Blossom Pattern 1: Materials

Here is a quick check in to show-and-tell the items I bought for making this months project! As I said in my last post, I am spending the month of February making some simple shoes for work!

For starters, I am using an organic cotton knit, sweatshirt style material that my awesome brother bought me for my birthday! Thanks Daniel :) I think this will work well for the shoes to add a little thickness and stability to the shoes, so they are not just two, super thin pieces of cotton holding the shoes to my feet. In addition, the cotton is super soft and cozy!

For the outside, I found this pretty material for 40% off at Jo-Ann's in the quilting section. It is a simple cotton weave material. I was tempted by the cozy looking flannels, but had to remind myself that I didn't want a material that might pill up and rip easily under rough wear and tear. Also, they are supposed to be for spring, so they couldn't be too warm!

To give my shoes a finished look, I bought some brown bias tape piping. My hopes are that in addition to making the shoes look a bit more professional, The piping will keep the shoes from stretching out over time.

I have not yet decided what I will use for the soles this time around, so far, its a toss-up between classic leather soles, and using some of the leftover soling material I bought from Shoeology. In addition, depending on how the project goes, I might use some leather as an interfacing in the heel to keep it stiff so the shoes do not slide off easily.I will post more later on what materials I end up using if I decide to use these. 

EDIT: Here is what I ended up ordering off eBay, it is Leather Vegetable Tan Project Piece 2.1 Square Foot 11 oz. I think you could get away with ordering a smaller square foot amount, but make sure it is long and wide enough for both of your feet, plus a little for the heels. You will definitely want a larger 10-11 oz amount, since this refers to the thickness of the leather, and you will want a good and thick piece, since it is going on the bottom of your shoe. 

For reference, I bought some 2 oz leather that was way too thin to make even the uppers of a shoe without reinforcement of some kind. This is just too thin for the wear-and-tear a shoe is going to get. Often this sort of leather is made into jackets, or other clothing items. I bought 4-5 oz leather for my mukluks. This was soft, supple and adequate strength for my boots. I would suggest no thinner than 8oz. The stuff I am using is 11 oz, and it is fantastically thick and wonderful.  

You will also want to get some contact cement to glue the soles on at the end! 

 

Blossom Pattern February Project

I have recently finished The ONE Thing, by Gary Keller, and was inspired to create a plan for the next year to make it to some of my life goals. One of these is my goal to create 1 pair of shoes each month, so I thought I would share my first project which will be for the month of February!

GOAL: Make wearable, work appropriate shoes for my job as a barista.
 

Challenges:

Long hours on my feet

Brown staining inevitable from coffee spills, etc.

Must cover the bridge of my foot to be safe for working around food

As you saw from my previous post, Winter Mukluks, I have recently completed my first wearable pair of shoes. I was not really sure where to go from there, but I finally settled upon taking on the gigaturan challenge of creating my own pattern for the next pair of shoes I create! To increase my likelihood of success (and therefore my will to go on and create more shoes) I decided to try to come up with the simplest pair of shoes I could imagine. The problem I have come up with in other projects was despite my best efforts, the uppers always seemed to end up about an inch or two longer than the bottom part. So to get around this, I have designed a foolproof plan! I am making a pattern where the back half and front half are two separate pieces, making for a TOMS style cloth shoe. The main difference in my design is that the backs and the tops will crisscross somewhat so if they end up too long, they can simply overlap more to make up the difference. Someday I hope to invest in some quality shoe lasts and learn how to make shoes proper, but for February, I am focusing on something simple I can look forward to wearing this spring. I spent the last 20 or so minutes sketching my idea and the general logistics for how everything will go together so here are those images. 

I also drew a porpoise too, for good measure, and because they are cute!

Stay tuned for the next post, in which I will be talking about the materials I am planning to use for this project!

How to Draw a Cute Kitty

Want to make super cute Valentine's for your friends but don' know how to draw? How about making this super easy kitty and you'll be good to go. Follow these super easy instructions pictured below!

I had so much fun making the puppy tutorial, I decided to try his arch enemy, the cat!! :)  While the yorkie is a short, stocky built dog (at least when his fur is dry and fluffy!), the cat is a sleek, delicately built animal (as least before she becomes a fat cat!).

For this tutorial, you will need:

   A red or pink Sharpie pen

   A black fine tip Sharpie, or nice black gel type pen

   Nice paper, preferably card stock

   The ability to draw triangles, circles and curves lines

      (read: beginner level!)

Below is a nice Ed Emberly style follow along guide :)

My Valentine is made using this tutorial as well as my previous post, How to Draw a Cute Yorkie Pup Valentine. I would love to see any Valentines you make or answer any questions you have so feel free to share!