Cowboy boot

I was so inspired by Carla's cowboy boot doorstop from the Don't let the Door Stop You blog hop that I had to make one myself!  Plus, I work for the national office for college rodeo, so I'm suddenly inspired by a lot of cowboy themed items.  One of the ladies I work with had her birthday last week, and I thought she could use a little something pretty in her office.  I used the pattern/tutorial from Riley Blake's site and it was quite a bit larger than I was expecting!  My boot ended up almost a foot tall!  Learning experience: there's a reason copy machines give you the option to reduce/enlarge.

Here's my boot next to the cheese doorstop I made.

 

The lady I made the boot for gave me this shirt (her husband tore a 4 inch rip right in the belly of it) and I thought it fitting to use in the boot-making.


Here's something great I learned: when you're turning corners inside out, use pinking shears to help ease the fabric into the correct shape.  Here's what it looks like when you don't:

 

And here's what happens when you pink the fabric:



 

Isn't that amazing?  By the way, this is one of those parts I altered for my personal taste, this book has a 4 inch space down from the top to hold pens, so I stiffened up the fabric and gave it a lining.

 

I am proud of how the trimming turned out, I just zig zag stitched over the top of it with Aurifil #2021 (white) and it blended nicely and held the trim in place well, especially considering the abuse I put that piece thru turning in inside out and such.

 

This was before I filled the boot with the crushed walnut shells, and hand stitched the "base" of the pen holder, which was a piece of the black fabric cut a little larger than the opening.

 

 

And this is it!  Sitting outside in the freezing rain, woohoo!

 

My co-worker thought it was a kick in the pants, especially when she realized I'd used her husbands shirt, and immediately loaded highlighters and pens into it.  I suggested we look for a plastic container we could cut down and set inside to provide a bit more support, if I make it again I will put my "base" another inch lower so the sides of the boot will hold the pens up.

 

Thank you for visiting!  I need to have a food post here soon, Pampered Chef just started their new catalog which means new recipes, yay!  Oh, better get some dishes washed then, :)

 

~Brandy