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Recently I was browsing on Etsy for some fun boutique clothes for my little girls. I found several pairs of adorable, glittery high-tops, but the prices were astronomical! I love supporting local, but the prices for this little sparkly high-tops averaged at $80 a pair! My kids grow so fast, that they would wear those out in no time!
I decided that since I wasn’t willing to shell out $80 for a single pair of sparkly shoes, that I was going to make my own. Zulily had some super cute plain white, canvas high tops from infant to big kid sizes, so I decided I would give it a shot on my own. The result are these adorable DIY Boutique High-Top shoes that I’m just in love with!
You will need:
White Canvas High-Tops (same brand we used, but from Amazon – these run about 2 sizes too big, so keep that in mind when ordering)
Permanent Markers
Rubbing Alcohol
Spray Bottle
1/2″ or smaller grosgrain ribbon
1″ – 2″ satin or grosgrain ribbon
2mm Flat Back Crystals (amount will vary depending on the size of shoes)
E6000 Epoxy
Lighter
The first thing you will need to do, is to remove the regular white laces from the shoes.
There are two options for how you can color your shoes. You can color the inside, like I did, for a more faded and pastel look. Or, you can color the outside. Make random shapes like a cow’s spots, leaving no white spaces at all.
Once you’re finished coloring, this is similar to what it should look like. Colors will bleed and run together in the next step, so remember that when choosing your colors. Put the rubbing alcohol in the spray bottle, and spray from the inside of the shoe out (if you colored the inside of the shoe like we did, otherwise spray on the outside). Really saturate it with alcohol, and watch the color bleed into a watercolor appearance.
When you’ve finished spraying the alcohol, this is what the shoes will look like. If you want to keep the bright colors like this, you will need to color on the outsides, and not on the insides. After this step, we waited for them to dry completely. After they were dry, we washed them in the washing machine without detergent, on cold. This will ensure that the colors won’t leak onto other surfaces, or when the shoes get wet.
You can see from this picture that the colors are a little more faded after coming out of the wash, but I knew the colors were permanently in the fabric and won’t leak now. Next, use your epoxy to make a thin line on the rim of the rubber at the base of the shoe. Place your flat back crystals right next to each other along the shoe into the epoxy. The epoxy will begin to dry in a couple of mintes, so work in short 2-3″ sections at a time. Let the epoxy finish hardening for about 15 minutes before moving onto the next step.
We used two separate ribbons to get the look we wanted for the laces. We used a 1/2″ grosgrain for the pink, and a smaller (I don’t remember the size) ribbon for the purple polka dot. We got ours at Walmart, but you can also get a similar look on Amazon here. Use a lighter and run the flame along the edges of the cut ribbon. This will heat seal the edges to keep them from fraying at any point. Since we used two ribbons, we just hot glued the purple ribbon to the pink ribbon.
Lace the shoes like normal using your ribbon laces. It will be a snug fit, but it will help keep the laces in place.
Next you will make the removable bow for the finishing touch. You can use these bows for special times on the shoes, or remove them when you don’t want them there. This video is the easiest tutorial to watch, and the one we used to make it our bows. We used alligator clips instead of french clips, though.
Now your DIY Boutique High-Top Shoes are finished! These do take some time, but it’s so worth it! It saved me about $60 from buying them on Etsy, and was well worth it! I’m making my older daughter a matching pair of low-tops and I’m so excited! These DIY Boutique High-Top Shoes turned out EXACTLY like what I wanted them to, and I love when that happens. These would make great gifts, would be awesome to sell at craft fairs and more! I can’t wait to make a Christmas version of these too!
If you like these DIY Boutique High-Top Shoes, check out these posts too:
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