Heehee I think a lot of people have been waiting for this boot customization tutorial! I’ve been keeping everyone on my Twitter up to date with the progress on the boots that I bought on Saturday.
See boots and I are actually bitter enemies. I have *never* found a pair of boots that have fit me well. Ever. The problem seems to be that I have small feet but I also have abnormally small calves so every single pair of boots, no matter how fitted, look like cowboy boots. Not being a cowboy, I have no use for cowboy boots.
So after all these years of searching I decided to take things into my own hands!
I bought this pair of boots from Target 50% off for $45. I chose them because I liked the heel, the rounded toe and they fit my feet comfortably. Because they are thigh high there was lots of room to play with. I also liked the velvety wedge thing on the outside.
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Unfortunately the leg part was massive. So I set about making them much cuter! (Yes I’m going to make you wait until the end of the tutorial to see the end result mwahaha build the suspense!)So first thing is first… let’s turn these suckers into knee high’s :DPut the boots on and measure how high you want them. I wanted mine to be knee high.
Remove the boots and cut the tops off, make sure to leave an extra inch for seams. Also make sure the zip part is at the bottom of the boot so you can still use it!! From this point on you should be careful when using the zip that it doesn’t fly off the end! Oh and just for the record, they are not this shiny/cheap looking in person, they are actually a nice matt black but to show the details and stitching I had to use a lot of flash >_<
Now put the boots back on (carefully because of the zip). As you can see, they are not form fitting at all. I have drawn where my actual leg is over the top of the picture ^_^ The main thing I want to do is fit them around my ankles and calves.
Let’s get going! Most boots have seams up the front and the back, by changing this seam you can very easily change the entire shape of the boot!
Move the lining away from the seams and unpick them down the front and back of the boot.
You end up with something like this:
Put the boot back on and pin the seams back in place in the way that you want them. Pin both the front and the back.
Take them off again and thread a needle. If there is any excess leather/vinyl in the seams you should trim it off now. Be careful not to trim too closely just in case you change your mind about the fit later.
Turn the edges of the seams inside again and re-pin them in place.
Now get sewing! Thread your needle and choose a stitch that matches the rest of the boot. Sew up the front and the back ^_^ If your boots are made of a heavy leather you will need a special leather needle. Mine are synthetic and quite thin so hand stitching was not a problem.
So this is what you end up with, the modified boot is on the left and the old one is on the right.
Un-modified on the left and fitted on the right. You can see the differences around the ankle and the calves.
Much much much better fit and more comfortable because of it.
Now repeat on the other boot ^_^
You will end up with something along these lines…
The last thing you should do if you’re just fitting the boots is to create a seam around the tops and prevent the zips from coming off. Do this by turning the tops inside and sandwiching the raw edges between the lining. Sew around the tops and secure the tops of the zips too. Done! Now that’s all well and good but they are still very plain right? There are a couple of things you can do about that. I decided to use the left overs that I cut from the tops to make some cute accessories.
I thought about cutting it into scallops and adding a new top like this:
Instead I decided to recycle some old Innocent World socks ^_^
I cut off the lacy tops and sewed them into place on the top of the boots.
Lastly I used some of the left over fabric to make some little bows for the front…
I used black lace for the middle so they matched the new tops of the boots ^_^ I sewed them on the front and that’s it!
Taaaadaaaa!
Lovely fitted boots with bows and lace! OMG THEY ACTUALLY FIT!!
I think one of the things I love so much is that they are cute but not too over the top so I can wear them with so many things! Jesus Diamate boots: $300+ Violet’s Boots: $45 plus a few hours of work
I am so happy with them because they are really cute and also really comfortable! I took them out for a test drive shopping today and after 2 hours walking there was no pain at all. I think I’m going to add a little bit of padding on the inside so they are like wearing slippers mwahaha! So was it worth the wait? What do you all think? ^_^ Let me know if any of you try out the boot customization tutorial yourselves! |
