Day of the Decoupage shoes

Fashion & Wearables Completed Projects
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What went right:

  1. I made a pattern before cutting the fabric. It fit quite well.
  2. The fabric is really cute.
  3. I used dishwasher-safe Mod Podge on one shoe (with the big white skull at the toe), and white glue on the other, so I can see if it makes a difference. Outdoor MP might be better, but costs twice as much. MP and glue stuck the fabric on about equally well–see #1 in what went wrong.
  4. I never wore these shoes anyway.

What went wrong:

  1. I had planned to use some cotton fabric with a black-and-white skull design, but decided this was cuter. Unfortunately, it was a backpack from the dollar store, and is made of nylon, a not-very-absorbent material. Wrinkles, poor adhesion, edges pulling loose… It was such a pain to work with, I didn’t cover the back part of the shoes, just painted them.
  2. The shoes were a little bit stretchy. The sugar skull fabric is not…so the shoes are now too tight.

I post the failures so you don’t have to make the same mistakes!

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  1. I love this idea and the print you chose is really cute.

  2. Thanks for posting your failures. It is easy to feel like you are the only crafter that creates disasters.

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They look cool, anyway! Thanks for all the tips, too. I keep thinking one day I may decorate my shoes.

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Prior to your posts, I’d never thought of decoupaging with fabric, only with paper. I like your placement of the fabrics on the shoes!

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Such a bummer that they’re too tight to wear and therefore test, because they look cool! But thanks so much for sharing the process and the lessons!

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These are interesting! I’ve been wanting to embellish some shoes…. This really gives me some great new ideas! And thank you for posting both what went wrong and what went right! It will help me figure out how to make my shoes extra cool, if I ever get around to doing them. :grin:

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If they are canvas, it would be easiest to cut out individual motifs. Hindsight is 20/20.

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Thanks for the advice!

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a follow-up:
The dishwasher-safe mod podge was supposed to set up completely in 28 days, so I figured the clock was ticking. I peeled the fabric off after a few days, and was surprised that the MP had held onto some color (pink!) from the fabric and made a crust on the shoe. The white glue didn’t do that.

I ran them through the washing machine; the crust remains on the pink shoe, the other shoe feels almost normal, with just a few crusty spots.

The shoes fit again. I think I’ll paint them, and wear them around the yard.
Or paint and then decoupage just individual skulls…

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