HESTA Tie Up Espadrille Sandal Knockoff from the Dollar Store?

With Craftster's "I <3 the Dollar Store" swap that I am angeling for, I have to work with supplies from the dollar store, which can present a bit of a challenge when you are trying to make something chic & trendy.

I scoured through all the posts the Leeska has on Craftster as well as stalking her wists. I came up with so many ideas, and had to then narrow it down to what I could make in a short amount of time that looks like a million while only costing a couple bucks.

Well, one thing she had on her wist were these amazing HESTA tie up espadrille sandals that retail for $50US at TopShop. 

Gorgeous, no? I knew I had to at least try it. I figured that I would use cheap sandals and some ribbon and go from there.

But, I couldn't find any nice ribbon in a large enough quantity at Dollarama to make it cost-effective. I decided to cheat a little bit, and head to Fabricland and see what I could find there. Of course, I checked the remnant bins first, but they are having a sale, so I managed to snag some really nice knit for 50% off. Half a meter only cost me $3.50!!

So, I managed to muddle through it today, and took tons of pictures along the way in the hopes that I could throw a tutorial up if they worked out :)

Without further ado, the HESTA knock-off tutorial:

First, gather your supplies:

• cheap flip flops ($2 at Dollarama)
• .5m fabric, 45"width ($3.50 at Fabricland), ribbon, etc
• rubber cement ($1 at Dollarama) [other adhesives might look tempting, but rubber cement is the best choice here other than actual cobbler's glue, as it is flexible when it dries]
• scissors
• high-tech prying device (aka butter knife)

**Make sure your sandals are of the variety that have a separate sole & upper with the thong wedged between. If they aren't thong, that's ok, just one more step later.

Next, start making your awesome new sandals:

Insert your knife between the two layers. Usually there is a bit of a gap where the thong is inserted, which is a good spot to stick it in. 

Gently & carefully start prying the layers apart, working your way around the entire sandal. Have some patience & take your time, or you could rip some of the foam or fabric. 

You can see my first sandal ripped apart here, and notice that it is made of cheap foam for the sole & rubberized foam fabric wrapped around cardboard for the upper. The thong was faux-leather.

Repeat with the other sandal: 

If your sandals are of the thong variety (like mine), continue to the next step. If your sandals don't have the space between the toe, like this, then you will need to place your foot on the upper & mark the space between your big toe & first toe, then carefully cut a slit there on each upper where you marked. Then, move along with the rest of us... 

You are going to cut your fabric into 3 strips lengthwise in whatever width you desire. I made mine a little under 2 inches wide. Cut one of the 3 strips in half, so you have 2x45" lengths & 2x22.5" lengths.

And this is where it gets a little more complicated. Find the center of one of the short lengths & place it over the center of the top of the upper where your arch would be. I found it helpful to do this with my foot in place.

Wrap around & criss-cross under the upper, bringing the ends up and between your big toe & second toe. Insert both ends into the thong hole of the upper & pull as snug as you desire. I made mine snug for the thong portion, and looser on the arch portion.

If you are working with knits, keep in mind that the fabric has a good bit of stretch.

If you are working with ribbons, keep in mind that it likely does not have any stretch.

Trim the excess fabric underneath leaving about an inch:

Take the long length of fabric and find the center. Place this underneath where your heel would be on the botttom of the upper. You can practice wrapping & tying if you like, just to get a feel for how this will sit & make any adjustments you feel necessary. 

 Now, get your rubber cement & tack in place the two ends under the thong, as well as the criss-crossed fabric under your arch & the center of the long piece under your heel. You could, of course, use hot glue or something, but I just stuck to one adhesive. Plus, I didn't want to risk stiffness & cracking from other adhesives.

Once this has sat for a bit, place the rubber cement around the edges of the upper & a line up the middle for extra hold. Repeat this pattern with the sole. Wait 10 minutes, then stick together. [make sure you follow the directions on your package; mine said 10 minutes, then at least 30 minutes drying time]

 Firmly & carefully clamp the pieces together for at least 30 minutes:

Hey, the thousands spent on 2 years of education & all those text books have to be good for something, right? Plus, Leeska's geeky, so I'm sure she can appreciate that anatomy, physiology, neurology, kinesiology, pathology, hydrotherapy, treatments, etc were used on her shoes :P

Repeat the fabric placing with the other flip flop, glue, clamp, dry, etc... Don't forget to clean up any rubber cement that might have leaked out the side (like mine did)

And VOILA! $50 HESTAs for a mere $6.50!!

*I know these are a little small, but Leeska wears a 7/8, and I wear a 9/10.

Let me know what you all think! And if you decide to give it a shot, please do share pictures!! 

Think of the variations of colour, tying, knotting, embellishment - oh my! And, you could buy heels or wedges...maybe even several pairs of cheap foam flip flops to build your own wedges or platforms?

Wants & To-Do's

Don't we all end up with a mile long list of things to do? Things we want to own, or make simply for the sake of making them?
Right now, my major to-do is still trying to get organized. I have never been very good at it, so it's never really happened. With over a decade of chaos and multiple moves to sort through, it really is quite the chore. But I still manage to set aside time to craft. Of course, my son always comes first, but THEN comes organizing, and THEN crafting. OK, maybe crafting before organizing... hehehe
So, I have a couple things that I have to make for this summer:

1. I have been eyeing the jumpers that have been seen everywhere. Craftster use violentjayne (who's work I adore - one of my many Craftster crushes) has posted a few truly fabulous ones. I want to make a wide-legged, shirred-top, strapped one, and try to incorporate jayne's trapdoor idea (which is really quite ingenious). I feel like something with a flowy top, cinched at the waist, and wider legs will help hide my problem areas (read: flub) and accentuate the fact that I have killer tits and a waist that is over 10" smaller than my bust or hips. For this project, I have a large amount of olive green jersey. If that one works out well, I have a super-awesome thrift store find to make my second incarnation. The fabric is a light-weight knit in the most amazing azure with a slight pattern to it. It's soft & luxurious & reminds me of something that one might find a lehenga made of. I have a smaller amount of a similar fabric in the same colour, but with a white stripe. The edge of that one is a beautiful purple. It could easily be the sari worn over top.
Which brings me to my next project:

2. Make a simple sundress out of the azure/white striped fabric. I'm not 100% sure on which style I will use, but I don't think I want to incorporate any shirring into it. Partially because I've never done any, and taking on too many projects with a new technique will be too daunting. I was considering using the purple trim and some of the striping in a horizontal across my bust, with the remainder of the stripes in a vertical from underbust to knee. Just a simple strapless dress with an empire waistline & flowy skirt.

3. Another dress. I have this old piece of fabric that was given to me. I'm not sure what exactly it was meant to be, but it was store-bought & I don't think it was ever used. It's white cotton with a large blue floral pattern all over it. One end has a huge amount of wide eyelet lace ruffled on it. I want to use that end as the bottom of my skirt with the lace still attached.
The fabric goes almost 3 times around me, and is over twice my length, so no problem at all with making a dress. I was thinking perhaps a petticoat-style dress with a simple bodice? I might incorporate some shirring into the back of this one and opt for a slightly lolita-esque feel to the piece. Knee-length again, with 3 tiers on the skirt? I don't want to attempt any puff sleeves, though.... Or something closer to this one I found over at Hong Kong Badger. Either way, AntiCraft has a great tut for pettis.

4. A patchwork skirt or dress. Preferably rainbow. I have a bunch of quilting fabric that was gifted to me (two large boxes full!) And I'm not a quilter. It would be perfect for something like this, and I have wanted one of these for so long.








5. A lace-front button-down tank top. I bought a slightly oversized white button-down dress shirt. I plan to take off the sleeves & collar & add tons of lace trims down the front. I have several bags of mismatched trims in white & some more antique-looking. Perhaps dye the shirt as well? Make it all somewhat antiqued? This shirt is about the closest I could find online in a quick search. I want it to wear with my navy pinstripe bermudas. And a wide red or navy belt. And some cute red peep-toes, either flat or kitten heel.

As far as my organization goes, you can see my earlier post on my craft area. I have since opened all of the boxes & bins of fabric & separated lengths of fabric, folded them up nice & neat, and taken a sample of each stapled to a card with the width & length of each fabric. That way, I never have any guessing errors again.
I also pulled out all of my sheets, curtains & other miscellaneous household linens that I had set aside to use as fabric. They are neatly folded & patiently waiting for me to catalogue them all.
What's left to sort? I still have a couple of boxes of scrap to sort through, and a big rubbermaid bin of mismatched scraps & old clothes for reconning. I want to separate my scraps into quilting scraps, larger fabric scraps & smaller non-quilting fabric scraps. Anything I find not useful will be sent on it's merry way.
My yarn is still out of control, and I think I just have to use a lot of it up to get it under control. I have a 5-drawer organizer for it, and it's full, as well as a couple more bins & some random bags. Some of it was gifted, some of it was bought on a whim, some was bought with a project in mind, but never occurred (or never got finished - my unfinished projects are absolutely shameful)
I also found a multi-drawer organizer for $1 at a yard sale! I used it for all of my buttons, embroidery floss, beads & supplies. It was a bit rusty, but I gave it a quick coat of gold spray paint (I have a can from an old RHPS Columbia costume) Which means I have 3 smaller organizer boxes with nothing in them. I am going to either give them away or sell them.
I still have my under-bed storage system sitting empty (since there is no under my bed, just a mattress & boxspring on the floor). I think I will pull everything down from the space above my closets and fit it into those boxes, then put them up top. It should help keep everything a little neater and more organized.
Well, the organization part of this post is getting long-winded and depressing, so I'm going to cut myself short before I realize just how behind I am...

Oh, Hai!

After a huge amount of BS, I am back in the world of internetland.

To be honest, I feel like a total piece of crap about a lot of happenings since my last post. I flaked on a Craftster swap (the onesie one) and received negative feedback. First, I was sending late, but then I never sent. I have the projects sitting in my craft space, completed, but now I don't know if it's just too late. That's really not like me. Health issues intervened with sending on time...

My "wonderful" boyfriend is no long my boyfriend, and not so wonderful either. I left him on what I hoped could have been amicable terms, but he decided to take my money as well as personal belongings, ditch on paying his portion of the rent while he was still there....yeah...

DS & I have since moved into a smaller, more affordable place. It's just us, and it is WONDERFUL!

With moving, comes the challenges of re-organizing. There is also a lot less storage room here. On the up side, my room is all my own, and I have been able to set up a fully-functional crafting area. I still have a couple things left to do, but all is organized, labelled, and easy to find.

Here's some in-progress pics:

A large 2-man desk, plus sewing table at far end. Dolly standing proud, but with no bra. Shelves up on wall & full.

Those desk drawers are full of patterns, paper crafts, DS's craft supplies. All organized for easy access.

Stacks and boxes of yarn, fabric, partially completed projects, & miscellaneous sewing supplies that have yet to be sorted.

A large ziplock bag of embroidery floss was given to me ages ago. It's all sorted out and ready to be carded and put in it's own container (finally)

On the bottom shelf: miscellaneous knick-knacks & craft supplies.

On the second shelf up: adhesives, carving tools, paints, more miscellaneous craft supplies.

On the third shelf up:buttons, beads, embroidery floss, beading wire, velcro, zippers, badanas, and more miscellaneous sewing supplies. All are organized into separate containers and labelled for easy finding.

On the top shelf: my Wuzzles, Rainbow Brite, ribbons, bindings, laces & trims with ribbon tulle on top.

Scissors & ruler on wall hooks.

A pile of completed hats that do not have homes. I'm considering making papier mache heads for them and mounting them on the wall. It would also supply me with a place to store some of my costume wigs.

What do you think?

Classic "Boyfriend's Old T-Shirt" Recon

So, I've been away for a while; but I have damned good excuses!

Damned good personal excuses that I don't feel the need to delve into on the internet.

I do feel the need to show of my newest crafty venture, however. Since DS's second birthday, I have not been superbly active craft-wise. I have missed posting a couple things because of lack of camera, but I hope to remedy that soon enough.

On to tonight's creation!

My boyfriend was getting set up to clean and restring his guitar, and couldn't find his cleaning cloth. He cut the sleeves off of an old (read: high school, so at least 10 years ago) T-shirt that had holes and stains, but a kick-ass design on the front.

I called "punked!" and whisked it away to being it's new life as my favorite new shirt for this fall :)

Took in the sides and dropped the neck and shoudlers (they were VERY worn out), took off the hem. I reshaped the arm pits, added long (puff) sleeves out of an amazing blue jersey with orange skull print that I picked up for cheap (15% off when you finish the bolt!!!) and added a huge (HUGE, I say!!!) hood.

BF then got out the phone and took a couple pics for me :)

(no before shots, but standard men's shapeless T-shirt with an orange car and "SOULFOOD76" printed above)

Tell me what you think!