Dolly Brie: Create Some Creeperific Comforts For a Ghouls Night In!

Ghouls aren't the only ones who get worn out. Sometimes a pair of shoes can be dead tired too! Set the alarm and wake up an old pair, because nothing is as comfy as a good worn in shoe.

Difficultly: Hard, could be a bit easier depending on your base shoe. I started these March 2014, they were quite the project.

Materials:

Worn out wedge booties
X-Acto knife
Safety goggles

Coping saw

Drill

Pen

Bias tape

Magic Sculpt
Paper towels

Blue tape

Spray Gesso

Sandpaper

Paintbrush

Black & pink acrylic paint
Matte top coat acrylic
Acrylic fabric medium

Shoe Goo

Rubber bands

Faux fur
Sewing pins

Sewing machine

Paper
Scissors

Curved needle

Thread
Batting

Worbla
Heat gun

Craft foam
Tacky glue

Cording

Vegan vampire leather in black and hot pink

Spray adhesive

Hot glue gun w/glue

Mod Podge dimensional magic

White and yellow leather paint

My Shoes started their unlife as a spooktacular pair of booties, but my ghoulfriend had worn them to the point of utter exhaustion. She couldn't wear them anymore, so she donated them to my cause. They may not look so bad, but the fabric was delaminating and the sole was quite worn down. For this project I was trying to reanimate something that was headed for the shoe graveyard. You don't always need to start with a shiny new pair, embrace those freaky flaws. (If you are starting with a new pair, I would highly suggest not beginning with something that needs this much work. Try to find shoes that more closely fit the shape of what you are making.)

Begin by cutting off the back of the shoes, so only the toe area is left. I pulled the fabric off the heel as well because it wasn't a match, and would have looked odd when painted.

Next sketch out where you want the hole in the wedge to go. Try your "beast" to line them up as evenly as possible; readjust if needed.

For this next part, use extreme caution and put on your fiercely fashionable safety goggles. If you aren't familiar with power tools ask someone who is to help. Trust me ghouls and mansters, safety is always in style!
Next up, saw out the excess wedge material. I stated by drilling large holes that I would be able to slip the blade through. This takes a bit of time and muscle. Make sure that you are drilling / sawing straight by checking your work on the other side of the shoe. Hand sand any imperfections or lumpy bits.

Now cover the raw edge of the toe box with some bias tape. I simply glued it on. Make sure to wrap it under the foot bed for a finished edge. I also removed the fabric that was remaining on the front of the heel.

Glue the loose foot bed back down with some shoe goo. Hold the pieces tightly together with rubber bands or clamps till the glue dries.
Fill the majority of holes in the heel with paper towels or something else light and squishy. The holes can be fairly large and you don't want to have to fill the whole shape with something dense.
To smooth the very outside of the holes and give it a hard covering, I used Magic Sculpt. Though there are probably a number of other materials that would work well, I really like this material. It cures hard and sands nicely. Also, fill in any gaps between the re glued foot bed and the heel.
Once dried, sand till smooth. At this point my soles gave out, and literally fell off. The glue was old and dry, so the shoes have been professionally resoled. (Normies will give you some strange looks if you bring these shoes into their shop...)

Prime the shoes by taping off the fabric parts, sole, and insole with blue tape. Spray a few coats of Gesso, and sand till smooth. Remove the tape and clean off any excess dust from sanding.

Mix up a frightfully fierce shade of hot pink, and begin painting. Remember to mix in textile medium when coating the fabric parts. I used a matte top coat to help protect the heel.

Set the shoe aside to dry, and begin work on the scary cute decorations.
To start this process, make a pattern for the heart and one for the wings. You only need to pattern half the shape, it will be flipped for the other side. Once the patterns are scaled correctly, select a section to work on.
For the heart:
Start by placing the heart pattern on the fabric, be aware of the direction the fibers are facing. I ended up cutting each section on a slant (not quite bias) to get the fur sticking out how I wanted. There is a seam down the middle of the heart, it is not cut on the fold.

Trace the pattern onto the back of the fur adding seam allowance all around the shape. I used 1/4" for the outside edges and 1/2" for the middle. Cut out 4 sets. When cutting only snip the knit backing not the fur itself. Usually I trim the fur from the seams, but this fur was really thin, and trimming left my monsters a bit bald. If you encounter a similar issue, try to push all the fur inward while you pin and sew, so that it isn't sticking out of the seams.

Sew the heart in the middle and then around the sides leaving enough room for your wings to poke through. Make sure the openings are even. Mine are not in this picture because I was testing how the wings would sit. I liked the lower placement more, and fixed the stitching later.

Stuff with batting and set aside.

For the wings:
Begin by tracing the pattern onto a piece of thin craft foam. Flip the pattern in the middle, so it extends the width of the heart. You are marking a pair of these, so double everything. I only took pictures of one.

Next cut some thin cording for the veins and glue into place. My cording was so thin I just put glue all over the wings. Be scareful not to get lumpy glue bits, they will show through when covering the wings. Let dry.

Now cut two pieces of Worbla ( I used black, though the original tan will work fine too) a bit larger than the shape of the wings. Sand-witch the foam between the two shinier sides of the Worbla. Heat and smooth until the veins are defined and the edges are sealed. Always use caution around the heat gun. Allow to cool a bit. While the Worbla is still warm cut the excess off with a pair of scissors. Bend the shape slightly to give it a nice curve, and allow to cool completely.

Once the wings are cool, spray Gesso and sand till smooth.

Wipe off any dust left from sanding and then paint black. I used chalkboard paint because I love the sheen.

Once the wings are dry add them to the hearts. I opted to attach them by hot gluing the seam allowance of the fur to the wings. Usually I do not like or recommend hot glue, but it sticks really well to faux fur, and I haven't had any issues with these coming undone.

Do be aware that the wings will stick out quite a bit. When walking in these shoes, you have to adjust your steps so they don't click together. If this seems like a nightmare, try making the wings out of vegan vampire leather over a piece of craft foam or batting, and top stitching for the raised effect. (Add cording for a more exaggerated bump.) This is how the wings on the pillows are done.

These creepy cute beasties aren't ready to haunt the hallways yet. They need a bit of personality. For the eyes and the mouths, cut small pieces of black vampire vegan leather. I cut these shapes both by hand and on my Silhouette Cameo. I prefer the Cameo, it cuts straighter than I do. If you have a Cameo, make sure the fabric is in the middle of the mat clearing the white rollers and stuck down well, I also suggest cutting the shapes in the center of the piece. Depending on how thick your material is you'll have to test the cut settings. I had best results with the blade speed set pretty slow. Paint the details with leather paint, and allow to dry. To avoid globs and cracks paint in thin coats. If you want to give the eyes some extra shine and shape, coat in Mod Podge dimensional magic. The shapes below have 3 coats of paint, they clearly needed a few more.

Once the shapes are dry, glue them to the hearts. Tacky glue works nicely. Make sure to smooth the fur down in the direction you want it to lay before gluing.

To attach these new found furry friends to the shoes, start by filling the gap left by the curve in the toe box with fur. Sew this to the shoe using a curved needle. This will help the heart sit a bit upright and be less wobbly. Add more fur if necessary to adjust the angle.

Next up, sew the heart to the fur. It's a lot easier to sew the large shape to little bit of fur rather than the stiff painted shoe.

Now that the creeperific critters are attached, the only step left is to clean up the insole. Mine had some paint and scratches making it a bit unsightly. It was also silver, when it should be pink. To fix this, cut some vampire vegan leather in the shape of the insole. Coat the back with spray adhesive and glue to the shoe. They don't need to extend all the way down, just enough so you can't see the original insole when you walk. This ghoul was on a budget and I only bought a swatch of material.