Monday, January 20, 2014

Tutorial | Fox & Bear Fleece Welly Liners | by The Crafty Kitty

Oh Stephanie! You are indeed one Crafty Kitty!  There is absolutely no way cuter to freshen up those rain boots, (or wellies as Stephanie and our friends in the UK call them) than to create a pair of these adorable liners from Birch's range of Organic Fleece.  These liners are sure to keep you super cozy, and super cute in the rain!  

The new organic fleece range from Birch Fabrics is crazy soft and comes in all those beautiful tones I've come to expect from Birch.

  The Crafty Kitty | Fox and Bear, Organic Cotton, Fleece Wellie Liners

When I first decided to sew up these fleece welly liners, I had a completely different finished look in mind. Then a friend shared a photo of his crocheted fox slippers and I thought that's it, these welly liners need ears! Luckily I had the organic cotton fleece in Coral which actually comes out a rather foxy shade, and I just knew that the dark shroom would lend itself to being a bear! What will look cuter than a fox and a bear peeking out of your little one's wellies as they trundle through the woods! I'm kinda tempted to make a larger pair for myself!!

  Organic Cotton Fleece from Birch Fabrics and Organic Cotton Sewing Thread from Stitch Organics

Supplies
  • 1/4 yard organic cotton fleece in coral
  • 1/4 yard organic cotton fleece in dark shroom
  • scraps of kunin eco-fi felt in black and white
  • coordinating organic cotton sewing thread
  • Fox & Bear fleece welly liners pattern (Approximate Children's sizes UK7/Euro 24/US8 & UK11/Euro 29/US12- the sizing is very general and it will probably work for a size larger and a size smaller! You may find that your kid needs to have a size larger wellie, when using liners, which helps extend the wearing time of the boots!)
Most of the seams for the fleece welly liners are flatlocked. This means, that there is no seam allowance and that the seams are flat against the skin... pretty important for stopping little feet from getting blisters on adventures in the woods and extended puddle jumping sessions!! There are a couple of ways to create a flatlocked seam...
  1. Invest in a flatlocker!
  2. Use a blind hem foot and a 1-needle overlock stitch on an overlocker
  3. Use an elastic stitch on your regular sewing machine!!
I'm going to show you how to create the flatlock stitch using methods 1 & 2. The finished stitches are slightly different, but they both do the job! I actually used my regular sewing machine to sew these fleece welly liners together. mostly because I don't have the right shade thread to use with this project!! Overlocker method (I'm using my brother 1034d here, which is an entry level overlocker)
  • replace your regular presser foot with a blind stitch presser foot
The Crafty Kitty | How to flatlock using an overlocker and a regular sewing machine
  • remove the right needle
The Crafty Kitty | How to flatlock using an overlocker and a regular sewing machine
  • line up the two pieces of fabric wrong sides facing, and stitch together, allowing the stitches to overlap the edge a little. You will need to play around with the tension settings for the needle, upper looper and lower looper. I ended up with settings of 2,5 and 9.
The Crafty Kitty | How to flatlock using an overlocker and a regular sewing machine

The Crafty Kitty | How to flatlock using an overlocker and a regular sewing machine  
  • gently pull fabric flat
The Crafty Kitty | How to flatlock using an overlocker and a regular sewing machine
right side of fabric

The Crafty Kitty | How to flatlock using an overlocker and a regular sewing machine   underneath of fabric Sewing machine method
  • select the elastic stitch
The Crafty Kitty | Fox and Bear, Organic Cotton, Fleece Wellie Liners
that's stitch number 6, here on my brother XL-3600...

The Crafty Kitty | Fox and Bear, Organic Cotton, Fleece Wellie Liners   ...and stitch number 10 here on my new Pfaff ambition 1.5... so you can see that both entry level and slightly fancier models have an elastic stitch!
  • place fabrics right side up with raw edges abutting and centre them with the needle central position.
The Crafty Kitty | Fox and Bear, Organic Cotton, Fleece Wellie Liners
  • sew together
The Crafty Kitty | Fox and Bear, Organic Cotton, Fleece Wellie Liners

How easy was that!! If you prefer you can use some iron on stabiliser to keep the two pieces of fabric in position. So now you know how to flatlock... let's get started!

Step 1: Cut out all your pattern pieces from the fleece and felt. If you can reduce the presser foot pressure on your machine, or you have a walking foot attachment, you may want to use those. Otherwise, make sure not to pull on the fabric or it will stretch out, whilst you sew!

  The Crafty Kitty | Fox and Bear, Organic Cotton, Fleece Wellie Liners

Step 2: sew the back of sock together. (if using a sewing machine, the easiest way to do this is to sew inside the tube.)

  The Crafty Kitty | Fox and Bear, Organic Cotton, Fleece Wellie Liners

Step 3: sew the heel to the back of the sock.
Step 4: sew the upper to the sock and the heel

  The Crafty Kitty | Fox and Bear, Organic Cotton, Fleece Wellie Liners

Step 5: Sew the liner to the sole. if using a sewing machine, you probably want to use the free arm for this stage!

  The Crafty Kitty | Fox and Bear, Organic Cotton, Fleece Wellie Liners

Step 6: Sew felt inner ears to the fleece ear pieces.

  The Crafty Kitty | Fox and Bear, Organic Cotton, Fleece Wellie Liners

Step 7: Sew fleece ear pieces right sides together leaving the bottom open. turn ear right side out. baste along open edge.

  The Crafty Kitty | Fox and Bear, Organic Cotton, Fleece Wellie Liners

Step 8: Insert ears into slits in cuff and sew shut.

  The Crafty Kitty | Fox and Bear, Organic Cotton, Fleece Wellie Liners

Step 9: Sew, felt, nose and eye pieces in place.
Step 10: Use flatlock stitch to sew the short edges of cuff together.

  The Crafty Kitty | Fox and Bear, Organic Cotton, Fleece Wellie Liners

Step 11: Fold cuff in half and using flatlock stitch sew together the two raw edges of the cuff to the top of the liner. make sure that the fox/bear face is on the fleece side of the liner and that you match the seams at the back.

  The Crafty Kitty | Fox and Bear, Organic Cotton, Fleece Wellie Liners

Variations
  • Try making different kinds of animals, the cream fleece would make a great polar bear!!
  • Add an outer layer and a row of hot glue dots to the outer sole (thanks Jill, from Made with Moxie, for the glue dot tip) to make animal slipper boots!!
The Crafty Kitty | Fox and Bear, Organic Cotton, Fleece Wellie Liners

Check out The Crafty Kitty for more tutorials like this one, and for lots of inspiration!


18 comments:

  1. The cuteness of these are just killing me! I love them so much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I imagined that is it, these welly liners need ears! Fortunately I had the natural cotton wool in Coral which really turns out a somewhat charming shade, and I recently realized that the dim shroom would fit being a bear. Web Design Company

      Delete
  2. wow, absolutely gorgeous! you are so talented Stephanie!

    ReplyDelete
  3. They are so cute! I can't wait to try this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. a very great idea!

    I linked to your tutorial on my blog - thanks for sharing!


    ♥, doro von Hand zu Hand

    ReplyDelete
  5. I might need to try my hand at making a pair for myself ;) adorable!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I search many blogs of tutorial but what a wonder full blog you design and a very beautifully maintain, i read all your post and you guide us with pure techniques of Fox & Bear Fleece. are you ever design in British towels please post it Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  7. thanks you for your great tutorial! i will link it to my blog when i finished the sewing!
    nat

    ReplyDelete
  8. The you have is very useful. The sites you have referred was good. Thanks for sharing... Foto Nikia Lagi Bugil Pamer Memek

    ReplyDelete
  9. The Celebs Info are providing match predictions for BPL, PSL, IPL, World Cup and much more visit the website now for Who Will Win Today Match Prediction

    Today Match Prediction - Who Will Win

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is not difficult at all. I'll try this at my home with my kids. my daughter will love it. Now it's time to avail Hi Vis Polo Shirts for more information.

    ReplyDelete