DIY Ballet Newborn Soft-Sole Baby Shoes

How to Make Baby Shoes from Scratch

Soft sole baby shoes are currently the most recommended style by podiatrists. According to the American Podiatric Medical Association, "Allowing youngsters to go barefoot or to wear just socks helps the foot to grow normally and to develop its musculature and strength as well as the grasphing action of the toes." It's all of this that bring doctors to recommend that children first learning to walk wear a soft, flexible shoe. Soft sole baby shoes offer the health benefits of being barefoot, but the protection little feet need from rough surfaces and dirty floors.

Health benefits aside, let's just admit that there's nothing quite so sweet as a teeny little baby shoe. It's even better when that shoe was stitched by hand, created with love.

These baby shoes are totally girly, little ballet slippers made for newborns. They'll last through the first 3-6 months, depending on the size of the baby's foot and how fast they grow. Using nothing but scrap amounts of fabric and a couple ribbons, these shoes are completely irresistible.

Read through the entire pattern before starting. Some ideas presented may affect your materials list.

Materials:
-2 colors fabric (one color for the outer shoe - or the "shell" - and one color for the inside contrast), less than 1/4 yard - cottons including flannel and broadcloth are perfect. The material must be able to hold stitches sewn fairly close to the edge.
-20-30" of ¼ inch ribbon
-Embellishing Materials

Instructions:

1. Prepare the Pattern: Print out the pattern pieces, which you can download here. Before printing, make sure that your printer settings are set to "Do Not Scale" or "No Scaling". This can affect the printed size of pattern pieces. After printing, cut out the pattern pieces or trace them on tracing paper or plain white tissue paper to make pinning the pattern easier.
When cutting - if you will be sewing on a machine, cut around the outside of the panel pieces, creating a seam allowance. If you're stitching the crown by hand, cut the fabric just inside the gray lines.