Whip It Up Wednesday: Shabby Chic Shoe Revamp

Mmm, I love op-shopping! It's been a long time since I've had a chance to go, but last time I did I found these super comfy Sandler heels for $2.50! It's rare for me to find shoes in my size, my feet are pretty gigantor ;)

They were pretty "Granny" but in a not-cool kinda way. So I decided to go with the Granny vibe, but make them unique! This is what I ended up with:

Do you like them? Here's how to make your own:

What You Need:

* A pair of old shoes!

* Natural coloured linen

* Old lace curtain (also from the op-shop!) or doilies in cream

* Outdoor Mod Podge (you can use other types, but this is a bit better for weather proofing)

What To Do:

Lie one of your shoes face down on your fabric and generously guestimate how much fabric you'll need to cover your shoe. It'll end up being a rough quarter circle (see the 1st picture). Cut this out, then wrap it around your shoe and mark the middle of the foot opening with an air-erasable pen (like in the 2nd picture)

Cut along the line that you just marked. Now, you can start Mod Podging! I found it easiest to start with the top front of the shoe. Mod Podge your fabric to your shoe, being sure to pull it quite taut and push it into any groves, like between the sole and the body of the shoe. This makes sure you don't get wrinkles in the fabric when it dries, and ensures that it's attached well!

When the body of your shoe is covered in fabric (I'll explain the heel in a minute) you want to finish the opening. Snip from the centre line to the edge of the opening wherever you have a curve, so that when you glue the fabric flaps to the inside of the shoe, it sits flat. Here's where I snipped mine:

Glue the flaps to the inside of your shoe.

Next I grabbed my very sharp (but I wish it was even sharper!) scalpel and cut between the sole and body of the shoe, and removed as much excess fabric as I could, but leaving enough to wrap around the heel.

To do the back of the shoe and heel, simply trim your fabric so that you've got enough to have just a slight overlap down the centre back of your shoe, from the very top to the bottom of the heel. If you use thin fabric, you could even fold the edges under to give a nice neat "seam". Do the inside of the heel in the same way.

Repeat for the other shoe, then we can embellish them!

I used some old lace curtain fabric I found at the op-shop, and cut semi-circles of the pattern out. I then Mod Podged these in the same pattern on both of my shoes.

Finally, I gave the shoes a nice thick top coat of Mod Podge to seal everything. Messy!

Let them dry.

Now you can go for a stroll to show off your fancy new feet!