Tag Archives: shoes

15

RAINBOW RIBBON BOOTS

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Well, time to being showing off the wedding clothes! The boots seem an appropriate place to start, seeing as I’ve posted about them a few times already (and half the comments on my Animal Collective tee were asking about the boots!).

rainbow ribbon boots at burning man

Black Rock City in the background! I totally love this picture Jason took.

rainbow ribbon boots

As soon as we got engaged, I planned on wearing some handmade Thai boots from Siamese Dream Design. And while I love my boots to death, they weren’t completely comfortable. I was fine wearing them all day, but so happy to take them off at night. I wanted something better, and might as well make it myself!

rainbow ribbon boots

I had made the base of the boot in 2011, the night before we left for Burning Man. And they rocked! I loved the gold, which wasn’t too shiny. I used a zip-top sneaker from Kmart at the base and glued the gold cover on with E6000. It’s held up with no problem, making that stuff the greatest glue ever. As I was making these boots at midnight the night before we left for Burning Man, there are no pictures!

This year I replaced the old, slightly too tight zipper with a fabulous teal and gold zipper. I used red upholstery thread (from my Grandma’s sewing room) and sewed it by hand. And then came the trim… I spent $50 at Lincoln Fabrics on all these beautiful ribbons and trims, and picked up a few other pieces at Fabric Planet. The fabrics and zippers were in my stash, but pretty much none of the trims.

rainbow ribbon boots rainbow ribbon boots rainbow ribbon boots rainbow ribbon boots

Most of it is sewn by machine, which made the decorating a breeze! Some of it is glued on. This time around, I switched to Beacon fabric glue. I’ve had great results on other projects, but it wasn’t tough enough to hold all the trim in place on the boots. Which isn’t to say that it’s a bad glue (it was much easier to work with and smell than E6000). I’ll be picking off the old glue and re-attaching the trim at the bottom of the boot, and hand-sewing the rest.

I lined the shaft of the boot with some cotton jersey I had left over from leggings, so they are comfortable to wear with short socks.

I wore the boots throughout the week. They were eye-catching and much remarked upon, but most importantly: they were always comfortable! And perfect for the wedding.

facing the future

Yes, this picture again! It’s one of my favorites! In fact, Blake transferred it onto a wooden board and it’s hanging up in our living room.

1

RAINBOWS ON THE SOLES OF HER SHOES

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Literally, people have pulled over on the side of the road to ask me where I got these shoes. They are attention grabbing and generate a lot of conversation, plus I think they’re fabulous.

rainbows on the soles of her shoes rainbow shoes

pre-rainbow shoes I got the tan cotton shoes at Payless for $10, and used acrylic paint to spice them up. The shoelace is a white metallic cording I had lying around, and it’s the perfect final touch.

In other news, I’ve been busy generating stock for markets and all your holiday shopping, plus a million little projects (and a couple bigger ones). I’ll get my Halloween costume posted before it’s completely irrelevant, plus I’ve been working on a great little party dress for our upcoming trip to Vegas.


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RAINBOW PLAYA BOOTS

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I’d been eying some retro spacey boots for a couple months, and one night randomly found them on Ebay. In my size. For $10. You know what happened next. As it turns out, metallic gold puffy boots are a little too subtle for me, so I had to modify.

the original shoe playa boots

Right away I ripped off the Rubber Duck label on the velcro strap. Anyone who knows me from my college days knows that I’m quite fond of rubber ducks, but branding is simply not part of my aesthetic.

The next step was to cover the gold-colored suede and rubber. My first choice would have been to use liquid paint and serenely cover the fabric while sitting at the kitchen table–just this thought greatly relaxes my costume-sewing-induced panic. But I didn’t have silver paint, paint pens looked incredibly crappy, and there was some nice chrome spray paint just wasting away in the closet. So I carefully taped around all those curves and happily painted my alley silver.

the original shoe playa boots

Surprisingly, the now silver-and-gold boots still felt a little boring. At this point I also noticed that the silver paint was not sticking to the rubber band between the boot and the sole. The best way to decorate this area naturally seemed to be rainbow elastic and sequin trim, which I attached via hot glue gun.

rainbow boots rhinetastic

There was no point in stopping here, so I also sewed some rhinestones where the tag used to be.

These boots are comfortable, very warm, and now totally bad ass. Definitely worthy for the playa, and they might even be the tipping point for getting me to venture to snowy climes this winter! I wore them to a Burning Man party this weekend and they were perfect. And I have to admit that now I want a pair in every juicy color.