Custom Toms

It happened. My precious, comfortable Toms developed a hole! (gasp) I had saved up my pennies for my first pair and wore them everywhere. I spilled red fruit punch on them and had to wash them. They were faded but I still wore them. Then the hole. I just can't wear shoes with holes folks.

I know eventually I'll have to spring for a new pair of Toms. But in the meantime, I felt much better about shelling out the $2 it cost me to turn these -

into these!

How I did it:

I visited my friendly neighborhood Hobby Lobby and found this fun fabric and the Peel N Stick fabric glue. I especially loved this product because I didn't have to wait for it to dry. (Although I did use regular fabric glue at one point as you'll see.) I bought a 1/2 yard of fabric and used about a 1/4 yard.

First I cut two squares of fabric that were big enough to cover the fronts of my shoes. I cut the squares diagonally, sewed them back together and then top-stitched the seam to mimic the Toms seam.

I matched up my seam with the seam on my shoes and pinned it in place.

Then I was able to fold down the top

and pin it in place. I carefully cut a slit in the middle and folded those edges under as well.

I made two stitch lines on the top edge of the fabric. The first was right along the edge and the second was a little over a 1/4 inch inside. I also made a stitch line horizontally across the V.

And of course I missed photographing one step. At this point I began to stick the fabric tape along the top edge of the shoe. Once the tape was in place I pressed the sewed edge of the fabric down, matching up the edges. I placed another piece of table along the center seam line.

After you peel off the backing, the transparent tape remains. I didn't take the tape quite down to the sole of the shoe so there would be room to attach the bottom edge.

One the top edge and center seam were adhered, I began to glue down the bottom edges. First I trimmed the excess fabric so I had about 1/4-1/2" of fabric to tuck under. Then I attached a piece of the tape on either side of the shoe (leaving space to make the pleats at the toe.)

I started on one side and began tucking the fabric under and pressing it to the tape.

Once both sides were done, I folded back the fabric at the toe and attached the final piece of tape. Then I folded it down and secured it.

At the pleats I used my regular fabric glue and put a small dot on each pleat to hold them in place.

And done! My Toms have a fresh, fun new look!!!