Designer Shoes

Back in April I wrote about a nifty tutorial I had run across about making your own patchwork shoes (the post is here if you would like to refresh your memory).

I finally got around to making them today!  This was a really fun project.

The original tutorial is by Jen, who blogs at the Naughty Secretary's Club.  Thanks to her clear instructions, this was not at all difficult.

I started with canvas Mary Janes, a bag of batik scraps, fabric glue, and a couple of small disposable paint brushes.  This was a little bit of a gluey and messy project, so I protected my work surface, and I had lots of glue on my fingers by the time I was done!

That bag of pretty batik scraps felt like a good fabric choice for this project.  For one thing, the pieces were quite small, really too small to be used for anything else.  And having a fabric "theme" would, I hoped, give a sense of unity to the shoes, even if they didn't match.


And I didn't want them to look CRAZY, just artsy and fun (with apologies to Helena Bonham-Carter, pictured at right, aptly demonstrating that Crazy Shoes are always a poor choice, particularly since NEITHER ONE OF THEM matches her dress.)





But I digress. . .

Well, once everything was laid out it was pretty straightforward.  Just cut, glue, and trim if needed.  I folded the edges of the fabric under the top edges of the shoe, and glued them down on the inside for a tidy top edge.  At the bottom of the shoe (next to the sole) I just trimmed the edges even.

 How about a little selvage?

Done with the gluing!

A few yo-yos on the straps and they're done!