Monday, October 25, 2010

Amanda's Shoe Clips

As I already mentioned, this month my cousin, Amanda, got married. It was a great opportunity for me as the maid of honor to observe her planning process and practice a few things for my own wedding. Because I am the family crafter, I offered to help with as much of the DIY as Amanda was willing to pass off to me. The final list included her garter, ring bearer pillows, silk flowers for bridesmaids’ hair, and shoe clips for the bride.
I had made pillows before, so those were easy. I used these DIY instructions for the garter and it turned out perfectly. As for the shoe clips.... Well, here you go!



1 . Supplies - I stopped and Joann’s and picked up a few fabric remnants in white and ivory satin and tulle. There was more than enough fabric to play with and remnants are 50% off! I also had a pair of vintage clip-on earrings I’d found a few months earlier at a local vintage shop. I used a small metal cutter to clip off the earring back. The alligator clips pictured were what I originally planned to use, but they were too tall and long so I switched to the bobby pins.

2 . Cut 3” wide strips of fabric. I started with several fabrics, knowing I could play with layering to find the look I wanted. I ended up using only one strip of the white satin for each clip. Layering with the ivory tulle was “too much.”

3 . Fold your fabric strips in half length-wise and pin. Sew a wide running stitch (the widest you can do on your machine) down the length of the fabric. I only ended up using a piece that was about 8-10 inches long for each shoe. I cut the fabric after stitching the entire length. It was MUCH too long, so feel free to trip it down and save some time or keep the full length and layer it like this.

4 . To ruffle the fabric, pull on one of the two threads at the end of your stitches and push the fabric down to create a gathered effect. Even out the gathers and pin in a circle.

5 . Hot glue the back (least pretty side!) to a circle of felt.

6 . Secure/hide the raw end
of the fabric with a bit of hot glue.

7 . Secure a bobby pin to the back with a square of felt and more hot glue. Be sure you hide the bobby pin completely behind the flower.

8 . Turn it over and secure the gem/earring/button of choice to the front with more hot glue.

9 . Repeat for shoe clip #2.



And voila! It was one of the simplest DIY projects I’ve ever done. If you don’t have a sewing machine, use a wide hand-stitch. Don’t they look beautiful? Amanda ended up taking them off of her shoes and putting them in her hair by the end of the night... that might have also been after a 4 hour open bar :) In her hair or on her shoes, they looked lovely!



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