As anyone that has been following my blog and shop knows, I had a baby on July 31st. I had big plans of what my post partum was going to look like. 2 weeks in bed and then ease back into things. HAHAHA. No one gets to plan out their life quite like that, right?!

So 3 weeks rest came and past and still I wasn't quite ready to get back into the swing of things full time. Who knew that having my 4th baby when I was 36 was going to kick my butt so hard! So while I had sewing plans to fill the rest of August, summer slipped right through my fingers.

Thankfully, I planned ahead for this tour. I spent a lot of time leading up to baby being born crafting and crafting and crafting. The closer I got to my due date, the more patterns I bought, hoping to keep my mind occupied and not anxiously waiting for my little one to arrive. Thankfully I crafted the time away, because baby wasn't born until 41 weeks 3 days. Talk about the torture of waiting!

One of my favorite baby sews has to be the Peekaboo Pattern Shop Tiny Toes Soft Soled Shoes. My older girls all lived in little moccasin style shoes until about 3 years old. They were perfect for keeping socks on (why do babies always lose their socks?!) and allow for plenty of toe and foot flexing and movement to encourage proper muscle development. So when I found out I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to make cute little shoes. 

There are a LOT of baby shoe patterns out there. They all of course have the basic moccasin shape. Which is what I of course needed. Now, if I was having a little girl, I might have chosen a different designer that had a ton of add on packs with cutesie hacks. But I think I would have regretted paying for all those little hacks. The truth is, once you have the basic shape, all you need is a little pinterest inspiration and you can add any hacks you might want! I of course am happy to provide a little inspiration. 😉

Ok, but back to the shoes I actually made. I picked the PAB Shoe pattern because it was the cheapest at just $5. There is a free pattern out there, but it doesn't have instructions. I didn't feel confident in my ability to figure out shoes on my own. So $5 was more than fair.

The PAB Shoe pattern is drafted for use with real leather. While I may one day take the time to source real leather, for now, I just wanted to make cutesie shoes that I could coordinate with baby's outfit. The cheapest way to acquire a lot of small fabrics is of course fat quarters. The catch is though that you then have to make sure that all seams are finished in some way. So, I fully lined my little shoes and serged the only seam that was otherwise exposed (the sole to the upper).

Of course as baby grows, I can invest in nonslip soles and keep him looking stylish while keeping his shoes functional. Or finally take the time to source some real leather fabric for soles. We'll see how that works out!

Welcome to the Sew Long Summer blog tour. We're going to have a fun one this year.

A nice group of sewing bloggers are going to share with you how we say "Sew Long Summer" and we'll be asking you to join in with a Social Sew too (read on for details and prizes) Sew Long Summer is all about getting those transitional wardrobe pieces ready; finishing up all those things we meant to make this summer; and well, basically whatever Sew Long Summer means to you.  

Continental US participants will be entered to win a $20 store credit from Simply by Ti Fabrics.

All other participants will be entered to win a pattern of choice from DG Patterns.

The full tour includes these talented sewists, so I hope you'll follow along this week. Sept. 10th Sewing A La Carte, Tenille's Thread, A Custom Clothier, Made for Little Gents, Miss Marah Sewn Sept. 11th Manning the Machine, mahlicadesigns, Sewing Vortex, Crafting Fiend Sept. 12th Auschick Sews, Aurora Design Fabrics, My Heart Will Sew On, Vicky Myers Creations Sept. 13th Flaxfield Sewing, Sewing with D, Musings of a Seamstress, Make it Sew with the Bear and Pea Atelier, Petite Font Sept. 14th Sewing à la Carte, Sewing by Ti, Stitches by Laura, Sewing with Sarah, My Sewing Roots