Sunday, July 15, 2012

Tutorial- Fabric Covered Canvas Shoes

Let me start by saying...I have a pair of grey Toms and I love them!!  I wear them all the time (except right now because it is like a million degrees outside).  
my toms :) 
But then I saw these Toms on Pinterest.   They are SUPER cute and I fell in love.  (Etsy, fabric covered Toms- here) Unfortunately, I am a poor college student and my birthday is not until October.  
Custom Fabric upholstered Toms

So I decided to try my hand at decorating my own shoes and I am SO happy with the result!  :) 

Here is my advice on how to make your own fabric covered shoes!
As mentioned before, I am a poor college student so when I had a good coupon for Kohls, I went and picked up a grey pair of Bobs.  I paid less then 20 dollar, which was GREAT :) (Link here
Skechers BOBS Earth Day Flats

The first step is to pick out the fabric.  I bought 1/8 of a yard of 4 different fabrics which was plenty. I also bought fabric glue (I used Fabric-Tac, permanent).  It worked really well!  Additional Supplies- Scissors, X-Acto Knife, and Mod Podge.  

The first step is to lay the fabric over the designed area. I started with the side of the shoe, then did the front sections, and finally the back.  Lay the fabric down and make sure it lays flat, especially around the curves of the shoes.  (PS- All the pictures I show are of the back of the shoe, hopefully it makes sense how to do it with the other parts...)
adding fabric to the back of the shoe. 
Next glue down the fabric, in sections.  If you do it all at once you risk bunching the fabric.  

Put LOTS of glue down (well...not a ton, but a good amount) then press the fabric down.  Check to make sure all the nooks and crannies have glue, otherwise the cutting part is very difficult.  
adding glue, notice all the places I missed!  :) 
Next, using scissors, cut of the excess fabric around the shoe.  DO NOT cut all the way to the shoe, leave a little bit of fabric left to cut exactly with the knife.  



Using the X-Acto knife, cut the remaining fabric carefully!  In some places, I found that I could push a little bit of fabric into the seams, making the fabric look like part of the shoe.  


That's basically how you cover the shoes.  One slightly difficult part is the back of the shoe, where the logo is. When you glue down the fabric, make sure to glue around the logo but not over the logo.  
When the rest of the back is down, use the knife to locate the logo and cut a slit in the fabric, without cutting the logo.  

Carefully, using scissors or the knife (I used both) , cut around the logo.  

This is one of the spots that you can push the extra fabric (not very much, maybe 1/2 cm worth) underneath the label.  

Still needed to finish the bottom of the shoe!  
Finally, I used Mod-Podge to go around the edges of fabric in order to secure the fabric down.  I used my finger to blend in the Mod-Podge into the fabric a little more. 
Do you like the pencil? I had no paintbrush :)
And TA-DA, here is the final result! :) 

Awkward foot picture :)

So, what do you think? Would you decorate a pair of shoes?  I think I am ready to do another pair already!
  
Maybe like this--- What my shoes looked like after the first piece of fabric!  I really liked it like this but I wanted to use all my fabric too!  


Coming up next-- Crafting T-shirt quilt, Decorating dish towels for my apartment, Picture frame decorations, and road games for my little brothers for our road trip!  

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