Craft Shows, Foam Swords & Poo Themed Baby Shoes

It feels like I blinked and October is nearly over despite there being so much I still want to do. It's always a busy month around here with Halloween, fall activities, full-time homeschool and my oldest kid's birthday, but this year we threw a craft show into the mix, which meant even more madness, so instead of working on new projects & tutorials, this is what I was working on:

My husband has been doing foam-smithing projects as a hobby  and decided to take it public at a themed craft/cosplay/comic con show this past weekend.  He'd never done a show or sold his creations before so yours truly was in charge of all the show planning, gathering gear, sign making, display and, being a crafter, making a few last minute additions to fill up his booth space.  Last week I shared the trials & tribulations of making his shop sign with glitter vinyl.

He got a lot of positive feedback on his helmets & swords though, enough that in the show's downtime he set up his first ever Etsy shop, Cockroach Villain's Battle Emporium!  

It's named after a toy my middle son calls Cockroach Villain (no idea why since it doesn't resemble a cockroach at all as you can see from the logo), but the shop's got items like these in it:

He makes and sculpts everything out of EVA foam and hand paints all the details so they're realistic, but totally soft and safe.  Good for costumes, cosplay, props and adults or kids.  

Our own kids have heavily test it all for play-ability.  

For my contribution I made some Halloween-y floral hair clips & headbands and some soft soled baby shoes in some comic-con friendly themed prints.

I've added the baby shoes I had left to my Etsy shop, The Green Hedgehog.  



They're all made from custom run cotton knit fabric & coordinating fleece lining for some special little footwear for the smallest of feet.

Let me tell you, craft shows are WORK!  Add up all the lead up work, time at the show and driving out of state 2 days in a row, it was exhausting.  It had been a while since I'd done one, but honestly, I'll be good if I never do another.  This particular event was free so there were a lot more people looking for a chance to wear their costumes in public than actually shopping, which was a shame for the vendors.  There's just so much prep and miscellaneous expense and time involved I don't know how people do this kind of thing regularly when it's such a gamble people will even buy your stuff.   

How about you - Do you do craft shows?  Just attend them? Love or Hate? 

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Coming Out of Handmade Retirement & Furry Slippers for Everyone!

I've made a crazy crafting decision this fall: to come out of my self-imposed handmade retirement and start making items for my shop again.  And I'm making fun new things too!



A few years back I was cranking out loads of whimsical hats and costume-y wearables for my Etsy shop, The Green Hedgehog, on a regular basis. 

While having lots of orders was a blessing, and it was awesome to have my creations featured in great places (even on Parenting.com!), it was sucking me dry in the free time & time with my family departments, so I scaled back.  Now, after the time away and my kids getting older, I've been feeling the vibe and am making select designs again.

Fleece Hats by The Green Hedgehog

I've been working on new goodies too, like my Fluffy Furry Monster Slippers.  Some are wild and colorful for pajama-time fun:

Others are more classic furry, like my original chocolate brown Fuzzball Slippers that are ideal for fans of Wookies, brown bears and furry feet:

Or my newest ivory Frozen Fluffy Slippers, that work great for fans of the yeti, polar bears, the 70s fur boot craze or Frozen:

And since nearly everyone likes fluffy faux fur, I'm doing baby, kid and adult sizes (why should just the littlest feet get all the fun?):

They've all got a cosy fleece lining and flip up-or-down cuffs and choice of over-the shoe or non-slip sole style:

And I've still got my costume PDF patterns in the shop for those that like to sew something special for dress-up or Halloween:

Plus my popular year-round daily wear patterns:

I'm excited to be back in the saddle & working on all new designs too.  I'd love for you to check them out and stop by The Green Hedgehog social media and say hi!  

Making Slip-On Slippers: A How-To

Who doesn't love a pair of fun slippers for lounging?  Even better when you can make some to match your favorite pajamas:

Today I'm going to show how to make some comfy slippers that look good inside and out.

You'll Need:

- 1/4-3/8yd each of outer fabric + inner fabric (depending on the length of foot to fit)

- 1/4yd Jiffy Grip™ fabric (more info below)

- 1/4yd heavy weight sew-in stabilizer

- 1/4yd fusible fleece

- Sewing Notions (pencil, paper, shears/rotary cutter, tape measure pins, iron, thread & sewing machine, hand sewing needle)

- Sneaker or similar style shoe for sizing

What is Jiffy Grip?  It's a heavy weight fabric with raised dots that is meant for anti-slip applications like footwear & rug backing.  You can find it in most fabric stores, but check for it in the utility fabric section - on the bolt - instead of a pre-packaged piece.  You can get a lot more, and for a better price, when buying it cut from the bolt.  Of course, you could do the "puff paint on any fabric" no-slip alternative, but this is much easier, looks more professional and won't wear off, so personally I think it's worth getting.

To make the slipper sole pattern simply trace around the shoe bottom.  I then made mine more oval so it was easier to piece things together than remember which piece was for the left or right.  Next to make the top pattern piece measure across the middle of the shoe and then from tip to top near tongue.

Mark a "t" with those measurements on the paper.  Then measure across again, but just about an inch from tip and mark this line on the paper.  Draw a "U" shape with a curved top. 

Cut out the following:

A pair of top pieces, from the inner fabric, outer fabric and two pairs of fusible fleece

A pair of soles from the inner fabric, Jiffy Grip, sew-in stabilizer and two pairs of fusible fleece 

Trim down the heavy-weight stabilizer and one pair of fusible fleece for the soles so they are 1/2 inch smaller than the sole fabrics:

Next press the fusible fleece to the wrong side of each of the top fabric pieces, the inner fabric sole and the heavy weight stabilizer sole with an iron.  Pair up an outer and inner fabric top piece and with right sides facing sew together at the wide curve with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Clip along the curve & repeat with other top.

Turn tops with right sides facing out and press along seam.  Then baste together around the rest of the top 1/8 inch from raw edges.

Top stitch 5/8 inch from the upper edge.  To give a nice rounded shape, press over the narrow end of a tailor's ham (this is totally optional, but gives a nice finish when using cotton fabrics).

 Matching up the tip of the top pieces and inner fabric soles, pin then baste pieces together.

Place the Jiffy Grip sole over the top of the slipper and pin all the way around.  Sew layers together with a 1/4 seam allowance, leaving a 2 inch gap at the heel portion for turning.  Clip around curves and turn right side out.

 Now take the heavy-weight soles and insert into the opening:

Fold open raw edges inward, pin and hand stitch closed with a slipstitch.  Now slip them on and enjoy your new slippers!

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Slipper Socks Pattern Review & Helpful Hints

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I love coming up with my own patterns, but sometimes it's more practical to use a pre-existing one.  Like for these slipper socks.  Having 3 kids with ever growing feet, it was a lot simpler to buy a pattern with all the sizes included than keep resizing my own over and over.  I used The Green Pepper's Polar Socks pattern (bought at my local Jo-Ann's) because it had all the baby & kids sizes AND sizes for adults.

I really enjoyed this pattern.  And no, I'm not being compensated to tell you about it - I just thought this was too good not to share a great sewing find!  It's only got 3 pieces and is super fast to make - I whipped out four pairs in less than an hour total, so it's ideal for any skill level.  There are two styles to make (calf length and knee high).  And the sizing is just perfect - they even have wide versions included too.



I make some with ultra cuddle like the penguins above and others with anti-pill fleece. They all feel heavenly (the kids don't want to take them off!!).  All 3 pairs for my kids used fabric from my scrap bin, so that was an added bonus.  It also doesn't hurt that they look really cute on.



I did make a few slight changes.  The first being that I used FOE (Fold Over Elastic) as the finishing trim instead of fiddling around with making some ribbing like the pattern suggests.  FOE is way easier - just sew the short ends together and then fold over the edge and sew into place with a triple zig-zag stitch:

And to make a fun pair for my 9yr old I cut out some eyes and a forked tongue from some small scraps, sewed on some buttons to make his into some slipper snakes:

The other thing I did was to sew on some Odegon DeOdor Tags to the inside soles:

These patches neutralize odors, are totally washable & chemical free.  They seemed ideal for using in fleece slippers which tend to be worn a lot, but not exactly washed daily.  I mean how many people wash their slippers every day??  And if you have young kids you know they get some sweaty little feet running around.  So these tags will keep the stinkies at bay in between washings.

Add a little puff paint on the bottoms to give some anti-slip grip and they're all set!  I totally plan to make more of these slipper socks (my idea of a perfect & simple gift idea).

Have a great weekend everybody:)

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