Thursday, May 16, 2013

Warm Things

The days are fast approaching to baby Kate's first camping trip! We will be heading up north where it could still be quite chilly this time of year. I've been looking for some things on clearance as we've been out-and-about so that she can be cute and toasty (on a budget!)
 
I've really been wanting to make her a fleece hat, so I decided to dig through my fabric box and pulled out some remnants from a project I did for my niece 2 Christmases ago. I'm all about purple and blue swirls :)
 
(Here is that original Christmas post. You'll have to scroll about halfway down... I made her a hat, scarf and blanket that all matched with Tinkerbell fleece. Fabric from Bev's. Even before I worked there, I was a fabric lover.)
 
The hat took me about 5 minutes. I measured Kate's head (17 inches!) added 2 inches to allow for seam and some give, sewed a fabric tube (just one straight seam line) that would make the length be double the finished height of the hat, then folded it right side out, in half, cut fringe on the end, and tied a string of fleece around the fringe, making a pom-pom, and bam! Adorableness:
 
Mid-breakfast-cream-of-wheat-face
 I've also been looking for some good warm boots on sale. Kate has outgrown the ones she actually wore during the winter (which in California is about 2 weeks in January) so clearance seemed the best place to search. Unfortunately nothing has turned up yet. Since the hat was so quick and I still had some fleece leftover, I figured I could come up with some booties!
 
First I measured the length of Kate's feet. Sweet girl, only 4 inches! I added an extra inch to allow for seams. I cut two 5in x 3 in rectangles and rounded out the corners. These would be the soles:
 
 
Then, using the sole length as a starting point, I cut out the shape of a boot x2 and pinned them right sides together. I kept the ankle nice and tall so that it will cover her leg a little since Kate is a master sock-escape-artist.

 
I sewed up the back and sewed up the toe/front, leaving the ankle and bottom open.

 
Then, starting from the back seam, I pinned the sole all the way around the bootie edge.

 
When pinned, it looked like this. All of the "inside/wrong side" of the fabric is facing out:

 
I sewed around the bottom/sole and took out the pins:

 
Flipped the bootie right side out:

 
Cozy camping slipper booties! These should keep her tootsies roasty-toasty by the campfire at night over a nice layer of socks.
 
 
She was too wiggly for me to get a really good picture of the finished ensemble.

 
They fit snug as a bug in a rug!

 
You get the idea :)
 


2 comments:

The BaKeRs said...

Steph you are so darn talented!!! Thanks for the awesome directions!

Courtney B said...

Oh my heavens... she is ADORABLE! How was camping with a baby? I really want to go this summer but I'm nervous about having Mia! Hubs and I have only been camping once together (in over 5 years of marriage!) so obviously I'm not camp-savvy :)