides together, with the inside and the outside separate. Just to clear up what’s going on in this picture, the pink is the outside and the brown and the pattern is the inside. I shouldn’t have sewing the fronts together, as I mentioned before. Just match up the arcs of each (always right sides together because we’re working inside out right now) and sew them together first.

Now, you want to sew the front to the back for both the inside piece and the outside piece, BEFORE you sew the tops (unlike I did). This picture is the right boot. It labels all the pieces in blue and has instructions in black. To start, lay the pink (outside) pieces right sides together. For the right shoe, with the toe and front on top, sew the left edge (all the way through the straight part of the toe), like this picture show. For the left shoe, you will do the opposite. Then do the same for the patterned (inside) pieces. Once both the front and back are attached, you can hold them up to double check them the unsewn edges will be the overlapping flap out the outside of each ankle. Once you have both the inside and outside attached, then you can pin them right sides together and sew across what will be the top. Then, I highly recommend that you press all of the seams open.

The correct side for the left boot should look like this once you’ve pressed it. Now fold along the top seam, inside out once again.

Find the edge of the front/toe and lay them flat together. The toe part may bunch up a bit. Take your tab (that you’ve turned right side out) and stick it into the side seam with the sewn side first, pink side to pink side.

Just like this, so the raw edge is sticking out just a little bit. Then pin and sew all the way down the outside of this edge. In the picture, the bottom isn’t laying flat, but you will want to match up the brown and pink before sewing. There isn’t a picture for this, but while it’s still inside out, find where the back inside and back outside pieces meet and sew that side seam as well. You should have 3 edges sewn, leaving the bottom open so you can sew it to the sole.

This isn’t the best picture, but once you have all 3 sides sewn, turn it right side out. Use a chopstick or dull pencil (whatever long pointy, but not sharp object you have) to poke out the corners of the seams.

Next, place the wrong sides of your sole together. Lay the side you want out to show on the bottom (brown for me) facing the right side of the upper part of the boot in the center of the back. Put a pin here.

With the sole facing up, pin around the wrong side out (right side in) of the top to the sole until it looks like this.

When you get to the tab, make sure it’s on the INSIDE so that when you turn it right side out, it will be on the OUTSIDE. This is right boot shown.

Now, since I am using a serger, which means there’s little room for error or it will cut of part of my boot, and I am not proficient at using straight pins with a serger. I cheated. I took my sewing machine and sewed in quite a ways from the edge so that the edges were lined up, sans pins. It doesn’t have to look nice or be perfect, you’re going to rip it out in a little bit. Also, if you do this, be sure to use the largest stitch on your machine or you might have a hard time with this. If you’re using a regular sewing machine, skip this step and just sew with a fairly tight zig zag as close to the edge as you can.

This shows the nicely serged bottom after I ripped the basting stitch out. Here comes the fun part!

Turn it right side out and admire your work! Ok. All done admiring. Go back and do all of this for the other shoe. Just make sure to attach the front and back on the opposite side so you can put the tab on the outside of the left boot.

Ok, now you can admire both of your boots. One last step… hook and loop (aka Velcro) on the tab. I used velcro cirlces with adhesive on the back. You just stick the loop side to the tab, attach the hook side to the loop side. Pull the tab around to where it should be on the side of the boot and press it onto the outside of the boot. I wasn’t sure how good the adhesive would hold, so I opened it up, took a needle and thread and made a couple of stitches in each side, just for good measure. I thought it might be cute to attach buttons on the outside of the tab when I did this so that you can’t see the stitches and it has a bit of detail. But I didn’t have any matching buttons that I thought would be cute, so I have forgone this… for now.

And there you have it. How to make pink sparkly boots for a one year old. Too bad they’re too big for Avie right now, or I’d take a picture of her in them.

*Disclaimer* This is tutorial is intended for personal use only. Please do not sell these items for profit. Thank you!*