Sailor Inspired Shoe Redo

About

You Will Need (13 things)

Steps (12 steps, 240 minutes)

1. 1

   Decide where you want your boots to stop if you are going to cut them. Using a DARK Marker, mark your lines on boot a and then copy the pattern thru the paper. Mark your second boot make sure both side match or are close enough that only you will know.

2. 2

   Ok, both boots are marked where you are going to cut them. Grab your scissors and cut. I cut off the top of my boots and down the front where the laces go thru the eyelets. I squared off the part where you lace the boots up.

3. 3

   This is what the fronts look like

4. 4

   this is where I put steps backward. skip to step 5 then come back to this step (painting).
   * Painting your shoes- clean the outside of your shoes with rubbing alcohol or acetone. Get all of the shine off of them if there is a shine, if the boots are leather very lightly scuff the shine off of them. Once you have them all clean, grab your paint. I used 2 different paints, Jacquard Neopaque paint (white) and Americana Multi Surface Acrylic Satin. Paint your shoes/boots evenly, make sure there are no blobs or runs. At this point you can coat the shoes with mod podge to give them a sheen or make you feel more safe that your paint will not come off when you are wearing your shoes.

5. 5

   This is a piece of plastic out of the bottom of a reusable shopping bag. It worked out perfect for the purpose it is going to serve. On the shoe fronts, where I cut (where laces go) I glued a piece of this between the top and bottom layer of the fabric. I wanted to be sure that when I laced the boots the fabric would not rip. See following 2 pictures

6. 6

   Plastic between top and bottom layer of fabric

7. 7

   once I cut the plastic to fit in the area it needed to be glued, I coated the plastic with glue on both side, pressed it into place and put bobby pins around to hold everything until it dried.

   *NOW go back to painting your shoes (sorry) trial and error

8. 8

   Punching your holes, I bought this about 6 years ago. I never had a use for it and thought many times about getting rid of it (Good thing I didn't) . So now that your shoes are dry and your plastic is glued in place, mark where you want your shoelace holes to be. Once marked, punch your holes.

9. 9

   I glued piping around the cut edge to hide where I had cut the boots. Once the piping was dry, I used a pack of wide double fold bias tape to create a ruffle. I did iron out the second fold in the bias tape to make the length a little longer. I just did a simple straight stitch with a needle and thread to make the ruffle. Once I completed the ruffle, I glued it onto the inside of the boot just around the top, secured the ruffle in place with bobby pins and waited for it to dry. Once dry, I re-glued just to be safe.

10. 10

    so, this was the outcome. I decided that I wanted a decoration on the heel because the white was just so.... white.

11. 11

    and then I painted anchors on the heels, and sealed them with mod podge.

12. 12

    This is what they look like on, yes the color is different then the first time I painted them. I needed a lighter blue and I also coated them with outdoor mod podge, I did NOT like the shine from the mod podge. If you have any question, please let me know. Also please share with me if you create some outstanding shoes of your own!!