Leather Baby Shoe Tutorial

You can find everything you need at Hobby Lobby. I found the eyelets and eyelet punch tool in the sewing section near the needles, but had to search on the other side of the store for the leather. You won’t find real leather in the fabric section. In an aisle full of native american craft tools, I found a 10 pound bag of leather scraps for less than $10! Since baby shoes are small, the scraps worked perfectly for my project. Even more exciting, it had 4+ color options in the bag. I found a small US paper size piece of felt in another aisle.

Supplies:

Leather
Leather Shoe Lace
Felt (optional, but suggested for walkers)
Eyelets
Eyelet Tool or this type
Scissors or roller cutter

Sewing Machine

Step 1:

First, I traced my son's foot on card stock paper. This step took a few errors to figure out the perfect fit. I traced out a long narrow piece for the back, tall enough that the top would hit just above his ankle bone and long enough that it would hit a little longer than half his foot size when wrapped around his ankle. The piece cut out for the tongue would need to be wide enough to curve over his foot with a little extra for margin and the tongue be long enough to nearly touch the top of his leg. (When I made my first set, the tongue was too short—I've learned you can always cut back excess once you’re done with the shoe). For the sole piece, I left about 1/8th margin around the whole foot. I suggest making your first shoe with leather you don’t like to test the pattern before using the leather you want to use for the real shoes.

Step 2:

After creating my paper patterns, I cut against the leather. If you’re cutting with scissors it could help to use paper clips or alligator clips to hold the paper to the leather. 

Step 3:

To make the shoe lace holes, I drew two holes on each side and made sure they were aligned. Then, using the tips of my scissors, poked holes large enough for the eyelets to slip snuggly in. Once slipped in, I used the eyelet tool to punch and secure the eyelets. If this is your first time using the tool, I suggest practicing a few times on scrap pieces.

Step 4:

To begin sewing, I started with the heel to the sole.

Step 5:

Once the heel was sewn on, I overlapped the tongue and sewed in place.

Step 6:

Sewing is done! I flipped the shoe inside out and double checked that the sewing was secure and both shoes were even and matching in size. 

Step 7:

Slip in the felt sole.

Step 8:

Lace the shoe and cut to size. Cut after lacing to make sure you have enough length.

All done!