Shoes for Charlotte

I'm sure you've heard me whine about the impossible task of finding shoes for Charlotte. Her feet are small and narrow so she pretty much goes barefoot everywhere. Her big sister had/has the same issue, but at least its easier to find more narrow shoes once you can get past the baby sizes.

Now Charlotte has some shoes that semi-work, but they are all ridged and I'm one of those "no-shoes" advocates of sorts :). It stands to reason for me that well, first of all, babies don't need shoes at all anyway and when they do, soft and flexible allows for the best development, balance, movement etc. Why would you want to wear hard ridged shoes? Not even I can stand tennis shoes types anymore. Praise the day soft pliable ballet flats came out!

Case in point, Robeez and such types are what I want for my maybe-perhaps-someday-will-decide-to-start-walking toddler, but they are just much to wide. Why do they not make narrow sizes for babies/toddlers? Little ones come in just as many different shapes and sizes as adults.

I take that back, they probably DO make narrow sizes but have a $80 price tap attached. K, maybe its just me, but kids grow... FAST, so why would I spend that kind of dough on something that is only used for a matter of months (especially when you could get 6 pairs of shoes for that

price).

-- WOW, who knew I had so much to say about shoes :)!-

Well anyway, the whining can stop now, I finally just made Charlotte's shoes! And for $0.

I adapted the Cloth baby shoes pattern from the Michael Miller fabric blog. (Ah, the Internet!) The soles are a red geniune suede (made from free samples I saved from my FABMO days) the top is stretch denim from an old pair of jeans and its lined with some cute cotton from scraps.

They've worked great! Fit perfectly (with some wiggle room) and STAY ON! I highly recommend this pattern. For those interested in "customizing" let me know (got some EASY tips)!