Recycling Shoes? Why yes of course!

Why am I wearing two different shoes?

Well, I'm actually not! I made the one on the left out of the partner from the other one! Not that I didn't like the blue polka-dotted ones, no - in fact, I liked them so much, that they ended up looking like this:

Yikes!!
Turn something bad into something good? Yes, of course!

How to make (lined!) Espadrilles: Full Tutorial!

Finally, home-made Espadrilles - DONE!

...and it really wasn't a difficult thing at all! I had the soles already made - see my post HERE, and my video-tutorial on YouTube.

These are definitely more than house-shoes, since I added some rubber soling to make them durable.
All the tools/materials you need are these:

The Wonderland Dress!

Ah, what I wouldn't have given to have this outfit finished when it was boiling hot here in Austria... But well, it was the other way around.

The weather inspired me to make this outfit, and by the time it was finished, the heat had also vanished. But chances are I will still like it next year...

This is the Maxidress from BurdaStyle 5/2013, it can be downloaded HERE.
As other people experienced, it takes a little longer to make than one might think. My decision to make it out of this fabulous silk had nothing to do with that though...

Look at this italian silk, isn't it amazing?! And working with it was very easy!

Home-made Fabric Sandals, with full Tutorial!

 

No, I don't really want to say goodbye to summer yet... So I made this pair of sandals... it's a surprisingly quick project and I am giving you a full video tutorial on it... The other side of the world is just getting to the warm season after all!

You don't need any specialty materials, I had most of it at home, or got it from a normal DIY/hardware store.

Me-made from Head to Toe!

English: Grey Textblocks
Deutsch: Grüner Text


It's been a while since I last participated in a Me-Made-Mittwoch (Mittwoch is German for Wednesday), but I think this outfit is worthy for a return.

Es ist schon eine Weile her, dass ich bei einem Me-Made-Mittwoch mitgemacht habe, aber ich glaube dieses Outfit ist für eine Rückkehr würdig.

Hat, Blouse, Pants and yes, Shoes are all made by me.

Ich habe Hut, Bluse, Hosen und ja, auch die Schuhe selber gemacht.

Shoes - I did it again!

Street shoes. Real street shoes made by me.

I am so proud - even though this pair might look a little less professional than the first one, but those were made in a course and these here all by myself, at home, without the help of a teacher and without many of the special machines and tools.

So yes, it is possible! I will show you pictures of the making-of-process, though not nearly with every step of the way. It is a bit too soon for a tutorial - right now I am just gathering information and experience for that to come up at some later point.

However, I am going to give you a lot of pre-tutorial-information about what tools and materials I used, so you know what you definitely need and what you don't. For me, that was the most important thing to know, just so I could get started... You will be surprised how few specialty tools you need, and how you should be able to find most of it in regular hardware stores...

I. MADE. SHOES.

What is a pair of shoes doing on the white linens in my hotel-room?

Well, this is not just any pair of shoes. I had just finished making them. Yep, that's right. I made them...

You might already know, that I have a miniature obsession about wanting to learn how to make shoes. Real shoes. In my self-studies I am still on the level of house-shoe-making, but I took a one-week class in London, which catapulted me forward, far, far forward... ;-)

Shoe Shortage! Making Soles for House Shoes

Finally, here comes my next post about learning how to make shoes! In case you have missed my previous ones, I am using this great old booklet from around the time of the first world war, it's German and called "Die Schuhnot", which can be translated to "Shoe Shortage".

Upon great request from my YouTube subscribers, it can now be downloaded as a pdf file from the side bar on my blog!

The booklet is in German, but I am going through everything, step by step, so you can also just follow my blog and you won't miss a thing, I promise!
I am also going by a second booklet, from around the same time, which is almost identical, except for a few extra things, which I am also including in my posts.

Making Moccasins! With full How-To...

MOCCASINS DIY..

The Cast:

• A Wife
• A Husband

How-To: From Bland to Bling in one Hour!

A Shoe-Make-over Tutorial

Sewing a garment can be a lengthy process sometimes. Yet I am up for instant gratification very often, so a quick project it has to be...

I love shoes, and I would like to wear amazing high heels on a daily basis, yet I move around a lot and I like to walk fast, so all too often I grab this pair of dull, dreary, bland boots...
But wait! Do they have to be bland? No!

I turned them into "Bling" within one little hour. 

Look, it even has a little gemstone in the heel!

Here's how I did it:

Me Made Mittwoch is back! #14

Deutsch: Grau

English: Blue

Nach der Sommerpause sind wir nun zurück mit MMM, und ich freue mich schon sehr auf die schönen Mittwochs-Schneidereien!
Bei Me-Made-Mittwoch tragen die Teilnehmerinnen jeden Mittwoch ein selbst-geschneidertes Kleidungsstück (oder auch Accessoire). Die Idee und Organisation stammt von Catherine von Cat-und-Kascha, und Neueinsteigerinnen sind jederzeit willkommen! Einfach auf ihrem schönen Blog den Button abholen und Euren Link hinzufügen bei Mister Linky auf ihrer Seite.
Diese Woche seht ihr HIER, was die anderen Teilnehmerinnen heute Schönes tragen.

After the summer break, we are back with MMM and I am really looking forward to the beautiful Wednesday-creations again!

"Mittwoch" is German for Wednesday, so the participants wear a self-made garment or accessory every Wednesday. Catherine from Cat-und-Kascha is organizing it and you are welcome to join us anytime! Just go over to her blog to grab the button and add your link at Mister Linky on her site!

HERE you see the outfits from this weeks participants.

Was ich heute trage :

My outfit today:

 

Finally: Fabric Weights!

Look at that! It makes me feel like such a grown-up seamstress.

To tell you the truth, I never thought fabric cutting weights were really necessary. But like I said, I didn't "think"they were necessary. Because when you just think about it, you believe that you can put any old heavy thing on your fabric when you're cutting.

Making Shoes! #1

As promised, here comes my post about how to make your own shoes!
I found this amazing booklet:

It must be from the 40's, by the look of it (the print), the aesthetics and the content. It is called "Die Schuhnot" which translates basically into "Shoe Shortage", and teaches how women could make their own shoes with left-over materials they had at hand - torn clothes, fabric scraps, pieces of leather, twine, cardboard. It is mainly about making house shoes, but in the second part, there are definitely some that could be used outside, too.

UPDATE: A dear reader commented that the booklet could actually be from the time of the first world war, and she is probably right. Even though I have to say some of my pattern magazines from the late 30's and early 40's still do use the old print (Frakturschrift - anyone know this term in English?), the shoe styles of the booklet are a pointer to the late 1910's, right?

Me-Made-Mittwoch #13

Deutsch: Grau

English: Green

Bei Me-Made-Mittwoch tragen die Teilnehmerinnen jeden Mittwoch ein selbst-geschneidertes Kleidungsstück (oder auch Accessoire). Die Idee und Organisation stammt von Catherine von Cat-und-Kascha, und Neueinsteigerinnen sind jederzeit willkommen! Einfach auf ihrem schönen Blog den Button abholen und Euren Link hinzufügen bei Mister Linky auf ihrer Seite.
Diese Woche seht ihr HIER, was die anderen Teilnehmerinnen heute Schönes tragen.

"Mittwoch" is German for Wednesday, so the participants wear a self-made garment or accessory every Wednesday. Catherine from Cat-und-Kascha is organizing it and you are welcome to join us anytime! Just go over to her blog to grab the button and add your link at Mister Linky on her site!

HERE you see the outfits from this weeks participants.

Was ich heute trage (noch etwas müde und ungeschminkt...):

My outfit today (still a bit tired looking...):

Dieses Leinenkleid ist das wohl "erfolgreichste" Stück in meinem BurdaStyle studio. Ich habe es vor ca. einem Jahr nach einem Schnittmuster von 1935 geschneidert. Die Taschen habe ich dazu-gedichtet, den Ausschnitt etwas tiefer gesetzt, sonst blieb es ziemlich original.

I made this linen dress about a year ago from a pattern from 1935. It is probably the most "successful" garment in my BurdyStyle studio. I added the pockets and made the neckline a bit lower - other than that it is pretty much original. 

Ich habe übrigens auch die gestreifte Jacke genäht, sowie das dritte Kleid von links mit Jacke, alles zu finden in meinem BurdaStyle studio. Sicherlich werde ich es auch in Kürze beim Me-Made-Mittwoch vorstellen, jetzt passt es wieder zur Jahreszeit. (Den Mantel ganz rechts habe ich auch genäht, in einer Winter-Version mit Änderungen, HIER).

I also made the striped jacket and the third dress from the left with jacket. You can find it all in my BurdaStyle studio. I will surely soon present it at Me-Made-Mittwoch, now that the season is right... (I also made the coat on the right, in a winter version with some alterations, HERE).

Nun noch eine Vorankündigung: Ich habe dieses wunderbare Booklet erstanden - vermutlich aus den 1940'er Jahren! Nun lerne ich also, selber Schuhe herzustellen! Bereits habe ich mit geflochtenen Sohlen begonnen und werde vermutlich heute noch den ersten Post dazu schreiben.

A little Preview: I got this wonderful booklet - problably from the 1940's - about how to make your own shoes! I have already started braiding/sewing my first set of soles and will write a first post very soon, probably later today.

I AM all that!

Another Award for me! Beangirl has created this award. Oh yes, it is still quite a new award, but I bet you that sooner or later it will be the only one that counts. Because it asks the truly important questions. About shoes. About poisoning. About kissing. I will answer them. Here and now. And only here, and only now. One of my very favorite bloggers, oonaballoona has passed this award on to me, and I am flattered beyond kalkatroona.

1) What size shoe do you wear?  If you wear a size 7, can I borrow your shoes?

A European 37. Which is a Japanese 22,5, a U.K. 4, an Australian 5, a Russian and Ukrainian 35, a Korean 238, which measures 9 3/8th inches, or 23,8 Centimeters, or 238 Mondopoint. Oh, right, it's a U.S. and Canadian 6,5 (Shoesizechart here!), and no, you cannot borrow these:

 

BUT yes, go ahead, take these:

And if you MUST bring them back, maybe you could clean them?

2) 30's or 60's?

PURELY from a fashion interest point of view, I'd have to say 30's, preferably in Europe. We are NOT taking politics and economics though!

3)  Have you ever kissed someone you shouldn't have?

Uhm, I'll have to admit that most of my relationships started that way. The person who said I shouldn't kiss the guy was usually myself though. What bad judgment I had - I am now happily married to one of the men I shouldn't have kissed. So there, who's to say who you should and shouldn't kiss?

4) Have you ever been poisoned?  Was it by the girlfriend of the person you kissed??  That is awesomely "Knot's Landing".

No, no "Knot's Landing" in my life, I don't even know "Knot's Landing", I grew up without TV. Because of that, you could say I am a truly UN-poisoned person. But I once had food poisoning and will probably never eat oysters again.

5) Who's on your "Celebrity Free Pass" list (top 5)?

Theoretically I would say that any man who thinks he can pull any sort of a free pass because he is a celebrity would really turn me off. But guess I would reconsider for Bono, Jon Bon Jovi, Sting, Keanu Reeves and Matt Damon... Oh great, now I'm embarrassed. Thanks a lot.

Ok now you know all kinds of things about me you didn't need to know. I'm kind of glad this award came so early in my blogging life, this way, not too many people will read this :-)
Here are the five nominees! Come grab your award,  it's not even hidden, so much easier than finding Easter eggs...

1. Honigbärenbiene
2. Another Sewing Scientist
3. Yoshimi the Flying Squirrel
4. Farmhouse Garden
5. Pedilu

Have a look at their wonderful blogs!

Brogues, a Coat and Courage

What is your reaction when you see these?