YEAH I RECYCLED MY SHOES ... my awesome day....

YEAH I RECYCLED MY SHOES WOOT... step by step pics too ... I shared my 10 secrets on here and the last one was how I recycled and covered my wedges with fabric back in Panama .. been doing the same ever since WOOT and having fun with it too... my AWESOME DAY started at 4:00 am I got up and groomed my 3 toy poodles .... they had more wool than baa baa black sheep I swear LOL... that was done by 7:45 am when I took a mad dash to the shower and headed off to the gym with my beautiful daughter Candice our awesome fitness instructor and my very own personal trainer so she could work my old fart arse off ... three classes after I came home .. we did Bokwa and Zumba followed by body pump then we went to the Community Clinic where we did Sentao and Zumba Toning ... I was so tired I sat through most of body pump... while my DD opened up the gym and we waited for it to warm up and the clients to trickle in my friend and weight loss buddy Ty farted around and took some pics .... All that over I came home and ripped up some fabric ... got some old wedges in my fave height which is HIGH ... took my fabri-tac and my gorilla glue my scissors and my imagination and voila I got a pair of new shoes LOL... Ty is my witness... these shoes were not done when she came to my house this morning to wait for Candice to come downstairs.... check it out... I LOVE LOVE LOVE MAKING THINGS ... I am goofy like that.... and I like sharing snippets of my journey ... 

My beautiful DD Candice leading the body pump class...

Me waiting while DD sets up and turns on the heat brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

After tnree awesome workouts one of which I sat halfway through (I know my limits) I came home and RECYCLED MY SHOES...

Yup these old black wedges are in for a new look .... I just ripped up some remnant fabric ... and after covering my workdesk instead of going downstairs to my huge crafts room (wayyyyyyyyyy to cold there) I took some fabri-tac, gorilla glue, the old shoes and my scissors and a paint brush .... I painted fabri-tac sparingly over the area I wanted to cover ..threw the fabric over it and pressed firmly avoiding any air bubbles .... that done I cut little tucks all around the fabric after cutting a straight line at top center ...

I then cut around the edges as I decided to spare the sole in this case ... if I wanted to I would have continued applying fabri-tac with the brush and covering the soles too.... I found some bits of patent leather that I had used for another project and cut those up in long pieces and set them aside for finishing trim and bows .... I cut to the shape of the shoes close to the seam and them with my brush I applied gorilla glue to the inside and neatly tucked the fabric inward all around...

when all was nicely tucked in I applied a fine line of gorilla glue overlayed with fabri-tac along the seam and I applied a strip of patent leather on each side and cut in the back... BTW the back seams merge at the center by pressing both sides of the fabric together stitched by the fabritac and cut in a straight line ... you won't even notice the seam.. I then doubled a piece of the patent leather in the form of a bow and finished it off with a rhinestone and applied it to the shoe... before that I placed a piece of fabric under my foot and cut to shape .. with applied gorilla glue I set in inside the shoe....

I then tried on the shoe for fit... as you go wipe off any glue that may get on your hand or on any area of the shoe with alcohol ... 

Once my shoe fit and I liked it ... I LOVE LOUD AND WEIRD ... DAT's ME!!! I proceeded to quickly do the other pair

and VOILA....

and because my dearest sister (RIP) suggested I keep a picture journal of my weight loss journey and because I am just a big picture AW ... of course I took a picture for my empowerment journal.... I have been posting these for almost 7 years  this coming February on OH and in my digital empowerment journal "A Picture A Day Keeps the Pounds and the Inches Away" with no intention whatsoever of upsetting or annoying anyone with my Snippets .. If I do APOLOGIES in advance...

and because I refuse to forget the road that I have traveled I collage my before and my today 6 years and 9 months post RNY .... I am embracing Joy and making it happen to me ... every moment.. ever day .... I am alive today and I will celebrate this day....

Thanks for allowing me to share.... SNIPPETS of my journey..... THANK YOU OH FOR THE FREE SPACE to allow a fool like me to be encouraged on this journey ... I pay it forward in my very own goofy way that I may encourage myself and maybe one other .... after all I am just another sista on the journey... for LIFE!

Very cool.  Your eyes are the only reason I believe the before picture could really be you.  Congratulations. 

Wow! I like making and "reclaiming stuff too."  I have stretched out my fair share of shoes as my foot expanded. I am going to give it a whirl. Thank you for posting this!

If one has to shrink the shoe even more, do you think a heaving interfacing, like denim, might help eat up some of the excess width.

How awesome!

L

Hi L, interfacing certainly helps I went from size 10W in shoes to 8.5 and yup I have done that too ,,, Give it a whirl,,, it is fun, easy and takes very little time to do plus it lasts and is washable.  Check this link out it is great for beginners ... and the sky is the limit you don't have to go floral at all.... I have some left over burlap that I am about to use on another sort of a little beat up Steve Madden pair I found way in the back of my shoe closet...  checlk this link out..  http://whipstitchsewing.wordpress.com/2009/12/27/tutorial-fa bric-covered-shoes/ 

Thank you!!! yes that's me same person, different size LOL my heart and my goofiness remain the same...

A birthday song in my heart for my beautiful departed sister, my friend, my mentor, my weight loss angel... to think she who never had a weight problem worried so much about morbid obesity taking my life she called and checked on me from overseas every single day ... she coaxed me and encouraged me on my journey post weight loss surgery and before that she was my mentor through nursing school while she studied medicine... my friend, my playmate, my mentor, my dearest oldest sister who sometimes aggravated the **** out of me with her harping on mine and my daughter's (her goddaughter) weight in the most kind and caring manner ... I MISS HER TODAY AND EVERY DAY...

Thank you Dee ... they are fun and so easy to do too... I used to do this all the time with my zapatos zancos in the 70s... there were the bomb at the U de Panamá