Grey Soft Sole Shoes

Shortly after finishing my last pair of shoes I started a new pair.  I used the exact same pattern but made them up using a grey upholstery weight cotton that has printed images of crochet on it.  I got the shoes to the point where I was ready to put on the sole and just felt totally underwhelmed by them.  They're OK, but they're not WOW! 

original shoes that just don't excite me.

I havn't added the hard sole material so you can still see the bright green undersole.

I decided I wanted to try the same fabric but in a different type shoe - I wanted to go back to my little ankle strap shoes.  I modified the pattern a little, taking out the sides and raising the height at the back a little and was pretty happy with the final shape -

I added a strap that is just sewn the the top of the heel of the shoe and closes with a grey snap.

I did have to take a couple of darts in the heel piece - I've transferred those onto the pattern now for my net pair.

This time I decided I wanted the shoes to be soft soled rather than using the hard soling material so I just cut the undersole piece out of my soft sole material and left a small gap in the seam attaching it to the shoe to turn it inside right and add the innersoles (2 pieces of craft foam cut to shape).  I then hand sewed the gap closed.

(Normally I sew this undersole piece on entirely and then cut a slit in the middle of it to turn it inside right and add the innersoles - this slit is then hand sewn back up  as shown in the picture below.  This is then covered with the hard sole).

I like these shoes a lot better than the originals so I may save my good hard sole material for a different pair of shoes.  I'm thinking on using the ballet flat ones to experiment with making a boot.  I've got a good base now I just need to build it up a bit.