Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Teeny, Tiny, Itty, Bitty Baby Shoes!

It doesn't have ANYTHING to do with home improvement, but it does fit in with the Tiny Old House. I just finished these baby shoes for a coworker's upcoming baby girl:

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Aren't they cute? I used a bit of felted wool sweater and an old silk shirt for the fabric, and hand-stitched it all together with itty bitty stitches. Recycling old into new, and saving money all at once!

In the interest of saving even more trees, I used the Japanese art of furoshiki to wrap the gifts in a fun silk scarf that I found at the thrift store:

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What sort of homemade gifts have you given? Have you considered non-traditional wrapping?

8 comments:

Shirley said...

Very cute! I had forgotten about using scarves as wrapping! Thanks for sharing. Like the shoes too.

Shane said...

Are you selling shoes like that? Those are awesome :)

Anonymous said...

Too cute! Would you mind sharing your pattern?

Robj98168 said...

I like the furoshiki wrapping-very smart. I give homemade quite a bit and it is fun to come up with new ways to wrap packages. BTW My shoe size is 10 1/2 EEE. Hint. Hint.

NV said...

Those are too adorable! And love the gift-wrapping idea.

I'm not very good at making things. About the only thing I do by hand are scrapbooks. I've made quite a few as gifts in the last four or five years.

Jayne said...

Those shoes are really cute! And making them yourself guarantees that your present is utterly unique! Wrapping them in a scarf is a great idea, too.

Jennifer said...

Shane and Casey~ I would love to sell them, but it's ILLEGAL as of now to sell an item for a child that isn't tested for lead (which cuts out most small artisans, due to the cost of the required tests). Write your congressperson if you care!

B~ I kind of made my own, but here's one very similar. The biggest difference is that I tacked the sides of the shoes together instead of using the elastic...
http://family-centered.com/needleworks/soft-baby-shoes/

Robj~ Did you notice I linked to your post on Furoshiki? I'm going to start collecting fabric for Christmas this year!

Shane said...

That is absurd. I'm sick of nanny states. When we start expecting our next child, I'll email you and we'll figure out something behind big brother's back :) (shh, you didn't hear that)