Thursday, June 23, 2011

(re)design your summer: lady in lace

What's up? Long time no post! Sorry about that. I wish I could say I was doing something important (ya know, off in some glamorous place like Costa Rica or New York....) but sadly not. I did see the ACJ sandwich. We had big fun. I also managed to spend about $50 on yarn.

I have an announcement to make (I'm not pregnant). This whole (re)design your summer thing--it's turning into an all-summer thing. I'm really confused about the week (when did it start? When should it end?). So a month or a couple is easier to do :)

I do have a project for y'all, though. I wasn't being totally unproductive!
If you're like me you have a couple pairs of sad, forgotten Converse at the back of your closet. The plain ones you had to buy when your shoes literally fell off your feet or you were doing something like wading through quicksand but you showed up in high heels....know what I'm talking about? No? Moving on. If you're also like me, you forgot you already had Converse and bought more. Now you have an army of solid covered Converse that is taking over your dreams and screaming "WASTEFULNESS!" in your face when you're trying to get some sleep. Long story short, here's how to spice up some plain canvas sneakers to give them a delicate, feminine touch!

Stuff You'll Need
-canvas sneakers (drugstores sell them for like $7 if you don't have any....it would kinda defeat the eco-purpose but I understand. This redo is cute)
-a yard of lace trim--I got mine at Joann's when I was on my yarn spree
-hot glue gun
-scissors
-Shoelaces that aren't a gross used shoe shade of grayish white like mine are. White lace only serves to highlight the dirtiness of your shoelaces, I've discovered.
That's it! Lets get this party started. I'm in a cheesy mood today, I know.

1. Unlace your shoes. Put laces off to the side where they can't mangle your glue-gun cord.
2. If you are of the perfectionist genre, you can pin your lace trim to the shoe tongue and get a more accurate piece that way, if you are impatient like me: hold the trim to the tongue as best you can and cut around the edges so you generally have enough lace to cover it. Bigger is better. Don't worry about your edges: you can glue them to the bottom side of the tongue if they're jagged.
3. Glue your big rectangle of lace to the shoe tongue. You will need something besides your fingers to prod the lace into position/squish it into the glue as hot glue seeps through the holes and burns your fingers.

 4. Next, take your lace and lay it on the side of your shoe. Cut a piece to match the piece of canvas, all the way to the back strip and right below the stitching. I'm not going to cover the shoelace holes because it would be too difficult to cut around them. Glue your strip down.

5.  Repeat on the other side and cut a piece of trim for the back strip. Glue down. Repeat steps 1-4 on other shoe.
6. Find a good pair of laces or improvise (what do you guys think of the twine? I'm not crazy about it....magenta or coral ribbon might be better. Comments are welcome!)
7. Admire. Wear. Feel that much fancier because you're wearing lace. But don't try to lunch with society ladies. They will eat you and your homemade shoes alive.

Another option for this project would be to use black or colored lace! Mesh! The possibilities are endless....
<3 Maggie

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