Whip up a set of colourful bootees to welcome a new arrival Baby

What you need...

• Wool felt: teal, lilac, yellow, orange, light peach, dark peach, pink, bright green, mid green
  Fabric pen, water soluble
  Velvet ribbon, orange
  Machine thread: teal, orange, green

instructions

1. Flower Design - 1. Using the templates as a guide, cut two soles and two long bootee tops from lilac felt. Trim four 1.5cm circles in pink, and two in yellow, plus four 1cm squares in yellow, and two in pink. From green felt, snip ten leaves.
   
   2. Lay one of the long bootee tops out vertically, with the longest straight edge on the right-hand side. Glue a set of the appliqué pieces around the bottom curve, referring to the template. Machine sew a straight line across the middle of each circle and square with contrasting thread, going over it twice to secure. Stitch over the green leaves in a ‘V’ shape.
   
   3. Lay the second long bootee top as a mirror image to the first, with the straight edge down the left side. Arrange the second set of appliqué pieces as a mirror image of the first and stitch to match.
   
   4. Hold the bootee top with the appliqué at the left and longest straight edge running horizontally across the top. Pick up the end with the decoration in your left hand and the other end in your right. Bring them together, overlapping the ends so that the decorated curved edge perfectly covers the curved edge underneath, then pin in place.
   
   5. Machine sew across the join, 2mm in from the edge. Repeat for the other bootee, and overlap the opposite way. Take each finished top and pin it onto a bootee sole, starting at the toe end and working around each side towards the heel. To finish, very carefully machine stitch all the way around, 2mm in from the edge.

2. Stitched Circles - 1. Using the template and fabric pen, cut two bootee tops, two soles, and two small triangles, all from teal felt. Machine stitch the triangles across the bottom of the centre split on the bootee tops, by machining just inside the edges – this will help to prevent stretching.
   
   2. Cut out six 2cm diameter felt circles; two each from yellow, orange and dark peach. Put one set aside. Arrange as shown around the front of a bootee top, securing with a dab of acid-free glue. Using contrasting threads, machine stitch in different directions over each circle.
   
   3. Trim a slightly smaller circle from light peach and bright green felt, place as shown and machine sew across. Arrange and sew the second set of shapes on the second bootee as a mirror image of the first.
   
   4. Holding a bootee top, right side up, overlap and pin the left and right straight top edges together by 1.5cm. Fold a 5cm piece of velvet ribbon in half, place it inside the overlap, then carefully machine sew in matching thread up one side of the heel, across the top and back down the other side of the heel. This secures the ribbon loop and adds extra strength to the heel. Repeat for the other bootee top, but overlap the opposite way.
   
   5. Pin and stitch each finished top onto a sole, in the same way as the lilac bootees.