Hello, Everyone! This is Lomi, and today I'm sharing a way to make doll shoes, since my
new YID needs a pair to go with her dress. It's easier than you might think. As usual,
the pattern is available on my website, and you can find the link to it below.
For these shoes, you'll need fabric for the upper; I'm using satin, which is pretty thin,
so I've added some lightweight interfacing to make it hold its shape better. You'll also
need a lining fabric. This is cotton. A cover for the inner soles, which I've made
with thin vinyl; cardboard backing for the inner soles; and the outer sole. I'm using
slightly damaged scraps of vegetable tanned leather. You don't have to use leather--you
can also use craft foam, vinyl, cork sheets, or something similar.
So let's get started.
First, glue the inner sole to the cardboard. I'm using Aleene's tacky craft glue,
which is like a thick white glue. Once the inner sole is glued on, put weight on it or
clip it down with clothes pins to make sure it dries flat.
Next, put the lining and the upper fabric together, with right sides facing each other,
and pin them in place. Make sure you match the left and right pieces correctly, as they
are shaped differently.
With a one quarter of an inch seam allowance, sew around the inside curve.
Once it's sewn, we'll clip the curve at the toe. Using your scissors, cut
little slits around the curve, almost to the stitching. When you turn it right side out,
this will let the curve lay flat. If there are any places that pull or pucker, it means
you need to add more notches.
Fold the shoe open and pin it if you need to.
Sew the other piece the same way, then iron them both flat.
Once it's ironed, fold the back of the shoe open and line up the flat end of the pieces.
Sew the back seam with a one quarter inch seam allowance, then fold the new seam open, and tuck the
lining back inside.
Next, we're going to hand stitch a thread around the outside edge of the shoe.
Pay attention to which side is bigger, since this is the inside of the shoe. Run the thread
around the edge, going through both layers, about an eighth of an inch from the edge.
Make sure your fabric stays lined up! Be sure to leave a long tail on the thread, as we'll
use this string to help fit the shoe to the sole in the next step.
Now we'll fit the shoe to the doll's foot. If you're worried about getting glue on your
doll, you can wrap the foot in plastic before doing this step.
Put the fabric upper onto the doll's foot. Make sure you're using the correct upper for
the foot you're doing, since the left and right are shaped differently. Then take your
finished inner sole, and put the lined side against the doll's foot. Hold your fabric
over the edges, then pull the loose strings at the back to gather the fabric around the
sole. This is the hardest part, so you might need to loosen the strings and retry a few times, like me.
Once the fabric is gathered, grab a needle and thread and sew a zig-zag pattern from
side to side, pulling the fabric tighter together. You can cut the gathering threads once you
have a few stitches in place.
Continue stitching back and forth, and up and down for the heel
and toe, until the fabric is pulled nice and tight. If you're using a thicker material
like vinyl for your upper, you might need to cut notches in the fabric at toe to get it to lay without puckers.
It takes me about ten minutes to sew each sole. You probably don't need as many stitches
as I use, I just like to be extra sure it's secure.
Sew on both soles this way, then we'll glue on the outer sole.
I'm using the tacky glue for this step as well, but you may want something sturdier, like the Super Fabric
Adhesive I use for wigs. The type of glue you want to use will also depend on the of material you're
using for the sole. For leather, tacky glue works fine.
Spread lots of glue on the soles, especially in the middle, where it'll be glued to the thread.
Then line it up and press it onto the bottom of the shoe.
Do this for both shoes, then you'll need to add pressure to make sure the glue dries with the sole tight against
the bottom of the shoe. You can do this by putting your doll's feet against a hard surface
and having them hold a heavy book on their lap, or you can do what I did and use string
and clothespins to make sure they're held tight until dry.
Once the glue is completely dry, it's time to decorate your shoes however you want! You
could add ribbons or bows, use ribbon to add straps, add flowers, or maybe sequins or beads...
Oh, I really like how that one looks, but it's not the right color to match her dress.
It turns out I don't have anything on hand that matches, so I guess I'll just leave my pair like this.
And that's it for today! Thanks for joining me. Take care, and see you next time!