“Little Man” Baby Gift

One of my favorite people in the world is having a baby!  I was so excited to be able to use my new sewing skills to create a unique, hand made gift for her new little man.

As usual, a Pinterest search yielded some great little projects just right for a new baby boy.  I found a tutorial for some sweet “Little Man” baby shoes at Shwin and Shwin.  I thought they were so adorable, I just had to try making some myself!  Check out her post for a tutorial with a free downloadable pattern.

The author of the pattern suggests using a thicker fabric (like felt) as the lining of the shoe to give it some structure.  However, I chose a brushed cotton fabric for my lining which was very soft and thin.  But no biggie! I just ironed on some fusible interfacing to the wrong side of the lining and it gave the material the perfect amount of thickness for the project.

Another potential headache when making the shoes is the two layers of the sole tend to slide around and become misaligned during the sewing process.  In a subsequent post, the author suggests sewing some lines of decorative stitching to the sole before attaching it to the body of the shoe, attaching the two layers together and making them easier to sew.  I followed her tip, and it worked like a charm!

For the second part of the gift set, I decided to try my hand at making a baby blanket. We were gifted several hand made baby blankets when the twins were born, and they are still our favorites.

I had pinned a tutorial for a “He’s All Boy Baby Blanket” from This Mama Makes Stuff several months ago, and I thought this was the perfect time to test it out.

I used three different plaid flannel fabrics for the front and a dark brown rose swirl minky for the back.  The tutorial gives two options for piecing the flannel strips together- sewing clean seams (right sides together) or overlapping the strips and letting the raw edges soften in the wash.  I chose the second and washed the flannel part of the blanket a few times before attaching the minky. I’m glad I didn’t skip the laundering step because it revealed a few places where I did not overlap the strips enough and they separated.  But it was an easy fix…just sewed them down again and rewashed. Easy and cute!

And there you have it! A gift set just right for a new little man.  Here is my friend with her new blanket at her shower…isn’t she one of the most beautiful expecting mamas you’ve ever seen?

Until next time,

Twodaloo!

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