I Want Candy!!!

It occurred to me as I uploaded my last blog post that I never posted a how-to on my Marie Antoinette inspired shoes.  I also noticed that my pin with the pictures showing the before and after on Pinterest has been repinned many many times so I guess I should post a tutorial. I did these shoes almost 10 years ago so here goes nothing.

Items needed 

Pair of shoes preferably with a court heal

Fabric about 1 yard I used a scrap of Pink Moire Taffeta

Trim I used Soutache Braid

Modge Podge

Hot Glue Gun

Binder or Wonder Clips

An old butter knife

Exacto knife

Sponge brush

E-6000 glue

A piece of card stock or heavy leather

Ribbon

Buttons or Earrings 

Patience lots of patience

The first thing I did was run the Exacto knife around the shoe where the top of the shoe meets the sole to loosen the glue.  Next you will need to cut fabric to cover the front of the shoe if you are using a shoe that doesn't have breaks like mine, you will need to make sure the fabric will stretch around the entire shoe and meet in the back of the heel. The fabric will need to be cut on the bias to allow it to stretch and be manipulated. Start by coating the shoe with the Modge Podge starting at the toe and working back, go slowly, in sections. Be careful, work the fabric around until there are no bubbles.

When you are happy with the placement of the fabric, trim the fabric so you have 1/4 inch or less on the edges, using the butter knife tuck the fabric into the shoe where you loosened the sole earlier. Run a thin bead of the E-6000 glue around the bottom to glue the sole back to the upper part of the shoe.

 I didn't bother to tucking the fabric at the heel or loosening the glue because I knew I was going to add trim.

Next cover the heel and trim the fabric close especially at the bottom.

You don't need to do this step, you can just start decorating from here adding trim and ribbons.  I don't have any photos of the next part but I measured across the vamp and cut a piece of heavy card stock, actually if memory serves I may have doubled or tripled the pieces of card stock, if you have a sturdy piece of shoe leather it can be used instead. Next I covered the cardstock with more fabric leaving an extra 1/2 in strip at the bottom to glue onto the shoe I added trim to the piece so I wouldn't have to fiddle with it once I glued it to the shoe. Using the E-6000 to glue it and also my hot glue gun to hold it in place. To my surprise it held! If you have binder clips or wonder clips, you can use those to hold the piece until the glue dries. 

The bottom of the card stock piece has the extra flap of fabric glued down. I then used more Soutache braid to hold the bottom down, again the combination of hot glue and E-6000. 

 After it dried, came the fun part, adding trim and decorating! Let your imagination go wild! 

I wanted mine to look like a decadent birthday cake.

The more trim and decorations the happier these shoes made me!

Again let your imagination run wild, remember this is the era of Marie Antoinette and

 Madam du Berry so don't hold back. 

So that's it! I have had these shoes for almost 10 years now and wore them to Pirate Day at the Renaissance Faire at the Santa Fe Dam in Irwindale and they held up and are still good to go.  I know this look isn't anywhere near Renaissance but there is a story behind it.  Not bad for a project I came up with two days before the Faire after watching Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette" a few too many times. 

 The total look, you can find a tutorial for the tricorn hat here

 A bit of whimsey, I thought these green stockings were perfect with all the pink. 

This is probably one of my favorite costumes ever and most of it happened by accident.