Shoes are most definitely my latest favorite thing to customize, alter and otherwise remake. I took my inspiration for this redo from the fabulous new book
Sweat Shop Paris: Lessons from a Sewing Cafe.
This is what the shoes looked like before their transformation, plain dark brown but the folds offered a great way to divide up the space and use different colors.
How I altered the shoes:
I painted several coats of
Plaid's Extreme Glitter paint onto the different sections of the shoes. I used red and black.
Then I die cut 4 pairs of scissors out of some silver Mylar making sure I did them in mirror images for the right and left shoes using the
Cuttlebug scissor die. One set went on the toes and the other on the outside ankle area.
To glue the scissor on I used
Tacky Glue and a toothpick.
Then all that was left to do was add a few coats of
Crafty Chica Glossy Gloss Varnish to give them that glitter patten leather look and protect the scissors.
If you are a fan of the "redo" I bet you will live this beautiful and inspiring book!
More about the book from the publisher Andrews McMeel Universal:
Sweat Shop Paris: Lessons from a Sewing Cafeby
Martena Dusss and Sissi Holleis
Sweat Shop Paris: Lessons from a Sewing Cafe brings the namesake Paris Sweat Shop founded by Martena Duss and Sissi Holleis to North America with more than 50 DIY fashion and home projects, including instructions and more than 200 helpful, inspiring full-color photographs. The first "cafe couture" sewing shop in Paris, the Sweat Shop was named to highlight the questionable nature in which store-bought clothing is sometimes made. Instead of rewarding dubious labor practices, the Sweat Shop and
The Sweat Shop Book inspire crafters to make something unique with their own sweat equity and creativity.
Crafters meet at the cafe and share ideas while renting equipment by the hour. In addition, classes teach novices how to sew, knit, crochet, and much more.
In March 2010, Martena Duss and Sissi Holleis opened the Sweat Shop, the first sewing cafe in Paris, near the trendy boutiques of Canal St. Martin. Duss is a Swiss makeup artist. Holleis is from Austria, where she had her own fashion store and label. In addition to carving a niche in Parisian society, the Sweat Shop has been featured in publications such as
Vogue, Elle, the
New York Times, Le Monde, the
Guardian, and
Marie Claire.