Quiet Books :: Shoe/Name page

I've been trying to catch the blog up on my quilting to get to these quiet books. Here they are. finally!

Last fall I came across this video of an amazing quiet book. That was it. I was making one! Especially since my son saw it and made me play it over and over and over.  Except I didn't just make one, I ended up making three.  I thought if I was going to make one page, I might as well make two.  Then why not one more??  So from the end of September to a few days before Christmas I was bitten badly by the quiet book bug.  They were so fun to make, but a LOT of work.  Very time consuming, but worth it in the end because my son loves them!  So this post is the beginning of several on these quiet books.  I did a lot of searching the internet for tutorials and ideas and free patterns.  There are lots and lots of great ideas and tutorials out there. So why not share mine?  Hopefully I will be able to give some inspiration like others have to me.

Each book has 10 pages (5 front and backs).  One was for my daughter (18 months) my son (4) and my niece (5), so I customized them for their ages and gender/interests.  But they have a lot of the same pages.  I tried to make the books for my kiddos different. I figured one page between the two of them would be fine.  they can share!

Each page I made is 10 inches square.  Some I layered quilt batting under as they were constructed, some I didn't. But each full page does have a layer of batting between the pages. I wanted the stability especially if I was going to sew buttons and other things on them. I didn't take any pictures while I was making them so hopefully I can describe how they went down well enough that you can figure it out.

Shoe Tying/Name Page

I really wanted a shoe tying page, but I didn't have a rivet maker and didn't want to spend the money on one.  I came across some faux leather belting with rivets at a large craft store.  Perfect! I folded the end over on one side and stitched it down. One of my kids shoes made the perfect template.  This page I did quilt a piece of batting behind it- just my fabric and batting, no back.  My son actually helped me with this part. After I stitched all around the edges, he sat on my lap and I just let him sew all the way across, stop, turn and go across again and again.  he loved it.

I used some felt and iron on fusible web for the shoe. You will use a lot of felt and fusible web if you are making a quiet book.  The shoe laces are 40" and are super long.  But it was what I could find.

For their names I fused 2 pieces of felt together then traced and cut out each letter and topstitched about 1/8th of an inch around them all.  I hand sewed snaps onto the backs.  I used this printable for the block letters and sized them down to fit my page.

Mariah's I used hook and eyes.  I don't think that was the best idea because they flip and swing around.  They aren't as secure as the snaps are.  But I had them on hand and gave them a try. She'll have to learn about hooks eventually. ;)

There you have it! One page done!