Twig + Tale wild things baby shoes - Pattern review

I don't buy a lot of indie patterns but these Wild Things baby shoes from Twig + Tale were too cute to resist. This was my first pattern from Twig + Tale which mostly has patterns for children, since I don't have kids, I don't make a lot of kids' patterns.

completed raccoons

I have a friend who is currently pregnant with twins and I wanted to make some things to send her for the little ones. These baby shoes were just so cute I had to make them. I suppose I should also make her something practical, like burp cloths but we need something cute too, right?

I have made baby shoes before and found it quite challenging because they are so darn small. I think the first time I made a size 0-3 months, which is tiny. It can be hard to work with such a small seam allowance and sew around a curve if you are inexperienced, which I was. If you are an inexperienced sewist, it will help if you choose a larger size.

completed foxes

I later made another pair and did like 9-12 month size and it was such a long time before the baby was big enough to wear them! But I recall them still being hard to sew!

I chose to make size 3-6 months for this project. Based on their due date, I was thinking the babies would then be able to wear these during the winter and spring when it's chilly for their feet. I would say I'm an intermediate sewist now and I did not have any problems assembling this size.

Since both little ones are expected to be boys, I decided to make one pair of foxes and one pair of raccoons. The pattern offers a lot of different animal choices which was good too so I could choose two different animals to make for the kids and they wouldn’t be too matchy-matchy. I will say it is missing a puppy option! (*hint*hint*)

I found the pattern instructions to be clear and easy to follow, except in one area – sewing the face on. First, I would suggest putting a lightweight interfacing on the back of your front face piece (ie where you will embroider the eyes & nose) for more durability. But more generally I found the directions for the faces to be a little lacking. I didn’t have any problem but if you are novice, you might.

The pattern pieces for the faces are kind of odd because the patch pieces are shown on top of the round face piece (if you cut out your patch, you’ll cut up the face piece). I made this work ok by cutting the round face piece and then the patch piece but it still seems strange to me that they are printed to overlap.

The example in the pattern is for the bear face, this is fine but it’s all sewn on however if you are using any of the animals with patches attached there is no direction on attaching the patches. This would apply to the fox, raccoon and panda.

I decided to attach my patches by edge stitching around the patch on to the face. This probably would’ve turned out better if I had used an edge foot, but I made these while visiting my aunt and used her machine, which didn’t have one. However, it's a beautiful vintage machine that belonged to my great grandmother, so it also has it's advantages.

The pattern is well designed to have all of the raw edges enclosed. I have seen a lot of free baby shoe patterns where there is a raw edge inside and this is definitely preferable to avoid irritating little feet.

Other than this, I think the directions were clear and these turned out adorable! I will definitely consider making this one again for future little ones.

This post contains no affiliate links and I have no relationship with Twig + Tale patterns. All opinions expressed are my own and I did not receive any compensation for this review.