Shoe Makeover: Friendship Gladiator Sandals Tutorial

I am totally loving on Gladiator sandals right now and recently purchased 3 different pairs to kick around in this summer. But when I realized the DIY potential in these cute little shoes, I knew I couldn’t just leave them as is.

So I’ve been changing and updating my sandals into something a little more me… Since I’ve been braiding friendship bracelets like a fiend lately, it seemed to make sense to bring that into my shoe closet. And no, unfortunately, I don’t have a closet just for shoes. But maybe someday. 🙂

For this project you need:

• Embroidery floss in 4 colors
• Embroidery floss in black and white
• Gladiator sandals

Here are my sandals before. They’re pretty darn new but have been worn a time or two. I got them off of ebay for around $12 with shipping. You can get insane deals on shoes at eBay so check it out!

Get about a yard and a half of each color. I chose pink, yellow, coral, and mint to add to my black and white colors.

Tie your thread onto a strap. Double knot it.

Wrap the thread around the strap leaving a loop at the beginning of the thread.

Grab the end of the thread through the loop you made and pull through. Tighten and situate to cover the strap. A knot will occur and you’ll need to twist so that rests at the top or the bottom side of the strap.

Continue the process of changing colors sporadically for a neat, tribal effect. I would do solid colors and then two turns of black and then white for my striped areas.

And keep on keepin’ on.

When you get to the thong area of the show wrap the thread times, sometimes overlapping to get as far into the groove as you can.

If you run out of length on a color it’s easy enough to fix up. Simply tape a section onto the strap…

And continue wrapping over the tape.

Be warned that the embroidery floss WILL drive your cats nuts.

When you get to the end, finish off with a bit of glue. I used Aleene’s Fabric Fusion. Trim once dry.

And any place you have anything weird poking out, give it a nip with some sharp scissors to remove.

Now, aren’t those suckers SO cute? I love them so much!

Because my colors are kind of flashy, I chose to only wrap the thong portion of the gladiator sandals. Plus, I really like the tan color of the pleather and I didn’t want to completely cover that up. Feel free to wrap as much or as little as you like on yours!

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.