I might be a cobbler

So friends, I have a date tomorrow.  I love first dates, you never know what to expect!  I went to Anthropologie tonight to get outfit inspired and left empty handed but full of awesome ideas!  I'm still not sure what clothes I'm going to wear; I do, however, know what shoes I'll be wearing.

Years ago, when I still lived in Cleveland, my friends and I went to this fun part of town called Coventry.  Full of indie shops and restaurants we shopped and ate and had a great time.  We wandered into some crazy little shoe store and ended up buying cloth ballet flats for about $10 each.  I bought a pink pair and and a blue pair.

I have a severe ballet flat addiction

 Since I look best in turquoise, I decided that I'd update the turquoise shoes to match my outfit for tomorrow (no, it's not impractical to build an outfit around my shoes.)  I decided to add a strap and button to create a mary jane style flat.

Mary Janes

Supplies:
Flats
Coordinating fabric
Rounded elastic
Thread and needle
2 buttons

I started by finding a coordinating fabric, I chose a lime green cotton with a white lattice print.  I put the shoes on and measured across the top of my foot, where the strap would sit.  I figured a 6 in. strap would work well.  I cut two rectangles 6.5" x 3" and ironed them flat.  I then folded them in half lengthwise and ironed a crease.  I unfolded the fabric and folded each side up to the crease, so the right sides were showing and the crease was in the middle.  I ironed a crease on each side and then folded the shorter sides in about 1/4".  I then folded the fabric in half again, sandwiching the two folds I had made in the middle and ironed and pinned.  At this point I cut small pieces of rounded elastic to serve as loops and pinned those into the shorter ends as well.

You'll end up with 6" by 1" straps

At this point I top stitched around the entire strap, securing the ends.  In order to ensure the elastic was secure I stitched over it several times.

Now it was time to attach it to my shoe.  I put the shoe on and decided where the strap should sit.  I pinned the strap to the outside of the shoe.  I then took coordinating thread and hand stitched the strap to the outside.  I didn't sew very well, but I've decided it makes it look more charming!

Now all I had to do was stitch a button on to the other side and voila!  I have a new pair of shoes!

The hard part is figuring out the rest of the outfit...