In keeping with my ReINVENTING your Stuff- entries... I thought I would tackle something bigger. First came reinventing your unworn jewelry- and then how to display your jewelry so you DO wear it. And then how to embellish sweaters (more to come in that department btw!) and now BOOTS! That's right.
See I think its all about making something "Feel" new without the cost of buying something new. So I took on my standard brown leather boots. They are about 4 years old, from j-crew, but they needed to be spiced up a bit, to set them apart, giving me a project and something "new" in my wardrobe!
I will admit I did spend about $10 on a few specific buttons and one special needle for sewing leather. I took some ribbon from my grandmother's sewing stash I inherited- and I folded the ribbon in half and sewed it together with a zig zag stitch on my machine. I thought Blue would be different- and would make the buttons POP.
Then I attached the ribbon on to the boot at the top- by folding it over the edge and hand sewing it in place- and then I attached the ribbon to the bottom- again with needle and thread. Then I marked where I wanted the buttons to go- and sewed them on as well. I did NOT attach the entire ribbon to the boot- where it is attached -by the buttons- I think is sufficient. (later- I might reinforce those spaces between- if necessary). And remember it's all about ODDS- in decorating and in applying buttons to a boot- ie: 5 looks better than 4 and I learned for me 5 looked far better than 3!
And Voila! Here is the final product. Kind of different and a little funky.
I will admit I did spend about $10 on a few specific buttons and one special needle for sewing leather. I took some ribbon from my grandmother's sewing stash I inherited- and I folded the ribbon in half and sewed it together with a zig zag stitch on my machine. I thought Blue would be different- and would make the buttons POP.
Then I attached the ribbon on to the boot at the top- by folding it over the edge and hand sewing it in place- and then I attached the ribbon to the bottom- again with needle and thread. Then I marked where I wanted the buttons to go- and sewed them on as well. I did NOT attach the entire ribbon to the boot- where it is attached -by the buttons- I think is sufficient. (later- I might reinforce those spaces between- if necessary). And remember it's all about ODDS- in decorating and in applying buttons to a boot- ie: 5 looks better than 4 and I learned for me 5 looked far better than 3!
And Voila! Here is the final product. Kind of different and a little funky. There are other ways to change your boots- 1) You could sand them down just a bit to scuff them up and then polish them with a different shade of shoe polish- lighter or darker from the original in order to have a greater impact. 2) You could also SEW on matching patches of fabric on to the back of the boots. I have a pair of boots that I bought a few years ago- that came like that, and I think it would be easy to do yourself. 3) THEN there is always doing a little leather work on your boots- using leather tools to punch holes in the top edge of the boot and then weaving in leather strips...etc The possibilities are endless.
4) AND if you are a little nervous to tackle this yourself- you can always take them to your cobbler and get them to spruce up your boots for you- It wont cost nearly as much as a new pair of boots - PLUS its good on the ol environment.
1 comment:
these are awesome. i need to get more creative/resourceful!
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