If your favorite shoes are getting old or worn out, you can make them look like new. Give them your own personal style by covering them with fabric. It's a simple procedure that mainly involves gluing the new fabric onto the surface. Giving your pumps a new floral design or your Chuck Taylor high tops a red satin look can turn old, worn down shoes into ones that can make a whole new fashion statement.
Step 1
Choose a fabric to cover the shoes. A thin fabric without texture may work best, but try to find one with a pattern that will hide any surface irregularities or applied glue on the inside. Several versions of cotton, polyester or silk fabrics can work.
Step 2
Remove the laces from the shoes if they have any.
Step 3
Cut a square piece of fabric that is big enough to completely cover the shoe from one end of the sole to the other.
Step 4
Loosen the seam between the shoe and sole slightly along the edges using a dull knife or other flat instrument. You want to pry less than a half centimeter away all the way around the shoe to create an opening that you can tuck fabric into.
Step 1
Spread glue onto the shoe, starting at the toe. Leather glue would be best, but any type of white glue should also work. Spread the glue as evenly as possible, using something like a small scrap of a paper towel. Push the excess glue into seam where you pried it open.
Step 2
Place the fabric square over the shoe and smooth it over to where the glue is. Tuck the fabric slightly into the seam. Trim off the fabric that overlaps over the sole with an Exacto knife. Tuck the remaining toe fabric into the seam.
Step 3
Cut the fabric square across the middle from the back all the way to where it is first glued onto the shoe (the inner edge of the toe). There should be enough fabric to completely wrap the split pieces around each side of the shoe and meet at the center of the heel.
Step 4
Continue gluing the fabric to the shoe in the same way that you did for the toe. Spread glue on the shoe surface evenly. Smooth the fabric over the glued area. Trim the fabric where it meets the sole. Tuck the excess down into the seam.
Step 5
Connect the pieces at the heel to create the image of a seal in the middle. You can fold the edge of the out step side inward. Glue it over the instep side. Or you can cut another small piece of fabric and glue it straight across the middle from the opening to the sole.
Step 6
Trim the fabric along the shoe's opening. Make it overlap the opening by about a half inch. Fold the fabric over the lip of the opening and glue it down.
Step 7
Cover the tongue of the shoe if it has one. There should be enough fabric from what you trimmed off to cut a piece that will fit over the tongue's surface.
Step 8
Trim the fabric from any openings on the shoe's surface, like the lace holes. Drilling through the fabric with the tip of your Exacto knife should work. If the lace holes have metal rings around them (like Converse Chuck Taylors do), carefully cut along the edges of those rings.
Skill: Moderately Challenging
Ingredients:
- Old shoes
- Fabric
- Dull knife
- Glue
- Exacto knife
- Scissors
- Paper towel
Keyword: cover shoes fabric
