I absolutely love to alter and restyle clothes! It's so fun to find something outdated and frumpy at a second-hand store and turn it into something cute. I've always thought it was so sad, though, that I couldn't alter shoes! I have skinny calves and size 10 feet, so it's really hard to find boots that fit my legs. I found two pair of boots that were cheap enough that I was willing to try altering them, and amazingly enough it worked! The front leg is what it looked like before, and the back one is after I altered it.
These riding boots were only $2 at a yard sale, so I wasn't too worried about ruining them. They were unlined, so I just unpicked the top seam, tore off the tape that covers the side seam, and sewed them in with my sewing machine. Then I trimmed the excess out, replaced the tape, and stitched the top seam back down. It took about 20 minutes to do both boots!
It worked so well that I decided to try to fix a leather pair of Gianni Bini boots I had found at DI for $5.
I've looked for years for a nice-fitting brown leather pair, but the nice quality ones always seem to have large calves. I bought this pair thinking that I might be able to have them taken in at a shoe repair store, but after my success I decided to try it myself.
The front leg is before altering and the rear one is the finished product.
Leather boots are a little harder because they're lined. I'm sure I could have unpicked everything and made it look nice inside, but I'm only willing to put a little effort into anything I fix. I carefully cut the lining across the top and down the sides to the ankle and unpicked a section of the top seam. Then I sewed it with my sewing machine just like I did with the fake leather boot. I was surprised that my sewing machine had no problem sewing through it.
Then I restitched the seam at the top and glued the lining down.
It doesn't look as pretty inside the boot, but it sure looks better on the outside! Now I have the boots I've wanted, and they fit! I'm just so dang impressed with myself!
3 comments:
Those look great! Good job, I finally altered my green coat! looks bad on the inside, great on the outside! wonder who taught me how to alter :)
I'm so impressed! I wouldn't begin to know how to fix a pair of boots, much less be brave enough to attempt a fix. They look great. Fun updates!
So talented! My neighbor looks for outdated but very popular things. You two should hook up!
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