Re-Boot! Felt Baby Booties (method 2)

I was going to make a set of felt baby booties yesterday, like I did here: http://tangibledaydreams.blogspot.com/2011/12/tutorial-how-to-make-felt-baby-booties.html . But..um...well, I wasn't really paying attention when I was laying out the felt, and I didn't get a good enough over lap on the top of the foot area. When it came time to cut the booties apart and take the resist out, that area kind of drifted apart. So much for one piece baby booties. I was Not Amused.

But, I didn't want to waste the fiber and the effort so far, so I went ahead and pulled the wool out flat and made two small and rather misshapen pieces of flat felt. I intended to set them aside, in case I thought of a future project for them.

But then, I was wandering Pinterest (I'm on there as http://pinterest.com/lissamc/ ), and came across a link to a tutorial for 'Happy Feet' Felt Baby Booties. http://www.ctpubblog.com/2010/03/22/happy-feet-felt-baby-booties/ On a whim, I printed out their pattern, and laid it out on my little sheets of hand made felt.

Oh awesome! They just fit. I cut out the pieces for the baby booties.

Now, I looked at the instructions. Blanket stitch around the edges that would be otherwise unfinished. Blanket stitch? Hand stitching. Ugh. Not my favorite of activities, so it wasn't surprising that I hadn't picked up that stitch before. Luckily, their instructions made it easy.

Now, using the same stitch, I put the toe on the sole.

And then the back piece went on.

Add a ribbon...

...and I got a pair of baby booties out of the project after all! They took several hours longer than the one piece pair would have, but I learned something new and they look rather cute.

So the initial failure is now a resounding success! My lessons learned? Blanket stitch isn't that hard after all. And more importantly, mistakes don't necessarily have to be a stop. Sometimes, they can be a change in route, and the outcome can end up just as good if not better. It just takes looking at the project from a different angle.