Open-toe boots with zippers

As I was going through some fashion magazines, I noticed that open-toe boots and boots that are actually more like sandals in structure seem to be in at the moment. So, naturally, I had to try and see what I could come up with. I decided to make boots for the American Model as I couldn't find small enough zippers that would have fit Sybarite or 16" Tonner dolls.

The picture below shows the leather parts (first drawn on paper, then copied on the reverse side of the leather using the paper pattern, and then cut with small scissors) and a 15 cm zipper, which I narrowed a bit and treated the edges with Fray Stop.


Next step was to glue those parts together.


It is better to do this first and cut the zipper to correct length after gluing. Before cutting the zipper, I made a stopper by placing glue on the part of the zipper where I was going to cut it. To hide that, I glued a thin strip of leather over the end of the zipper (see pictures of finished boots at the end of this post).

The next step was making the insoles (cardboard and leather glued together in shape) and gluing the lower strips under them. This actually makes these boots fairly easy to make as you don't need to go around curves, if you plan the width and placement of the strips carefully.


Then I cut two narrow, long strips of leather (a bit longer than needed to be on the safe side; you can trim them in the end), glued their ends under the heel and trimmed and glued the rest of the strips to these vertical strips. This is fairly easy as you can make the boots tight fitting. There is no need to consider how you'll be able to get them off the doll's feet, because the zippers are there for that.


The leather I was using was thin, but I still decided to fill the underside of the insoles to get smooth outer soles and neat edges for the soles. The heels are carved from wood and covered with leather.


For the outer soles, I wanted something different, so I decided to copy Louboutin and used red leather.


Finally, here are photos of the finished boots from several angles.






An alternative way of making something like this would be cutting thin strips of leather and just wrapping them around the leg and gluing the ends to the edges of the zipper. That way, you could use very narrow strips and make intricate patterns. Of course you could also make intricate patterns with the method I've used, if you've got the patience to cut four pieces with a lot of little holes.

White leather shoes for American Model

I had a piece of thick white leather, which I had not even tried to use, because it was so stiff. I decided to try something very simple in which the parts folded below the insole would be as straight as possible. The result was the following structure:


Because the leather was very thick, I had to glue filler pieces to the underside of the insole. This way, the outer sole will be smooth even if it is not made of very thick leather.

I painted the cut edges of the leather with white acrylic paint to make them neat. The decorations are stickers, the heels are made of polymer clay and the outer soles are made of brown leather.



Original Finnish post: March 6, 2007

Boots

I haven't made any new shoes for some time, but I did make an outfit for the American Model that can be used with the boots shown in the previous post.

Original Finnish post is here.

Boots for American Model

I had tried making boots for Cissy once, but they did not succeed and had to be converted to ankle boots instead.


I was not going to give up, though, and tried another pair, this time for the American Model.

The boots are made of leather and there is a zipper on the back. I did not even try to sew the zipper, I just glued it in place. The front has eyelets for the strings. This way, the boots fit tight, but you only need to loosen the strings a little when putting the shoes on the doll's feet.


I'm sure the neighbor downstairs was not happy when I started banging those eyelets in place. There are 48 of them in total and each required a couple of hard hits with the hammer.

I would have preferred metal color, but I only had the required amount in pastel colors and pink was most suitable of them.

There wasn't enough of that dark purple leather, so the boots ended up having two colors. Actually, that was a good choice considering the color of those eyelets.


Then I made the heels using modeling clay. The outer soles are made of leather and the strings are made of cotton yarn.


The boots are shown here in plaster castings of the doll's feet.


Original Finnish posts: March 2, 2007, and February 16, 2006

High heel platforms

I decided to try a new way of making platform shoes. This time I wanted to make something higher than ever before.

I started by cutting suitable pieces from thick foamcore and glueing them in two layers.

Then I painted them to fill in the biggest gaps, although they would not have shown under the fabric anyway.

The arching part of the sole is made of several layers of cardboard (160 g/m2). I think I put 5-6 layers in these.

When making parts like this, you need to use glue that doesn't set right away. Start with two layers, spread glue on one and place the other on top of it. Then you form the desired shape and keep the pieces in that shape until the glue has dried enough to prevent the pieces from getting out of shape. Then glue the rest of the layers one layer at a time.

Then I glued the parts together. I noticed afterwards that it would have been better, if couple of the lowest cardboard layers had gone all the way down. It would have been easier to make the soles keep their shape that way.

I covered the shoes with fabric that I had treated with sealer. The heels are cut from thin metal pipe and the parts where they are attached to are made of modelling clay (the type that does not need to be oven baked).

I used the same fabric for inner soles and straps. I only used two straps for the shoes as the patterns of the fabric were decorative enough and there was no need for a more complicated design.

I covered the rest with the same fabric and glued small pieces of leather for taps and to the part that shows green in the picture below.

The picture below shows the finished shoes on the doll. I haven't tried it, but I don't think the doll could stand wearing these, because of balance issues.

Original Finnish post