Like I wrote in an earlier post, I’ve had flowers on the brain. (Thus all those fabric flower patterns in that post, and in my Threadbanger roundup.) I was going to do these as a DIY tutorial for my Tuesday Threadbanger post, but then realized they weren’t really worthy of a full-fledged tutorial. I got the idea from a lovely pair of furfur flowered ballet flats I spotted online recently. (I do love furfur!) To make them was almost embarrassingly easy, but here’s the how-to if you guys are interested:
You Need:
lace ribbon, about 1.5 yds (not pictured) / white silk flowers / peachy pink silk hydrangea flower / dusky blue tea rose/camellia / a pair of Payless American Eagle Eliza Flower Flats in heather gray…or some similar cotton elasticized ballet flats
Tools: glue gun and glue sticks / scissors
How To:
Prep Your Parts
1. Heat up the glue gun.
2. Remove the front flowers from your ballet flats if you’re using the Abaete for Payless version – in this case, they’re secured by two lines of stitching, and some double-sided tape. Pretty easy to remove.
3. Separate your flowers from their stems. I chose small white flowers that were 3-layered, pulled 3 different-sized petals from the hydrangea to make a single peachy pink flower (I made 4 of these), and pulled the entire blue rose and bud off their stems, and separated them from the plastic centers and stamens.
Lay the Lace
4. Starting out the outer edge of the front of one shoe, lay a line of glue down and press the lace into it. Fold the lace back and forth across the front, laying glue as you go.
5. After you’ve done a couple of swirly loops, cut the ribbon and glue down the end.
Add the Flowers
6. Start at the outer edge with a white flower. Glue each layer separately down.
To make the flowers more “fluffy” I also added glue in the center and folded one side of the petals inward.
7. Add more flowers, alternating colors.
For extra-large petals (like from the rose), I folded the petals in half, quarters, and then eighths, gluing as I went. Then I cut the bottom half-inch off, and glued the top part onto the shoe. In a couple cases I didn’t even need to cut the bottom off; I just folded it down and made a base for the flower thus. The next flower I placed close so you can’t see the folded bottom.
8. Pull off any gluey spiderweb glue “strings” from your project – and wear your flowers on your feet!
Happy DIY’ing!
xoxox
Carly
Great DIY — your shoes are simply adorable!
Chic on the Cheap
Very cute shoes… the right thing to do and wear in spring.
I like how you're looking on the pic, so adorable.
keep on diy_ing…your blog is a fantastic source of inspiration, I read it DAILY (even though you may not post daily)
oh my goodness you must be a mind reader! I was just craving some flower shoes and hoped that either you or lovemaegan would snap one up. THANK YOU!
i think this pair from topshop would be pretty diyable too
http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=19551&storeId=12556&categoryId=198498&parent_category_rn=198488&productId=1686912&langId=-1
hey babe! it's really nice and the picture is really funny hehehe
may i borrow this from to put in my blog and link to yours?
Regards from Brasil 🙂
I like your version better than the originals that inspired you. Very pretty!
I love that picture of you! And at first I was apprehensive about the shoes but as soon as I saw them on, I knew I had to have them.
Great work!
xoxox
Lovely shoes.. That's so super cute!!!
Just came across your blog and loved it!!!
The White Dress to Work
Awwww so cute!!! ♥
Your pic is so cute! And the shoes are very adorable! I've been wanting to do something like this for awhile… I really like your idea of using lace!
Ooo La La!
S.W.A.K.
oww! those flats look great!
and i love the dress you are wearing in the last photo!
you look lovely!!!!
oooo! They're pretty!! you've added some ooomph to the flats, congrats!
@Nina O.: Sure! Just link back mmmkay?:-D
Thanks for everyone's thoughts…I was a little bummed I couldn't replicate the originals (couldn't find the darn mauve velvet flowers or a lovely tattered bit of lace…but I later decided I'm happy with my blue flowers hehe.
@Shabna: Thanx for the link – totally, easily DIYable! (Just find a matching zipper, pull apart, coil some pieces, and glue closed. You could even put them on a shoe clip so they wouldn't be permanently attached to your shoes.)
Thank everyone for your comments and feedback!
xoxo
Carly