Thursday, April 4, 2013

How to fix your ailing flats


Good morning lovelies!This morning I went into my closet to grab a blanket and saw my favorite  Style & Co. flats I had snagged at a thrift store back in California for only $3 sitting on the shelf gathering dust. They had been in perfect condition and were my go-to for any outfit because of the rich purple color and adorable silver studs since I had found them last February, until recently that is.

They have always gone with everything, so I was more than sad when I realized about 2 months ago that my flats were starting to loose their studs on the sides and in the front. For anyone who's ever experienced this before with any pair of shoes, it can be more than disheartening. Especially when that shoe doesn't need to be tossed because it's still a good pair of shoes and the color hasn't faded, it just needs a bit of love in the embellishment department.


It broke my heart when I had the urge to wear them to work the other night and realized they just didn't look professional any more because of those big gaping holes. It was then I decided to do something about it on my first day off this week.


As I sat down with shoes and tweezers in hand, I realized that if those rivets could fall off and leave the material underneath looking presentable, then that meant they weren't IN the fabric, only ON TOP of it.With this realization I grabbed my extra strength glue and went to work.

Within an hour I had made a cute pattern out of the studs on my shoes and turned the big holes into a really cute look.


With the extra studs I had pulled off to create this pattern, I filled in any holes in the pattern that needed to be, and the rest I stored in a ziploc bag in case any more fall off in the future. 


Fix Your Flats Tutorial

1.) Get a pair of tweezers and clear, extra-strength glue with a small spout/opening (You don't want it oozing all over and then staining the fabric of your shoes if you have to glue studs back on)

2.) Determine the pattern you want to make - It might be best to make the ones you want to pull off to make the pattern or use something that comes off easily and doesn't leave behind a mark.

3.) Do a test stud/piece on the side by the bottom to see how easily they pull off. If you see that they're not coming off easily or they're ruining the fabric underneath, it might be a good idea to re-think your strategy and maybe glue larger embellishments over the studs instead.

If they're coming off and not ruining the shoe underneath, go slow and pry them off carefully.

4.) Wear your new shoes around every day with pride knowing that instead of donating or throwing them out, you saved your shoes. Your feet with thank you.

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