So my plan was to make a pair of warm snuggly knee high boots - I have a couple of pairs of knee high boots that I love, but generally to get boots to fit around my huge calves they tend to be very wide around the knee - I wanted to try and make a pair of fitted boots that zipped up.
I was browsing my favourite shoe brand the other day Socofy. I love their shoes but have never bought a pair - the problem being that when I look at their size chart I need a size 5 in length but a 9 in width so I just don't know what to buy. But anyway I was browsing one day and found this pair of boots that I loved. So of course I decided I needed to try and made myself something similar.
These black and white paisley corduroy pants. I loved these pants but the material did not stand up to the everyday wear that they were subjected to and I ended up with a great big hole in the seat of the pants. I tried patching it, but once it ripped a second time I gave up...... But now I could see them being reborn as a pair of knee high boots!
I would have loved to been able to find some red leather to really emulate my inspiration pair, but that was not to be, so instead - for the leather portions - I used leather (or fake leather as the case may be) reclaimed from a pair of old knee high boots, these were cheap and after a couple of wears the heel collapsed and they were so uncomfortable to wear.
A couple of years ago I took one of them apart with the plan to remake them but never got around to it. So the good news is I was finally able to put them to good use.
I used the studded portion from the knee as the front part of my boot and the "leather" from the leg as the heel. I was then able to get the little bits I wanted for the top of the boot out of the scraps I had left over.
The zippers for the boots I salvaged off an old suitcase that I was throwing out.
To make the boots really cozy and warm I lined the insides with some black fuzzy material that I had left over from making myself a cardigan.
I used a small piece of the leather as the undersole but I'm not sure it this was the best idea as when I went to glue on the actual sole I had a big problem getting the bottom of the shoe to sit flat against the sole and as such I've ended up with some big unsightly gaps around the sole where you can see the glue which I'm really not happy with,
I also find that despite making the ankle as tight as I could I still get sagging and rumpling around the ankle. I'm still not sure what I can do about that.
I'm not totally in love with these boots. There's something about the way the front of the boot sits that just isn't quite right - and I'm still not convinced that I didn't use the left front piece on the right boot and vice versa - it would explain a lot.
So I'm going to wear these for a while and see how they go and then I may have to try again. I'm a bit sad that I've wasted this beautiful material but maybe I can salvage it if I can ever get the pattern to work properly.
a very challenging make- I think wearing them for a while will definitely give you a feel for them and maybe help with balancing the fit, it could also allow the fabric to settle and become more comfortable. do you think a felt fabric would work with these, I have not worked with felt much but I am wondering if the 'springness' of wool felt would be useful in the shaping of the boot?
ReplyDeleteOhh I've never thought about using felt. I feel like that would work really nicely....but it probably wouldn't be very waterproof - I was hoping for something I can wear in just about any weather. Still I might have to try it anyway cause I think a pair of felt boots would be really cool!
DeleteIt’s hard for me to see all the problems when looking at them. They look good from the pictures, but I understand how you feel—you as the maker see the areas where they aren’t what you want. Wearing them around to evaluate them seems like a good idea. Hopefully that will help you bring any future pairs more in line with your vision. I hope you get some you like sometime! These are a cool concept. I don’t know if this is your type of thing, but I have seen wooden shoe bases on Etsy. You would probably have to staple or nail the tops to those.
ReplyDeleteWell I'm glad to hear that they look better than they feel at least. I did wear them for a full day and they were OK but a bit pinching around the toes. I'll have to go and look at those wooden shoe bases and see if its something I could use. I love the idea but hate to wear anything with a heel.
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