ceruleanJAY: DIY Baby Puckertoe Moccasins

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I had a friend ask recently about a pattern for my baby moccasins, so I thought I would try to make a quick tutorial about the general process I go through to make my baby moccasin pattern.

Here is a quick graphic showing how I develop the pattern. It is very similar to my Ojibwe Style Pucker-toe Moccasin tutorial, but scaled down and proportions slightly altered to accommodate those little tootsies! I would probably use this pattern for up to 3 years of age. I would want to get a 3 year old to test the doubling width proportion I am using here before applying this pattern past this age.

When tracing around your little ones foot, it is good to have the child stand if possible, or place a place of paper flat against the foot and trace as accurately as possible.

Divide the pattern in half both lengthwise and width-wise. You should measure the width along your division, and then double that number to get the width for the bottom of the pattern. Eg. if your measurement is 2 inches wide, then the pattern would be 4 inches wide at that point.

It is important to try to be accurate to the 1/8 inch as much as possible, so a foot that is 1 & 7/8 inches wide, you should make the pattern 3 & 3/4ths inches wide.

I am showing directions for the left foot, but obviously you could do the same process for getting the right foot, or simply turn the pattern over to get a mirror image for making the other side.

I would recommend using 3-4 oz deer, elk, or cow hide, though you could use something else if you would prefer. I like the deerskin because it is more flexible and elastic, which allows for an ideally comfortable finish. Here I will be using deerskin.

Use chalk to trace the pattern onto the moccasins. Here I picked yellow, but blue shows up excellently on lighter colored leather. If you have fancy tailors chalk, feel free to use that, but I am just using the plain old boring stuff you buy by the 100 pack in the school supply section and this works quite well. The advantage of using chalk is that is will come off later. You can use a pen or marker if you don't have chalk, but keep in mind that that color might not ever come off.

I also marked places for the holes to be around the toe with sunshine type rays. This will ensure that there is the same number of holes on top as on bottom!