Sunday, March 29, 2015

Sweetheart ballerina flats ! Better than duct tape loafers, any day.




I don’t know why, but today, I was really restless. Even after going back to Dollar Tree – we needed a large envelope for our tax documents – I was unable to sit still, even though I longed to go back to sleep. Can’t, or I won’t sleep tonight, and get inverted. 


Went through my backlogged e-mail, found an offer from Embroidery Library. A good one, five designs for $5., and I’d get a code for three more of my choice free after my purchase went through. But I realized as I contemplated it, I have enough (at least six times over !) designs for decorating other things. I want designs that make things ! 


So I instead spent a few bucks on the design I wanted most but was also the most timid about buying – a very rare one. There’s lots of designers who sell many, many versions of AG doll shoes… but nearly every last one is for a 5 x 7” hoop. Brody and I have had lots of fun, ‘limited’ to our 4 x 4”, but most of what I like, I can find to fit him. And, with A Stitch For You, I found 4x4 shoes, quite reasonably priced at $4.25. It’d be so awesome if they’d fit my DP&M girls, but there was really no way of knowing if the design would until after I spent the cash. Yeah, it’s only four bucks, but you know me, that’s cold hard cash still, and I didn’t want to waste it. 


I’d about decided to go for it anyway – if the finished shoes were too big I could take ‘em in on KJ, or stuff ‘em with more felt – as they’d be sure to fit Timey Tell, Hi, Dottie, and 1972’s Chatty Cathy. They can wear most AG shoes, except sandals. Their feet aren’t quite long enough for toe-showin’ footwear. So it wouldn’t be a waste of money or effort, all I needed was four bucks. 


Beloved saw me all antsy – I wasn’t interested in stitching up an owl or cookies, patterns I already had – and told me to go for it. Hey, at least this way, I wouldn’t wonder any more, I’d know, and that was worth four bucks right there. Looking at the printout, I saw there was next to nothing I could sew smaller, and placing Merri’s foot on it made it seem impossibly huge. But, since I was already ready already, might as well go for it. 


And, as you can see, it works ! I think to fit the AG girls, you’d need the stretch inherent in the felt, as they fit here, there’s felt scraps in the toes and I was super-careful to not stretch them out as I turned them. Each shoe takes about 5 minutes of prep, 15 minutes of stitching, and I can leave off the hearts, or make each heart a different color, or use the tie guide I skipped this time to add straps or ribbons. Or use the printout as a pattern to KJ sew them, perhaps work with new designs of my own. And the seller has several different styles, so…I think I’ve solved the DP&M shoe deficit ! With a side bonus of making Timey and Dottie some, too ! Glad I got lots of felt last week…

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