Shoes and Shoes

It's been about a year since my last round of shoe making so it must be time to start again.  My last shoes are actually still doing ok - Since I missed most of this summer I haven't had much of a chance to wear the last lot so they are still in OK condition - but I decided I wanted a new pair anyway.

In fact I decided I wanted to make two pairs.  The first was going to be soft soled and the second have a solid sole.

I used the same pattern that I used to make my last pair of grey shoes as these are definitely my favourites.  This time I used some of the batik fabric left over from my zipper dress.  I used the same fabric for the top and the lining but interfaced the tops with heavy weight interfacing.  The bottom was then made from the soft soling material that I still have in stash.

I used three layers of the craft foam inside the soles for comfort - this is possibly a bit much as they do get a bit scrunched up inside the shoe - two would probably be better.

I love these shoes and have worn them numerous times already in the last week since I finished them - and since they have so many colours in them they seem to go with everything!

The second pair have taken a bit longer to finish.  They are made from a black fabric with colourful music notes all over them.  The lining material I used for these was a bright green with small circles.  I should really have just used the same material as I did for the batik shoes as the green is a bit glaring against the black.

These I made the bottom sole out of the green lining fabric and then glued it onto the solid sole material using concrete cement.  This was a really bad idea as when the sole didn't sit perfectly against the shoe the green shows and looks really bad.

So I went around with a sharpie and coloured it in, but next time I will remember to make the sole black so it doesn't stand out.

Still a few tweaks needed on this pattern if I'm to use it with the solid sole - maybe next time.  However the soft soled version is as close to perfect as I feel the need to get.