About a month ago, I purchased these cute little wedges at a local department store called Peebles. Do you have one of those in your town? It's like a mini Kohls. It opened in our tiny rural town about 18 months ago, and I have gotten a lot of great deals there.
Aren't they Totally Fabulous? Normally, I don't go for metallics or patent leather, but the Pewter color of these... well lets just say, I completely fell head over heals in love, and the ruffle detail is to Die for.
Because of my recent sewing successes, and my love for the ruffle detail on those shoes, I thought I might try to dress up a pair of simple little black ballet flats I own.
Here is the "Before" shoe... basic black flat from Walmart (or maybe Target).
Here is the "After Shoe"... another Totally Fabulous shoe with the ruffle detail to Die for.
Sorry for the lack of step by step photos, but I was kind of winging it as I went. Basically, each shoe has two strips of fabric that are ruffled in the middle.
1). I cut (4) strips of scrap cotton fabric, each 1-5/8" x 9", which I then folded and pressed the long raw edges 1/8". I used a little bit of fabric glue to hold the fold.
2). I then folded a strip in half and measured down 2.5" from the fold, and that's were I started my gathering stitch.
3). Holding the strip flat in my hand, I did the gathering stitch for five inches. I knotted the thread at the start of the stitch, and once I had gathered the material to the desired ruffle fullness, I knotted the other end.
4). I then repeated the process on the three remaining strips.
5). I took one strip (the bottom one) and positioned it on a shoe. I held it in place with tape while I marked where the excess fabric would be cut off at the sole.
6). I then cut off excess on one side.
7). I hot glued the strip in place on that side, at the sole.
8). I pulled the strip tight and marked and cut the excess on other side, at sole.
9). I then hot glued the strip in place on that side as well. I also added a little bit of glue on top of the shoe to help hold the ruffle in place.
10). I then repeated steps 5-9 for top strip. Once everything was positioned to my liking, I added a little bit of glue under the flat edges of the top strip and the exposed edge of the bottom strip.
11). I then did the other shoe.
And Voila...
I think they're pretty darn Cute!!
And BTW, to go along with my cute "New" old shoes, I followed Rachel's tutorial at
Holy Craft on how to turn an old pair of jeans into "New" Skinny Jeans.
So this morning, while my husband hunted, I kept myself busy. After loading the dishwasher, scrubbing the toilets, and feeding my two youngins lunch, by 2:00pm, I had two "New" fashion items using "Old" things I already owned. An adorable pair of shoes and a great pair of jeans.
I'm linking up here... be sure to go check out all the other awesome ideas.
This project was Featured here...
