December 17, 1942

Detroit News Quilt History Project; Michigan State University Museum; Susan Salser

Detroit, Michigan, United States

An Edith B. Crumb interior design column.

Discarded Felt Hats Used for Baby Shoes​​
From Head to Feet​
These little shoes were made from old felt hats by Miss Helen Eddy, 19307 Fleming avenue. She has made a large number of them, varying in color, size and decorative motifs.​
​By Edith B. Crumb​
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Nothing goes to waste if Miss Helen Eddy, 19307 Fleming avenue, has anything to do with it; and this is especially true of the family's hats which were slated for the discard.​
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The material was much too good to be thrown away and, so far, there has been no call for the salvaging of felt, so Miss Eddy just put her ingenuity to work and the result was a pair of little baby shoes.​
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Only three pieces of felt were required for each shoe - sole, front (which also forms the tongue) and the back, which comes around to form the piece on which the eyelets are cut.​
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The top and front are overcast to the sole and all edges blanket-stitched. The eyelets are buttonholed and a little embroidered design decorates the toe.​
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Once Miss Eddy started on her own family's old hats, her friends saw what she was doing and the donations began to come fast. To date she has 11 pairs of these little shoes to display. The colors are black, navy blue, Dubonnet, olive green and bottle green.​
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Miss Eddy has used embroidery floss for the small designs, picking scraps from the household thread box, in bright varied colors.​
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On the dark blue and black shoes, bright red ribbon is used for the lacing, light green is used on the medium green ones and pink and light blue are used on other colors.​
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The sizes range from 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 inches in length and are comfortably wide.​
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For the child in a bathrobe, a pair of little shoes such as these would be attractive, snug and warm for the morning when the house is a bit on the cool side.

Courtesy of The Detroit News Archives.