She's a Little Bit Rock-n-Roll

I'm very eclectic. I like things both old and new. I like girly and romantic, and also modern and sleek. So having made Emeline a pair of ever so sweet, vintage romantic shoes, I felt the need to balance things out with a more modern design. After all, a girl needs options.

I saw this fabric and immediately loved the bold colors and the fun pattern. Here's the kicker though. It's outdoor fabric! But, then I thought, that might be a good thing. It's thick and water resistant. It'll wipe clean, in theory. Not bad qualities in fabric for little shoes. So, I bought a quarter of a yard and decided to experiment.

She's got room to grow...

The experimenting didn't end there, I used rubber sheeting, which is soft like flannel on the outside and water proof rubber on the inside, for the lining material. And I used foam for the insoles.

Sweet little things.

What worked? I like the outer fabric. It was just fine to sew with and I like that it's going to stand up to to wear and tear better than a lot of fabrics. I liked only using two layers of fabric, but I think I'll skip the rubber sheeting in the future. It's just a tiny bit unwieldy. And the foam for the insoles, I like the idea very much. I just need to find some slightly softer foam.

It's the details that mean so much.

 

 

That beautiful little butterfly makes me smile. It wasn't originally supposed to be there. That's something I absolutely love about all of this, the design process. Originally, these shoes had t-straps with a black ruffle. But, oh, they just didn't look right and my heart sank.  All that hard work and I thought I might have to scrap the whole shoe. Thanks to my trusty seam ripper (whom I spend way too much time with), and a little burst of inspiration the shoes were saved. So, I took a few risks this time. What do you think of the outcome?

Rock-n-Roll