Category: shoes

Fairysteps Birthday Shoes

Fairysteps Queenie

Happy Birthday to me! And what a perfect chilly-but-sunny day for frolicking in the grass wearing my new shoes. Aren’t they gorgeous?

These are Queenie shoes from Fairysteps, in pink dragon leather to match my beloved handbag. I may have put them on before I got out of bed this morning, to the accompaniment of rolled eyes from my husband. I don’t know why he expected anything less, to be honest!

There’s a silly story attached to these shoes.

A few months ago Ren made a pair of Puck shoes in this leather, and I wanted them very much indeed. Sadly I couldn’t afford them at the time, and another lucky person snapped them up. Because all Fairysteps shoes are limited editions (each hide is a finite size, and not all colours can be repeated) you have to buy them when you see them, otherwise they might not reappear! So when another pair magically appeared a few weeks later, happily coinciding with some money in my PayPal account, I gleefully snaffled them straight away.

When Paul came home from work I confessed that I’d bought the shoes, and he looked at me, paused and said “Oh, um…” at which point he was forced to reveal that he’d already bought this pair, and put them aside for my birthday! I quickly sent Ren a rather embarrassed email explaining the situation and, bless her, she was happy to refund me straight away. So a huge thank you to Ren, for sorting out our silliness!

I did feel a bit silly though, and spent a good while wondering whether I could possibly justify owning two almost-identical pairs of shoes… but now I can keep saving up for a pair of Mustardseed or Moonshine boots. I know that a pair of Moonshines are in progress, but it’s probably just as well that they’re not in my size! Maybe next year…

Paul’s been threatening me for weeks that he wasn’t actually going to give me the shoes for my birthday, he was going to put them away until Christmas. I’m so pleased he wasn’t cruel enough to actually do that, because I do love my new shoes! (And my handbag… and my purse… and my choker…)

It’s so lovely to be able to wear or use a well-made item that fills you with joy!
Soppy, perhaps, but true.

Muslin Boot

Muslin Boots

I’ve been thinking about making boots for a little while. I finally decided to stop thinking, start sewing, and see what happened. Some minor tweaks are needed (the uppers don’t fit properly to the insoles for a start), but here is the beginning of some little boots. I have plans for more of a pull-on pixie-style thing as well, but haven’t quite got my brain around those yet.

I have terrible spacial awareness, which makes imagining objects in three dimensions very difficult for me. I have to build them, and see what happens. I am terrible at pattern drafting for exactly this reason. Also, small children can beat me at Tetris.

If I can get this pattern right, and make sure that the construction isn’t deathly complicated and time-consuming, I should be able to make these in lots of different heights without too much difficulty. She says, optimistically.

Summer sandals

I might have splashed out a little bit on some new sandals for the summer. These are Think! Schlapfa Clogs, bought from Shoon. They were in the sale… and then you could buy a second pair of sale shoes for half price, so I thought I might as well have both colours! I’ve actually been looking for a plain black pair of these for several years but I’ve never managed to grab a pair in my size, and they never seem to be reduced to a price I can afford, so I’ve just kept on wearing my ancient ones and hoping they wouldn’t fall to bits.

I’ve had my old pair since at least 2004, and I’ve worn them ever such a lot. Because they have anatomically-shaped footbeds I don’t need to squash my orthotics into them, and I can wear them all day without ending up with achey feet. They’re so comfortable, and although it’ll take a while for the new ones to mould to the shape of my feet they do feel pretty good already.

Think! bring out new colours of these sandals every year, but usually they’re blues or greens or something else that doesn’t really go with my wardrobe. As it turns out almost everything I’m wearing at the moment is either grey or pink, so this sale couldn’t have been better timed! I’m not going to throw out my old pair just yet either. They’re plain pink (extremely grubby) suede, but I’ve got a bottle of shoe dye, so I’m going to attempt to dye them black and see whether I can make them last a little bit longer.

If these two new pairs last me as long as my trusty old pink ones, I won’t have to go shopping for sandals again until 2018! Please remind me of this next summer, when I tell you that I’ve got nothing to wear…

Dennis the Menace Shoes

Dott's Dennis Shoes

I think this might be my favourite pair of the prototype shoes. Plain black toes, big red ribbons… but who’s that hiding inside…?

Dott's Dennis Shoes

Ooh, it’s Dennis the Menace!

Stripes

And to complete the effect, red and black stripes around the heel.

Hopefully these are smart enough to wear for work (perhaps with black ribbons rather than bright red) with a little bit of sneaky silliness hidden away on the inside!

Purple Organic Cotton Shoes

Laura's Purple Organic shoes

Laura requested that her shoes be a plain, dark colour, such as purple or red. This picture doesn’t really show the depth of colour in this lovely purple organic cotton. I used the same fabric inside and out, and was lucky enough to find a ribbon that matched almost exactly.

More skull shoes…

Lisa's Skulls & Roses shoes

This is the second pair of skulls & roses shoes – this time with an organza ribbon for a little bit of variety.

Pink Suede Brogues

Pink Suede Doc Marten Brogues

It’s been just over two years since I wrote about looking for a pair of pink suede brogues.

I’ve had these for a little while now, and suddenly realised that I’d completely forgotten to mention them. They’re Dr Martens, obviously, the 3989 shoe, in hot pink suede. This colour seems to be sold out now, but they are still available in pale pink. (There are other colours, but they only seem to come in men’s sizes.)

Thanks to the nice soft suede they’re lovely and comfortable, although I think it’s likely that I’m going to have to dye them black eventually. The seams at the back of the heels have already turned blue, where my jeans rub against them. I haven’t worn them much yet, mostly because it won’t stop raining and I don’t want to ruin the suede. I’m really pleased with them though, and I’m really looking forward to wearing them more often.

Butterfly Brocade Shoes

Rhona's Butterfly Brocade Shoes

Sorry about my little disappearance there – I’ve been so busy making things that I haven’t been making time to write about them. Please prepare yourself for a flurry of posts!

These are the sixth pair of prototype shoes, in black chinese brocade with multicoloured butterflies. They look a bit wrinkly because they’re a size bigger than my lasts – I promise they’re not wrinkly in real life. They’re finished off with a delicate organza ribbon because I thought it went well with the butterflies. These are definitely a pair of shoes fit for a faerie, so they’ve gone to a good home.

Purple Batik Shoes

Deb's Purple Batik Shoes

These lovely purple batik shoes were made in response to a request for “something sober enough that I can wear to work”. Hopefully they’re dark enough to be sensible, but pretty enough to be interesting.

Black Rose Shoes

Lucy's Floral Shoes

Lucy requested a pair of shoes in the same black rose fabric as my original test pair. I was happy to oblige!