Not only does Pinterest have a slew of projects to start from scratch, recipes that you need to buy all new ingredients for, and projects that call for extremely precise material, but the projects I enjoy the most are the Revamps. The ones where you have this old table and you create a window seat out of, a shirt that becomes a hand bag, or nasty thrift store pair of shoes that become one of a kind party pumps!
I am all for a deal, and this project is just that.
If I weren't hoarding new/used shoes that together make up the entirety of my heart and soul, which they do, I am a serious shoe whore, I give all of them a little lovin' I can never stick to just one, anyways if I weren't all of those things I would have (willingly) sacrificed an afternoon and a pair of shoes to test this out. But alas, the hubbs has our one working car at his work today, and I love all my size 7 babies too dearly to put one of them on the chopping block. If I did have the car today though, you could bet your lucky beans that I would be out thrifting for a new pair.
I look forward to saving this one for another day though.
Here is Mandy's attempt at this shoe revamp:
The Original
Turning this...
Into this!
Both photos courtesy of : http://www.lovemaegan.com/2011/11/houndstooth-shoes-diy.html
Awesome right!!! Well Mandy's didn't turn out like she was hoping, and i think there are a few things that contributed to her $1 investements ultimate demise.
The Pinstrosity
The Before:
Can I just add that I love that she used old homework as her backdrop instead of newspaper? Stickin' it to the man!
The After:
So no, not awful, and I highly doubt anyone will be on floor level investigating your shoes for accuracy in the DIY department, however there are a few things to help this go a little smoother.
Fabric choice: The original (which I highly recommend you read through ALL of the directions if you are going to do this, Mandy did, and she still had some hiccups, the Love Maegan original tutorial is very good) blogger used cotton fabric. For any of our sewers out there, you would recognize this glittery fabric that Mandy used as very difficult to work with because it is slick. It just performs different and can tend to bunch at seams and what not. So that is suggestion number one, use cotton.
How much fabric: While the original blog doesn't give you an actual total of amount of fabric that she used, but I would venture that she went ahead an got a good solid yard. That way if something catastrophic happens, you have more on hand right then. Also you aren't scrimpin' for extra if its 11pm, you are wearing the shoes in the morning too a wedding and you are out of fabric and JoAnn's is closed. Hey!Crazier things have happened, have you read this blog?!
Glue: The original calls for Modge Podge and fabric glue, but mostly Modge Podge. This is probably one of those projects where you just can't substitute unfortunately, seems that happens a lot doesn't it? That may have been another problem that came up for Mandy, she used 50/50 glue and water, not such a good idea, next time hold out for the real stuff, it's easier to work with, it isn't too expensive, and you will know exactly how it will perform.
I will say that this one looks like it is a bit time consuming (the original says that as well), but if you are really wanting to revamp those old 80's pumps, (which are back in style, so maybe hold out a few years lol) than I hope you have some patience.
Another thing to think about is pattern, if you do mess up on the shoe and need to squeak in a little extra piece here and there, you are going to have a heck of a time matching things up if you are working with say Hounds tooth, Maegan is a brave and confident woman! So maybe practice before going all out!!! Especially if you REALLY love your one of a kind fabric and it is hard to find.
Good luck Pinstrosipeeps! Has anyone had luck with this?! Any tips or tricks?!
My biggest tip would be to not use shoes with any sort of decor on them, that seems to be the worst bit of it all, you can see where the bow is and there's a weird bulge. In the future I'd stick to the plain shoes or at the very least remove the bow/lacing before trying to cover over it?
ReplyDeleteI did remove the bow and lacing, but there was still a bulge because of the way it was sewn on. :(
DeleteIs that the knit lamé? You'll have to tell us how that holds up - I've made garments with it and found it very fragile.
DeleteThe original seems to have used a pair of unworn shoes, so they don't have any tricky creases from the shoe flexing that you can see on the pinstrosity. Although that kind of defeats the purpose of a revamp, to my mind.
ReplyDeleteVery lovely! Lots of braveness amongst...
ReplyDeleteCan we finally put to rest the idea that 50/50 white glue/water is the SAME as ModPodge? It is not the same. They are chemically different so it is not reasonable to be surprised that they give different end results.
ReplyDeleteI would think that the kind of fabric you use would have a huge effect on the outcome of the project. This kind of project needs a fabric with a lot of 'give'.
-Mary
I wonder if a fancy Duck tape would work better to cover shoes? Then you wouldn't have to work with Modge Podge :)
ReplyDeleteWhat about a patchwork kind of look? You could use pinking shears and a couple different colors or designs of fabric and it would give just about any shape/style of shoe a cute revamp without the need to be so precise... I'm thinking ballet flats would be cute!
ReplyDeleteIf you look closely at the houndstooth where the heel meets the shoe, you'll see that there is a clear and intentional seam. I suspect this pro removed the heel and covered it separately, or at the very least planned her cutting and trimming just right to make sure the edges met there and then 'tucked' her edges in between heel and sole (you know, the way we tuck in sofa covers...) :)
ReplyDeleteIf I hadn't seen the fabric in the first shot, though, I'd call 'fake' and tell you to google 'hydrographic process'. Heck, google it anyway and watch. It's amazingly cool.