Lace Up Your Pumps!
November 3, 2011 by Bobbi
Hey, HowDoesShe gals!! I am so excited to introduce a guest poster this week…welcome to Amanda from Carry on…Carry on..! Let’s show her a HowDoesShe welcome! Take it away, Amanda!
I can’t tell you all how happy I am to be here today. I wanna send out a huge thanks to the girls at How Does She? for inviting me here to share my tutorial for lace pumps with you all.
Lace is a huge trend that I am in love with for this Fall. It’s everywhere and can add a touch of romance to just about any outfit. Even though I want to be on trend my recent-college-grad budget really limits my spending. Instead of going without, my ingenuity kicked in and this DIY popped into my head. My motto is “if I can’t afford what I love, I make it instead” and that’s exactly what I did with these lace covered pumps.
Supplies-
Suede or fabric pumps
Lace- A yard will be more than enough
Tacky Glue
Old paint brushDecoupage sealer-I got mine at Michael’s Crafts
First cut out a piece of lace that will cover the main part of the shoe. We will cut out a piece to cover the heel later.
Start gluing the lace onto the shoe starting at the toe. The tacky glue
does not need a ton of it to work so a medium thickness layer with work
fine. We’ll seal it better later.
does not need a ton of it to work so a medium thickness layer with work
fine. We’ll seal it better later.
Next move up and glue the sides of the shoes. I do this one side at a time so I can work with it to make the lace lay flat. This is where it gets a little tricky though. Sometimes the lace doesn’t want to lay perfectly flat. I know the glue would probably still hold it if there were a small bubble in it but I prefer to have it flat so the lace doesn’t want to pull off the shoe.
In order to alleviate this issue I spent time pulling the lace to see which way it laid best, it does take a little work. If it was giving me a problem in one area I made small snips in the excess hanging over the sides which seemed to help.
At the back where the side pieces of lace meet I cut both sides along the back seam so that when I glued it down the two pieces met perfectly and ended up looking like one continuous piece. Honestly you can’t even really tell where the two pieces came together. The lace kind of camouflages the seam.
After the main portion of the shoe is glued I went and snipped off the excess around the bottom and up the sides to the heel, leaving it for
later.
later.
In the middle I made a slice down the center and cut the lace close to the sides leaving about a 1/4 of an inch excess. Then I ran a bead of glue along the inside and folded over the excess to give the top a finished look. Right around the toe I had to make a lot of snips so that the lace folded neatly around the curve.
Now we need to finish the toe and the heel.
Finishing the toe requires a little work. I finish it in steps so that I can get the lace to lay as flat as possible. This is where the lace puckers the most because of the curve so some snipping here can help. It also helps to tug gently on the lace when you’re gluing it down.
I also placed a piece of tape on the excess lace around the toe to help it stay down while the glue dries. Continue gluing the toe until it is completed and dried and then clip the excess off around the bottom.
To cover the heel first cut a piece of lace large enough to cover it. I started by gluing down one side of the heel. Because the heel is curved and tapered this is another spot where you need to work with the lace to make it lay flat. It also really helps to snip the excess like before. Then move to the next side and do exactly the same thing. I did not wrap the lace around to cover the inside. I just didn’t see the need to and I don’t feel my shoe is missing anything because I didn’t. If you want you could totally wrap the entire heel, it’s up to you.
After the heel is dry go around and snip off the excess. For the part on the back where the heel meets the main part of the shoe I cut the excess lace following the original seam of where the heel was attached. This way the lace blends together nicely. Then I ran a small bead of glue where the back and heel met just to be sure the two pieces are
glued down.
glued down.
After the excess lace is all removed, go around and cut the lace more precisely, a small pair of craft scissors would really help at this point. After that if nothing else needs glued go ahead and give the shoes a coat of spray sealer. I chose to use a decoupage sealer because it gives better flexibility than standard sealer. This is important for shoes because you need them to bend and flex as you walk.
Voila! Go enjoy your fabulous new lace pumps now!
I want to thank the How Does She? girls again for having me today!
My blog is full of many other fashion tutorials, so if you’re in the fashion mood I’d love to have you stop and check them out! Here’s a little peek at what I’ve been up to:
Thanks so much for having me girls!
Amanda
{We’re linking up to these parties! Come and see!}
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I often find pumps at thrift stores that fit, but just aren’t CUTE enough. I LOVE this idea to take them to the next level!
You can’t wear them in the rain can you…??? The glue will melt… But I DO LOVE THEM !!!
The sealer prevents them from being ruined. Although I wouldn’t stand in a puddle during a rain storm in these, they are safe to wear outside while walking to your car or into a restaurant or something.
wow… who would have guess it was so easy to make such glamorous pumps. I LOVE this tutorial!
Absolutely adore this idea!! I’m a cute shoe fan on a budget so this idea is wonderful – TFS!
Super cute! THanks for the post!
This is great and quite timely for all those holiday parties coming up!
Oh my gosh what a great tutorial! Lace pumps are SO expensive! This is a great way to make any pump super glamorous very quickly! I’ll be sharing this with my friends
ok…never would have thought of that. love it!
This is great work. I can do with the white tulle? my shoes are white!