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Do you wear Toms? I wore my first pair so often that this happened…
My giant toes poked right through! I was bummed because the shoes were still totally comfortable and in generally good shape, so I couldn’t bring myself to throw them away. So they sat in my closet for months, though I may have worn them once or twice with my green toenail polish sticking out the holes.
This weekend, I finally decided to try my hand at a little shoe repair. Does that make me a cobbler? Cause that sounds pretty cool.
First gather your supplies. I picked up some fabric glue at the craft store and thrifted a skirt for a couple of bucks. I picked a woven cotton fabric that is similar in weight to the canvas of the shoes.
Hold your fabric up to the shoes and trim it to size – it doesn’t have to be perfect right now, you can trim it more once it’s on the shoe. I decided to keep the folded, hemmed edge to glue along the shoes’ seams to prevent fraying.
Use a paintbrush to spread glue on your shoe. My glue decided to turn a strange shade of fluorescent blue. Just go with it.
Place your fabric on the blue glue and trim the excess. Once your fabric is trimmed, apply a little extra glue to the edge of the fabric to secure. The glue will take a few hours to dry, so put a rubber band around your shoe to keep the edges down.
Once your glue has dried (my glue said to let dry for 24 hours), take your new and improved shoes for a spin!
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So cute! I need to do this. My Toms are getting holes on part of the heel but I can’t bring myself to throw them out because they’re so comfy!
You could probably use an iron-on patch for the heel, like the kind you use to patch holes in jeans. They carry them at most craft stores in the sewing section!
You are amazing!! So creative!!
Kira, you’re so crafty I can’t take it. That’s why I like ya!! Don’t have Toms…YET…But when I do and when they get ratty now I know what to do with them. We should do a collabo DIY haha an east and a west coast take..booyaka!
Christine
Love this idea!
Very nice! I hope I can find fabric glue in South Korea…
Has it actually lasted? I’m a little rough on my toms cause of work and such….
Brilliant! I totally need to do this. My TOMS are to’ up!
Hi there!
I came across your site while searching Google for DIY posts to help inspire me to update my TOMS. Yours did the trick! I followed your lead and gave my TOMS a whole new look. In the process, I fell in love with your posts and added you to my RSS feed
Here’s a link to my finished TOMS if you’d like to take a look! I’d appreciate any support you could give my little blog!
http://sweetandsavorylife.com/?p=1565
Thanks for being so awesome!
-Sarah
This is so clever! Can’t wait to try it
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