Something Old Into Something New

So today i am bringing you a DIY on how to bring an old pair of shoes back to life! i remember back in high school i didn’t have a lot of money or a part time job but i loved updating my wardrobe and finding my own style. I would see pictures on pinterest from high fashion to street style and i try to figure out how i could get that same look. Sometimes i couldn’t find certain styles of clothes i wanted so i’d thrift shop some of my clothes and accessories and alter them when i got home. I remember i taught myself to sew and i would cut and tear old clothes from value village and bibles for missions and do a very quick sew job and some things i made probably didn’t always look the best, but it was very accomplishing knowing i had taken the time and made something with my own two hands instead of buying it. As my dad likes to call it, “High fashion on a budget” (lol). I do have to say i was very lucky and my mom treated me to new clothes a few times a year from my favorite retailers and i still to this day appreciate that she made sure i looked my best and knew just because i was a plus size teen i deserved the same styles my friends had.

Let’s get started.

so, as the thumb nail says we are taking a plain old flat shoe….

 and transforming it into a very classic and chic pair of tasseled loafers!

You will need the following:

1. the shoe you are transforming (bought last fall, 10$ clearance Walmart)

2. glue gun

3. sharpie

4. leather lace string (3.99 from a bracelet making kit Michael’s)

5. tassels(3.99 clearance from Michael’s, there were silver ones and other colors)

first step,

as the glue gun is heating up, take the piece of leather lace and two tassels and fish the tassels onto the lace. you should have at least 3 inches of lace on either side of the tassels..

before you cut the lace away from the generous strand of leather your working with.

after you cut, next we will tie a knot ONCE and then TWICE so it make a thick knot on top of the two tassels and should make the two arms of leather lace on the sides much shorter.

Second step,

grab the shoe, and start playing around on where you want to set the tassels exactly. When you find a good spot just take the sharpie and put a dot where exactly you want it.

Now, about the extra lace on the sides of the tassel, this is where you want to make your own judgement If you want to snip them off, or incorporate them onto the shoe. I, myself am just trimming the lace pieces down and hot gluing them along side the tassels as a decorative edge. Some loafers do have a small bar across the top of the tassel, probably to keep them more secure on the shoe, but its up to you.

Alright, now we are going to take the glue gun (side note, if you’ve got them wear a work glove when gluing to be safe, it hurts when you get direct hot glue on a finger i did not wear gloves but learn from me, okay? lol) glue the back side of the knot and attach the glue side to the dot we marked on the shoe.

with your gloved hand, press together the glued down knot, to the back of the shoe for a minute to get the most stability.

as you can see the leather lace pieces are very long, so i cut off half of their length, but this is where you can chop them off if you don’t want them, and that means you’re done!

as for the peeps that want to glue the leather lace pieces down,

i just drew a line of glue and placed the leather piece into the glue with a Q-tip to prevent burning myself.

(p.s, if your more of a stickler then i am and don’t want to see the clear glue marks, you can either clean them up with some form of glue removal or sharpie them in to blend into the shoe. (which is what i did because i left quite a few glue marks but i wasn’t overly careful.)

after these steps you should have something chic like these!

BOOM! Ahhhh this is so cool to me still! (lol) like i could have bought a pair like this from aldo for like 89$ but i spent a mere 8$ to make these!!

I really honestly hope you can navigate yourself through these steps, this was my first DIY post and i’m also not the greatest at explaining myself (lol). i hope you guys have as much fun as i did with this quick easy DIY and if you have any questions about any stuff i bought or any step just email me from the contacts page. happy DIY-ing!

-Marki xx