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Category Archives: Shoes

DIY Corsage Shoe Clips

7.01.2010

Uber-simple. (So simple you don’t even need step-by-step photos to illustrate!)

You Need:

*2 silk flowers (I chose cream-colored peonies)
*small piece of stiff felt
*2 shoe clips

*scissors
*glue gun

How To:

1. Pull the flowers off their stems and trim off any jutting plastic from the underside.

2. Cut two small circles from the felt – large enough to become the base for each flower, but small enough to not show through in-between the petals.

3. Use glue gun to attach each felt circle to the underside of each flower and press the felt to cup the flower’s shape. In order to stop the top layers of petals from falling off, you may also need to glue in-between each layer, near the center.

4. Open the shoe-clips, place a daub of hot glue on the felt (I chose near the top of the circle to minimize the amount the flower protrudes from the edge of the shoe), and press the non-toothed side of the shoe clip into the glue. Squeeze more glue over that part to firmly attach it to the felt.

5. Allow to dry and remove gluey strings.

I’m liking this girly look on chunky clogs at the moment – found this pair at my local Goodwill and wanted to soften them up for the romantic look that’s so in right now. I love the flower as juxtaposition to the organic wood of the soles. Speaking of clogs, I also have a different pair [brown] of size 7 Nine West clogs up for sale here if anyone is interested.

Happy DIY’ing!
xoxoxo
Carly

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Accessories, DIY, Shoes

6 Comments

Formspring.me Question: Is there anything you wouldn't ever wear?

6.22.2010

from formspring.me:

Is there anything you wouldn’t ever wear, even if someone was threatening you with rape, crucifying or smudgeing your makeup?

Um…wow, that’s pretty violent. If I were in that situation, I’d wear it!

But something that I would never wear *voluntarily* or even let my little piggy-wiggies near is those awful Spring 2010 Louis Vuitton clog-things. I don’t care if they’re “designer”…they’re just HIDEOUS!

Hoe about you guys? Any absolutely horrible crimes of fashion you wouldn’t let yourself near?
xoxo
Carly

Ask me anything

Do's and Don'ts, Reader Questions, Shoes

3 Comments

So I Designed a Shoe…

5.20.2010

Just messing around on Zazzle. Who didn’t love that gorgeous Miu Miu swallow-printed rhinestone-encrusted platform pump from their Spring 2010 show?

So I designed a similar black-on-baby-pink swallow print for a pair of sneakers on Zazzle. (I’ve been wanting to make a pair of custom sneaks for awhile, just the multiple layouts for the numerous parts of the shoe were pretty daunting. I gave up on matching the pattern across the seamlines, since it will be different for each size. If you have any design inclinations I urge you to try out their Keds Custom Shoes design tool! It’s really fun and the possibilities are limitless – you can customize the entire patten, as I did, or just choose color presets and the color of all the trims etc.) The shoe I chose is the Keds Women’s Lace-Up – and I’ve loaded it into my virtual store there, so anyone can buy their own pair too! I’ve set the pattern and allowed customization of the trims.

For my pair, I chose white trim, pink stitching, white laces, silver eyelets, white sole, and pink insole. Oh so many choices!

I can’t WAIT until they arrive and I can rock them out…first off, I’m switching out the laces to sparkly silver, and maybe pairing with some cuffed light blue denim shorts and a breezy, blousey white top? Or a black paperbag-waisted skirt and a chambray denim shirt? (With painted DIY Miu Miu collar, of course!)

If you’d like your own pair, they are available in my Zazzle store:

Swallow Printed Sneakers

(The only bummer is custom sneaks take about 4 weeks to make. Totally worth the wait though – and they’ll arrive just as summer is upon us!)

xoxox
Carly
photo from Style.com

My Designs, Shoes

8 Comments

Question on Booties from DIY Boot-Cover Post

5.15.2010

She’s referring to the above booties.

I received the following question on formspring.me:

Hi! I adore your blog; your DIYs are absolutely fabulous! Anyways, I fell in LOVE with your booties from “How to Make a Pair of Boot-Covers from a Leather Jacket.” Where did you get them?! <3 always, Kaelie

Hi Kaelie! Thank you for your kind words!

Those booties I bought from Forever 21 – in early November 2009. I haven’t seen them since on the website or in the stores, but maybe there’s Ebay? I will mention they are the most hideously uncomfortable shoes EVER – there’s no padding in the sole, so you can feel the ground as you walk on it…and the top of the shoe is cut too high and grates on my ankle bone with every step I take. (You can see it digging into my ankles in the above photo.) The toe-boxes are also made too narrow…ick. They look pretty, though!
xoxox
Carly

Ask me anything

Reader Questions, Shoes

3 Comments

Don’t Buy – D.I.Y.! Ann Demeulemeester Lace-Up Boots

5.14.2010

I’ve been on the fence regarding these boots for awhile because to me, they fall into what I call the “split personality” category: where something looks totally different from the front as it does from the back or the side. These shoes look so chic from the front – but from the side I always felt the heel was a bit too low and clunky-chunky. I just wasn’t into the shape of it – but still wanted a pair of open-front booties for the warmer months of summer.

I was planning on doing a DIY of this style by just buying a pair of boots which had the pieces anchoring the laces separated a bit, with a single piece of material as the toe-box and tongue. (All you would need to do is cut out the tongue and toe box, leaving the sides and laces intact.) But even I’m a sucker for a cheat – if there’s an easier way to do something, I’m all for it!

Enter Forever 21‘s Lace-Up Sandal Heels. As soon as I saw them, I knew they would be perfect – as the only DIY’ing that needs to be done is eyelet punching. Yay for simplicity! I bought them and then set them on my “DIY’s to Do” desk and left them there for a bit while I was too sick to really bother about making things. In the meantime, The Look 4 Less answered a reader question who was searching for an alternative to those Ann D’s with a recommend for the exact same Forever 21′s I had snagged. (Cripes, I’ve searched for over an hour on their site to find the post, but can’t. Sorry!) Well, I’ve been beat to the punch but it finally provided the kick in the pants I needed to do the DIY for these iconic shoes. Very simple (but your hands will hurt afterwards!)

You Need:

*Forever 21 Lace-Up Sandal Heels
*rotary leather punch
*a pack of small silver-tone 1/4″ eyelets (if you can get 2-part grommets, so much the better! I couldn’t find them at my local Jo-Ann’s…Jo-Ann’s = argggggh!)
*eyelet/grommet setter (I used setting pliers)
*small scissors
*pliers

How-To:

1. Remove laces from the shoes.

Using the rotary leather punch, punch holes in the shoe leather about 1/4″ from the edge, where each ribbon lacing anchor is located. I used the second-largest punch on the rotary.

As you can see, the punch doesn’t go all the way through the leather in most cases. (I also then applied the punch from the inside of the shoe for each hole.)

2. Use the small scissors to cut out all the extraneous material that wasn’t punched out of the holes by your pliers – there’s a couple layers to go through, including the outer vinyl, inner lining vinyl, ribbon ends, glue, and in some cases, the inner buckram stiffener, and usually, the pliers can’t handle it.

3. Use the scissors like an awl, and twist them back and forth in the holes to stretch the holes a little larger.

4. Use the scissors to cut off the protruding ribbon ends – what the Forever 21 boots used as lacing anchors for their laces.

5. Set the eyelets (or grommets!) in each hole. Since the eyelet plier setter is a sucky piece of equipment, and the eyelets are equally sucky, I had to go back in with pliers and press down the backs where the eyelets split, leaving jagged metal edges. If you’re using better-quality tools and eyelets (i.e., not Dritz brand) you probably won’t have this problem.

6. Thread the laces through the eyelets in a zig-zag pattern.

Wear proudly! They’re pretty darn good doppelgangers, and the heel is now a little more tapered and chic.

Love!

Not feeling very photogenic today.

Boots worn with Norma Kamali All in One Jersey dress and DIY’d sheer tights.

DIY gray pedicure from this post.

And Lil Tot was so enamored with them that he wanted to pose wearing them as well.

Not sure why his pants are undone. He doesn’t seem to like pants much, considering that the few times I’ve shared his photo on this blog he’s pantless.

Appeals to all ages!
xoxoxo
Carly

P.S. And if I never have to spell “Demeulemeester” again, I will be one happy lady.;-) That, and if I could just get Lil Tot to wear pants done-up for a photo op.

DIY, Shoes

10 Comments

DIY Flowered Ballet Flats

5.09.2010

Like I wrote in an earlier post, I’ve had flowers on the brain. (Thus all those fabric flower patterns in that post, and myThreadbanger roundup.) I was going to do these as a DIY tutorial for my Tuesday Threadbanger post, but then realized they weren’t really worthy of a full-fledged tutorial. I got the idea from a lovely pair of furfur flowered ballet flats I spotted online recently. (I do love furfur!) To make them was almost embarrassingly easy, but here’s the how-to if you guys are interested:

You Need:
*lace ribbon, about 1.5 yds

*white silk flowers
*peachy pink silk hydrangea flower
*dusky blue tea rose/camellia
*pair of Payless American Eagle Eliza Flower Flats in heather gray

and…
*glue gun and glue sticks
*scissors

How To:
Prep Your Parts
1. Heat up the glue gun.

2. Remove the front flowers from your ballet flats – they’re secured by two lines of stitching, and some double-sided tape. Pretty easy to remove.

3. Separate your flowers from their stems. I chose small white flowers that were 3-layered, pulled 3 different-sized petals from the hydrangea to make a single peachy pink flower (I made 4 of these), and pulled the entire blue rose and bud off their stems, and separated them from the plastic centers and stamens.

Lay the Lace

4. Starting out the outer edge of the front of one shoe, lay a line of glue down and press the lace into it. Fold the lace back and forth across the front, laying glue as you go.
5. After you’ve done a couple of swirly loops, cut the ribbon and glue down the end.

Add the Flowers

6. Start at the outer edge with a white flower. Glue each layer separately down.

To make the flowers more “fluffy” I also added glue in the center and folded one side of the petals inward.

7. Add more flowers, alternating colors.

For extra-large petals (like from the rose), I folded the petals in half, quarters, and then eighths, gluing as I went. Then I cut the bottom half-inch off, and glued the top part onto the shoe. In a couple cases I didn’t even need to cut the bottom off; I just folded it down and made a base for the flower thus. The next flower I placed close so you can’t see the folded bottom.

8. Pull off any gluey spiderweb glue “strings” from your project – and wear your flowers on your feet!

Happy DIY’ing!
xoxox
Carly

DIY, Flowers, Shoes

16 Comments

I NEED This Shoe.

5.06.2010

‘Nuff said.

$285 from UnitedNude. Gorgeousssssssssssss.

They also sell the Cherry-colored and the Nude one at Endless.com here for between $142-$144.
But the blue one’s so much bettteerrrrrrrrr, yes?

xoxoxoxo
Carly

can u tell it is late at night and I am dopey/dizzy/up too late?

Objects of Desire, Shoes

9 Comments

How to Make a Pair of Boot-Covers from a Leather Jacket

4.28.2010

After spotting this editorial in Lucky Magazine back in winter, I decided I wanted a foldover-style boot too! So chic – and it visually slims up your legs, working in both casual and more edgy ensembles. But since I always make instead of buying new unless I absolutely must, I’m not going to plonk down 9 on a boot…especially when I already have a whole bunch of shorter boots that will work perfectly as the base (see below).

Here’s how to make your own version, using an old beat-up leather jacket**:
**There are many great options for old leather jackets – I found mine at a Goodwill Outlet store, so it probably cost about total, and it had a huge rip in the back of the jacket (probably the reason why the owner discarded it in the first place!) Charity shops, garage sales, something in your guy’s closet he no longer wears…if you can give an old, distressed piece of clothing a new life, I’m all for it! And if you prefer using vegan alternatives, you can also try this with manmade pleathers or vinyl, sold at many fabric or craft stores. The only issue with pleather vs. leather is that pleather doesn’t breathe as well, and doesn’t have a natural stretch to it as leather does, so trying to push it down over your boot when finished may cause more seam stress. You may have to cut your pleather slightly larger at the bottom to accommodate different boot shapes, and you will likely have to make a lining as manmade leathers usually have a very rough underside that is uncomfortable next to the skin. You could also try fabric, canvas, corderuoy, or denim for an entirely different look!

You Need:

*oversized leather jacket *matching thread
*sewing machine needle for leathers (not pictured) (If you’d prefer not to sew, you can also try gluing the seam together)
*2 pieces flexible craft foam (about 12″ x 18″ each)
*tape
*Loctite Plastic, Fabric, and Vinyl Glue, Barge Cement, or other similar glue for leathers and varied, porous materials
*marking chalk
*shears or leather scissors

and…
*clothespins (optional)
*seam ripper (optional)
*Teflon machine foot (optional)

How-To:
Prep Time:

1. Cut off the sleeves of your jacket with the shears. (NEVER use fabric scissors for cutting leather – it will dull them permanently!)

2. Slide the sleeve (with lining still inside) over your calf, put on the boot you want to cover, and pull the sleeve over it (cuff part at your ankle).

Mark the sleeve with chalk at the bottom where the cuff part is widest in order to accommodate the boot and the amount you want to cover the heel. (We’ll be turning about 1/2″ under later so the cuff will be slightly bulky – make sure the circumference of the sleeve can accommodate this.)
3. Take off the sleeve and remove the linings from both sleeves. Draw the chalk line straight across the bottom of the sleeve you marked, and transfer the markings to the other sleeve as well. Cut at your lines.

Slit your sleeves down the seams (I used a seam ripper to salvage as much of the width of the sleeves as possible.)

4. Cut sleeves straight across at their sleeve caps. Cut the sides of the sleeves straight up from the cuff area to make two rectangles of salvaged leather.
Sew It!

5. Using a machine needle for leathers, sew the vertical seam in your boot-covers together, at about 3/8″. (A Teflon or walking machine foot will help prevent the leather from sticking to the foot as you sew.)

6. Glue down each side of the seam allowance with leather glue, flattening as you go down the seam.

Secure with tape until dry.

7. Place the sleeve inside the sleeve lining, matching up the cuff areas, right sides together. Sew about 3/8″ from the edge all the way around the cuff. (I was having a MAJOR sticking problem with the leather, so that’s why I placed the silky poly lining on top of the leather to sew this.)8. Turn boot-covers right-side out.
Stuff It!

9. I wanted to make a very stiff, faux boot cover that would create the illusion of a rigid calf-high boot, so since jacket leather is quite soft and pliable, I had to make an insert to create structure. I used a piece of craft foam, rolled up and inserted between the lining and the leather outside. Push the foam all the way down to the bottom of the boot-cover, making sure the cuff part doesn’t reveal any lining on the outside. Once inserted all the way, put your hands inside and enlarge the foam roll so it conforms to the shape of the boot-cover. Also make sure that the foam roll seam overlap is at the back of your boot-covers, so no ugly ridge is seen down the front.

10. Trim top of foam down in order to accommodate folding the lining and leather over it.

11. Roll outside leather down slightly and out of the way. Pull lining up and glue edges around the top of the foam, completely covering the foam edge.

Secure with clothespins or tape to allow to dry.

12. When dry, roll leather outer back up, and fold under itself. Glue folded edge to foam inner, and secure with tape until dry.

These boots are now made for walkin’…the only question is whether to pair them with a cute dress or super-short shorts!

And check out m
y blog Chic Steals for more DIY tutorials and leather-working projects, like Sex In the City-style half-scoop gloves, and a fringed leather tote.:-) Don’t worry about the leather from the body of the jacket…we’ll be using that for a great project for Father’s Day coming up soon! And for other shoe-cover tutorials, try …love, Maegan‘s thigh-high spats made from an old leather skirt, or Threadbanger’s own DIY Spats Project!
Thanks for reading – and if you have any questions, ask them in the Comments section below and I’ll do my best to help you out!
xoxox
Carly J. Cais

as posted on Threadbanger.com

Accessories, DIY, My Threadbanger Posts, Remake, Shoes

10 Comments

Don’t Buy…D.I.Y.: Elastic-Banded Pumps

11.23.2009

As evidenced by the above Polyvore I made, elastic-banded pumps are in, in, in. I love how the black stretchy part over the upper contrasts so sharply with a shiny patent.

But I get the weird feeling that these will also be passe in a couple seasons. What to do??? I love that in Japan they’ve taken the idea of shoe-adornment to a whole ‘nother level with shoes that feature removable bands so you can change up your look whenever you get bored.

About $65 for your choice of sweet round-tow pump + silver elastics. And the white shoe on the upper left is over $200, but also comes with scrunchy silver band and thick black elastic bands. A deal, no?

Even though the above shoes were in a magazine a couple years ago (!), you can buy the bands separately (directly above), in red, holographic silver, white, brown, gold, or black, for about $9 a pair here. If I started making sets – like a set of 3 pairs – and sold them for $12, do you think they would catch on in the States?

The concept of shoe bands is kinda similar to shoe clips, but just…bands. (Of course, if you opt to adorn the top of your boot, then maybe Bandits are for you…in all their hideous Mexicana- Native American- Southwestern- inspired glory.

Bandit boot bands pictured above; Salvation Army blanket not included.

Their boot chains, though, are another story – the completely covetable, rip-off lookalike of LitterSF‘s boot chains, only about $20 cheaper. But I digress.)

Bandit boot chains above. Adding to DIY list.

Shoe bands! Right. So why buy when you can…

You guessed it!

D.I.Y. Removable Shoe Elastics…Just for the Hell of It.

I have the skinniest, boniest feet ever. I know.

You need:
*your favorite pair of heeled shoes
*about 8″ elastic
*sewing machine
*thread matching elastic color

This is soooo simple!
1. Start by puting on the pair of shoes you want to adorn with elastics. Wrap a piece of thick elastic around the upper part of your foot (halfway onto your arch). The band needs to go all the way around the pump and overlap about a 1/2″ on the underside, in front of the heel. Make sure it’s tight so it won’t slip down (just not too tight since we don’t want to crush our foot bones!).

2. Cut elastic to correct length.

3. Sew on a sewing machine – just reinforcing the overlap area on the elastic. I’ve found they work best when the elastic overlaps at an angle – NOT one side meeting the other side exactly – to accommodate the curve of your foot. Repeat for other elastic.

See? The meeting of the two ends is at an angle – NOT straight on.
Only really necessary for 1.5″ wide elastic like this; for the thinner types of elastic it doesn’t really matter.

Presto! It’s like you have a whole new pair of shoes!And I also tried adding thinner elastic to the ends of silver vinyl belting for a different look…and sparkly silver ribbon for yet a third look. Both have thinner pieces of elastic sewn onto the ends of the contrasting ribbons. (The elastic is only about 1.5″ long in-between, for the underlay part and to allow the band to slide over the widest part of the shoe at the toe.) You could do virtually anything! Chain overlaid onto stain…frilly ribbon with grosgrain in the center…a line of sequins…anything at all!

Happy DIY’ing!
xoxox
Carly

DIY, Shoes

6 Comments

Fun with a Glue Gun: Flower-Adorned Shoes DIY

6.07.2009

(photos: elle.com)

So I posted about these Junko-Watanabe flower-basket-like confections on FashionTribes.com quite a while ago….

And I wanted to post photos and a how-to for what I made, inspired by said flowery things.

Everything’s coming up flowers in the garden…the rhododendrons are beginning to drop…I have a mutant foxglove that’s like 9 feet tall…my rosebushes are slowly succumbing to roseslugs….but whatcha gonna do. I made these for my feet in-between all the yardwork – and they’re completely maintenance-free.

Here’s how I did it… (sorry for no step-by-step photos; I figured it was self-explanatory;-)

To get the look, pick up some inexpensive nude wedge sandals (try Payless, Go Jane, Target, Dorothy Perkins, Charlotte Russe, Topshop) with an earthy or natural vibe such as bamboo or jute espadrille. (Mine are very similar to what I think was I think a Gucci style from like 2003…remember that bamboo heel? Well, they’re TwoLips, and the heel is plastic, so to make it look more bamboo-y, I drew little vertical lines on the heels with my Sharpie. I just love the result!) Using faux flowers from the craft store (Michaels; JoAnn Fabric – I grabbed a bunch of morning glories for $2.99), cut and attach to the undersides of the straps and twine them around the heels, affixing with a glue gun. Keep them from rubbing on the inside of your straps with a strip of moleskin. To prevent unraveling (cuz that’s a lot of strain in a flower stalk that’s technically not supposed to be bent that much), secure by wrapping the heels with green floral wire here and there (which I realized I forgot to do *before* I took the photo, hello). For maximum impact, wear with a breezy frock or sassy short shorts…or a freakin’ flowered frock for floral overload!!

What do we think?

-Carly J. Cais

DIY, Flowers, Shoes

12 Comments