Making Sneakers - Turorial w/Pictures ^^

I was going to make sneakers for my Yuichi (Ringdoll Kay) because the shoes I get are either too big or too small/narrow...His feet were only made to fit Ringdoll shoes XD

Anyways to fix this dilemma of his, I decided to test this "Shoe Making" on my MSD boy. I didn't want to make a large scale version in case it didn't work, but overall in it turned out really good ^^

So lets get started with this tutorial thingy

1. Here's a picture of things you will need...(I make polymer clay charms so a lot of this stuff I had laying around)
I forgot to picture some items that I used, but will be listed down below)



a. Polymer Clay - You can choose any color you want, I just chose white. I have Sculpey and Craftsman brands, but for the shoe base I used Craftsman. With this brand when I bake it, it comes out semi-rubbery and not rock solid like Sculpey.

b. Sculpey Bake and Bond Glue - You'll need this to glue on the toe cap. If you don't want to you can always knead the clay to stick onto each other using tools.

c. Clay Tools - I used an Xacto blade for cutting out the basic shape of the shoe. I also used some clay tools that I had. You can also use whatever tools you like if you don't have these...get creative and find household objects ^^

d. Paints and Paint Brushes - I'm using Liquitex Acrylic Paints that I use for Faceups. It doesn't need to be this brand, use whatever paints you like.

e. Fabric Glue - The brand that I used is called "Fabri Tac Permanent Adhesive". I used this to glue the fabric to the Polymer Clay shoe base. I tried Hot Gluing it, but it wouldn't stick...and so I turned to Fabric Glue as it sticks really well.

f. Sewing Machine and Fabric - You can choose any fabric color as long as it is thick, I used an old curtain that I found. A sewing machine is optional, if you want you can always hand sew too ^^ I also ordered very small grommets for making holes for the shoe laces, but since I don't have them yet they are not pictured.

 

2. Take some of your Polymer Clay and make slabs, big/thick enough for you dolls feet to make an imprint *outline in the red* but still have room around the edges. Use your sharp tool *Xacto knife* to cut them out and they should look something like the pictures above after your done.



3. Flip the pieces over and use a tool of your choice to make the designs on the bottom of you shoe. I did something simple and used the flat side of my clay tools to make the design above.



4. When I made the toe cap I used my finger to form the dome shape XD I then used my Xacto knife to cut the edges straight. Make sure it's not too thick or your dolls feet won't fit inside it.

 

5. Make sure your dolls feet fits and then glue *Sculpey Bake and Bond* the toe cap onto the base. If you don't have glue you can use tools to connect the two pieces, just make sure they are well put together.



6. Take your tools and make your design. I used my tools to imprint/carve the designs onto the shoes.



7. Now you should have both sides done. This is where you would bake it to harden the clay (follow the directions on the label/packaing of you clay as each brand may reuire it's pwn temperature to cure it properly.

 

8. This is where you start to sew so choose your fabric. The picture should explain itself, but I'll explain it just in case. The yellow dotted lines should be where the fabric is folded to be sewn. The red lines when sewn should match evenly to the toe cap. This is where you glue it later to attach it to the shoe base. The blue line includes the height for your shoes as well as excess fabric for you to glue around onto the base. The black dot indicates a gap, this is where the tongue of the shoe goes so it covers the gap.

I forgot to include other pieces of fabric for the tongue of the shoe, so I don't have a picture...but the basic shape should still be a rectangle, but much smaller.



9. After sewing it should look smaller. Try fitting it around your shoe as if your going to glue it to see if fits.



10. Where the red lines are *labeled relief cuts* you shouldn't cut higher than indicated as you'll get too close to the sewn area. The Yellow lines like said before should wrap all the way around leaving a gap for the tongue. The green lines will be glued onto the toe cap, but we're not to the gluing part yet, but the tongue should go there before you start any gluing as it makes it easier.

This would also be the part to add grommets if you have any. Just measure around like your going to glue it and make tick marks for placement where you want the shoe aces to go.

 

11. I've seen shoe making where they use a very thin piece of wood that looks similar to the base of the shoe and glue the fabric onto the piece of wood before gluing it down. I did this as a test so I didn't want to so I glue it right onto the shoe. But if you want go ahead and make a piece of wood or something to glue on the fabric before gluing it down to the base. But the way I did it was glued the tongue using Fabric Glue under the toe cap and then glued the other piece of fabric on that went around, but started first where the red is indicated.

I didn't have similar fabric in a different olor, otherwise I would have made the tongue white white brown stitch XD



12. Where the red is indicated, also use glue to glue it onto the toe cap. I had to apply pressure there by holding it together as it likes to lift up.





13. You can now paint it to whatever color you want. I just added stripes and colored my name under the shoes. I ordered small grommets where I could make holes for shoe laces, ut havn't gotten them in the mail yet so you can add them if you have them ^^

This is the first pair of shoes that I made so they may look really weird as I rushed in making these, but if I took my time maybe it'll look better...I hope my tutorial can help those in making shoes or at least give you guys ideas in making some ^^

 

The grommets that I got are made of flimsy metal so it shouldn't be difficult. But if it were regular grommets where you need a hammer/tools to affix them on then it will be really difficult XD

 

I have made charms out of Sculpey (much softer and easier to work with) and did that drop test, the only parts that broke off were arms (where they have been glued), they haven't cracked or broken yet other than that...So I'm guessing that if you made shoes with the same material it shouldn't break unless you really tried to break it XD

 

I used Polymer Clay which can be found at Michaels, some Jo Anns fabric store and Hobby Lobby. I like polymer clay compared to air dry clay as it only hardens if it's baked making sculpting/forming objects easier ^^

 

I haven't tried making heels, but for boots if you make the base out of polymer clay and the fabric with vinyl, pleather or something that resembles rubber, I'm sure you can make it turn out as it's not much different from shoes ^^