Saturday, January 06, 2007

New Shoes for Christmas

We had a bit of a sock monkey Christmas at the Petersen house this year. I love the Moda sock monkey fabric so so much and decided to make the traditional Christmas PJs out of the brushed cotton (like fannel). Then I saw these slippers and I knew they would be a hit.

I made a pair of comfy wide-legged pants for Ike and freezer paper stenciled a monkey face onto a long sleeved white t-shirt. I made a hideously poufy-sleeved nightgown for Zoë (which she's sleeping in right now--and has been living in since Christmas) and I made both of them a pair of these slippers.

To make the slippers, I started with this wonderul pattern at Stardust Shoes. The pattern is designed for 6 month olds and my kids are 20 mos and 4 yrs. So I traced their feet (while they were sleeping) then added ease and seam allowance and modified the rest of the pattern pieces to fit. It was pretty simple, actually and quite forgiving. I think if I knew how long these slippers were going to take me, I might not have made them. It was a LOT of hand sewing (4 monkey heads, all hand sewn) and lots of late night TV watching. But I think it's worth it to see those little monkey feet walking all around the house! I am entering these slippers in this months' Whiplash in the gift category.

But the Christmas monkey love didn't end there. My mom also made sock monkeys for the kids, and clothing for the monkeys to wear. Plus she made them each a sock monkey pillowcase for them to store their PJs during the day.

On Christmas morning, right before they opened their presents I was a little worried that perhaps we overdid the monkey stuff. They might not even be INTO monkeys. But I was wrong. They LOVE the monkeys. We're all happy about that.

whipup

9 comments:

Joanna said...

You are a GENIUS!!!! Those are awesome! :)

Unknown said...

Those are precious!

djbebe said...

Those are truly, truly awesome. Love the slippers - they remind me of some I used to have that were elephants with trunks that stuck up. I called them Molly and Polly and only I knew which was which.

Anonymous said...

We LOVE the monkeys. We think that Zoe and Ike should come and model them at work so we can all see them. Linda and Hali

Kahshe Cottager said...

I just came across your blog and loved the slippers! I have followed your links and will attempt them for my little monkeys, ummm I mean grandchildren, for next Christmas. Thanks for sharing such a fun idea!

Steph said...

Hey Lady!!!
I just got into this blogging thing and Lolly Pants said that you had a blog so I looked you up and here you are!!! I also looked up all of Todd's pictures on flikr! I hope you guys are doing great. It looks like maybe you guys have been really busy since you haven't posted in a while! Here's my blog address: gibsongrapevine.blogspot.com
Love ya, Steph and Geoff Gibson

Janna said...

Nice shoes. These monkey shaped shoes have a great chance to attract by the kids. Thanks for providing these monkey shoes for christmas especially for kids. Shoes fact also gives the information about all types of shoes for men, women and kids. And also, this gives seasonal shoes for all.

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