Shoe Sugar Month: Day 17 Insole Heaven

One of the downsides to buying shoes at the thrift store is that they often don't have the prettiest insoles. And honestly, I don't really care about what my shoes look like on the inside unless I'm photographing them. But I'll admit that I've been drawn to shoes in the store that have a pretty pattern on the inside.

 If you love to have your shoes look as good on the rack as they do on your feet you can try this simple tutorial for making custom insoles.

 And BTW, I bought these Apt. 9 shoes for only $1.50! I love their pinkish but neutral hue.

You can use pinking shears to do this but they must be the quality fabric shears you buy at JoAnn's and not the kind for scrapbooking. Those barely cut paper. And if you're really ambitious you can buy this SCALLOPED rotary blade or these scalloped fabric shears for an even more polished look.

<br /> <center><a href="http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2006/01/shoe-sugar-month-click-on-squares.html"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKWfQbrU6HXRQW76VAiFiTN9HoVYegyJRD3MP52cWCcFMMdrxVnHv3JFyTrjV8co8R49JuMy5FT0hJexXpzIkXpr2BzkAVzklGwchCoRnKw-JZHfqNkDqOfkw34Qa7DIfzre0V9Y9eAQU/s1600/button+2.jpg"/></a></center><br /> 
1. Iron your fabric flat.

2. If you have insole I recommend using them as a template and skipping steps 2 through 3. But if you don't have insoles follow these steps. Take a shoe with as much exposed insole as you can find.

 3. Place a piece of fabric over top and trace the insole.


Cut the pattern about 1/4" in from your tracing.

 4. Take a piece of sticky back foam. If you don't have sticky back foam you can use spray glue to make the one side sticky.

Now alternately you can cut out the foam step and just glue the fabric into your shoe without foam. If your shoes are too small you might have to leave out the foam. It's up to you.

 5. Spray your in sole fabric with no fray spray (BEFORE CUTTING). Then trace your insole pattern on the fabric and lay your fabric on top of the sticky side of the foam.


(And please ignore the different fabric I'm using. I did these steps on separate occasions.)

 6. Then cut out with fabric pinking shears.

7. Spray back of foam with spray glue or whatever glue works best for you and place in shoe. Let dry.


And done.