HSF #7: Accessorize – with shoes!

Hi everyone! Erin here, and I’m back!! Finally! It’s been a crazy few months of work and travelling, but I am finally getting back into a regular sewing schedule with some ambitious projects ahead.
For the July challenge, I had a few projects in order (as usual) but the quickest and most practical was a pair of early 1920s summer shoes. I wanted to make some more accurate shoes for this year’s Jazz Age Lawn Party, because in years past I was always a little disappointed with the bedazzled gold options or T-straps with 4″ heels that I would end up going with last minute. I decided to make some crisp white summer shoes that might work for a wider range of eras. I put together some inspiration on Pinterest, and found my favorite trends: D’Orsay with Louis or Cuban heel, Mary Jane strap, minimal, and preferably French.

Screen Shot 2015-08-02 at 8.18.16 PM — Clockwise from bottom left: Etsy, Etsy, The Closet Historian, La Vie Parisienne July 1923

I found a pair of faux leather Hush Puppies from the 70’s(?) on Ebay that I thought I could fix up to make into an easy pair of summer shoes. The heel is low enough and the style is simple enough to work for 1920-1926. I picked up some Tarago White Color Dye (even though the shoes are not real leather, I thought this paint would give the amount of flexibility necessary for shoes) and went to it. I won’t be getting into the step by step here because The Dreamstress already put together a great tutorial that needs no elaboration.

The paint layer was already peeling off the toe very badly, I peeled even more until the toe looked smooth.

On the left, two coats. On the right, three coats

In the end it took about 6 or 7 or 9 (I lost track!) coats of dye to make these completely white. I was a bit worried it would end up looking like I took a bottle of White-out to the pair, but they dried a lot better than expected. Though they are still not ideal, I’m sure this dye would look much better on actual leather than my pleather pair. I still have more than half the bottle of dye left, so I will definitely be trying this again on actual leather. Anyway, I will let you judge for yourself- here is the finished project! I’m wearing them here with a 1980s does 1920s drop waist dress.