Creating Designer Shoes - Pumps - Heels - To Match a Dress - Part 2

I realized when I got online today that my post for yesterday didn't post for the day. Since it was a draft, it posted way back in June when I made the shoes. Sorry about that. 

I want to finish up my post about these adorable shoes that we made to match the cute 50's dress that Princess Five wore in the pageant she was in. 

I haven't ever gone to this extreme when working on shoes but I think they are adorable and well worth the work.

There is a video on yesterdays blog showing how these were black pumps that we purchased at a second hand store for $3. We bought them as they have the rhinestone oval like the front of her dress. 
 
I painted them and then sprayed them with a clear coat of semi-gloss. Also, there was a sticker inside them and to get the sticky out of the shoe, you can use turpentine which will take the sticky sticker off without damaging the inside of the shoe. 

Then, I cut long strips of tulle that were large enough to glue to the base of the shoe and then fold over and gather them creating folds. 

However, you wouldn't have to gather it all the way around but where there is a curve at the front you would need to have some overlap. 

Make sure to use a Popsicle stick so you don't burn your fingers but it makes it easier to push the fabric into folds and overlaps. 

Once you have glued the tulle or fabric onto the shoe, you can then take a soft binding or ribbon and glue it over the tulle edges on the inside of the shoes so that it isn't scratchy when you are wearing it. 

If the fabric you use is soft, you may not need to do that.However, if you want it to look more "finished" you may want to line it anyway. 

If the hot glue dries thick or bumpy, you can take the hot edge of the hot glue gun and hold it against the inside of the shoe where the glue is hard and remelt it and scrape it flat so that it won't irritate the skin. 

I used a permanent black marker to cover any glue that showed or any tulle or fabric that may be covering the base or heel area. 

You could use black paint also for that part but if you are using fabric, you could actually fold the raw edge in and glue it folded over so there wouldn't be a raw edge on the bottom and then glue the top inside and cover it with the ribbon so the bottom would be a nicer edge. This wouldn't work with the tulle as the glue would show through. 

I think this could be really cute with colorful outfits that would be hard to match. You could take lace or rick-rack and just glue it all over the place at diagonals to make cute designs. Even different thicknesses of the rick-rack would be very fun. 

You can see how well the shoe matches the dress. In the picture, you can't really tell but the tulle is in triangles in the bottom of the dress to make it full and give it a wider fuller base so it "twirls" so the tulle matches perfectly as it came with the dress. She feels so beautiful when she wears it. 

This was a fun new craft that really worked for us. Give it a try and let us know how it worked for you.