DIYFashion

DIY Shoe Makeover: Fantastic Fabric Flip Flops

by Allison on July 9, 2013 // This post may contain affiliate links.

In Oklahoma, in the 90s it was a huge thing to tie a ridiculously heavy amount of fabric onto your flip flops. You would, of course, have a pair for every single possible color combination in that day’s outfit. I remember purchasing lots of cheapie flip-flops in tons of colors and then taking ages to pick out the perfect fabric to complement them. I would then sit in my room and listen to Tori Amos or something similar and tie pair, after pair, after pair.

And it wasn’t just a kid thing, the adults rocked these fancy flippers, too. My mother may very well have been the Imelda Marcos of southern Oklahoma when I was a kid and sitting next to her fancy church shoes would be a pile of these fantastic fabric flip flops.

I’m not too sure when the trend died out around here (I informed the lady at the fabric counter that I’m bringing them back) but at some point, you just quite seeing these guys on the feet of gals of all ages. So when I started crafting up some flip flops for the family, I naturally went back to an old classic for my Momma’s little feet.

And, FYI, these make a great activity for kids and at slumber parties!

For this project you will need:

In case you’ve never seen these bad boys before, they are pinking shears. They cut the fabric in a zig zag fashion that prevents it from fraying like it would if cut using traditional scissors.

The shears can be kind of expensive (I got the cheapest pair at Hobby Lobby for $7.20 with a 40% off coupon). You can always use regular scissors but just know that your fabric will fray and that can be kind of a mess.

I used a yardstick and temporary fabric marking pen to draw straight lines down my 1/2 yard of fabric and then trimmed accordingly.

When your strips are all cut, cut them in half, and then those halves again (but before cutting them all tie one on your flip flop to be sure that you dig the size).

To keep things even I like to tie one piece on each side of the little toe separator bit and go back from one shoe to the other. Or you can divvy out the strips equally among both shoes!

Here you can tell the difference the amount of fabric makes. The one on the right is “complete” while the one on the left has barely gotten started.

And there they are. You may want to go around and trim any fabric strips that look like they’re going to drag on the ground or even get underneath the soles when walking

I used most of 1/2 a yard of fabric but I only filled in with fabric about half of the straps. You can get a full yard and have the fabric go all the way around the straps to the sole if you prefer. I was going for more of a house shoe look so I stopped right here.

Oh, and as I stated before, I made these cuties for my mother who wears a size 7. I wear a size 9 but since the sandals are hard to tell what is happening without feet, I went ahead and shoved my biggin’s in there and snapped some pics. No worries, I totally don’t go tromping around town in shoes 2 sizes too small!

Think you’ll be tying up some flip-flops this summer?

Allison

A crafter since her earliest years, Allison spends a little time every day making something. She crafts, sews, paints, glues things onto other things, and is a firm believer that a life spent creating is a life worth living. Visit Allison’s blog, Dream {a Little} BIGGER.