Ever since I tried to make some itty bitty shoes for my new 8″ Ten Ping doll, and pretty much failed, I’ve been trying to figure out how to do it. (Her feet are barely over an inch long so they are really tiny.) I went to Hobby Lobby today and picked up a few things that I thought I could try that were different than what I had used before.
I picked up 2 packages of different sized corded elastic thinking this might help around the back of the heel or across the top of the foot. Then I went to the craft department looking for felt squares. I found one that was really soft and not so fuzzy as my wool felt, in sort of a damask print in black and white. I know it’s a big print, but it just spoke to me that it might make a cure pair of shoes. I also found some glittery sheets. The black one was quite stiff but it seemed like a needle might go through it fairly easily. The pink glittery one was sort of foamy like and I was anxious to give it a try.
I found this roll of sticky glittery tape and thought I might be able to use it for something… maybe straps?
I stopped off at the jewelry section and found these two pieces that fell into my basket… I have an idea for them, but I’ll save it for later…when I see if it will work.
I wanted to try the pink glittery foam pieces first. The needle did go through them like butter, but about 3 stitches in, it ripped and I realized it was TOO soft to be hand stitched around for shoes.
I thought I’d give the black glittery sheets a try. I spent quite a while stitching the back heel part to the sole and then I placed a piece of the gray glittery tape across the foot for a bit of glam! It turned out to be too stiff to suit me. I thought it might work, but I need a different design.
Okay, so now it was down to that black and white damask sort of printed felt. I cut out the sole and then a rounded section to stitch to it. It seemed like it might work. I got one finished and added a teeny tiny black and white checked bow to the top of the foot.
Now the trick was to see if I could duplicate a shoe for the other foot…
I did…so now I actually had a pair!
So here are a couple of shots of them on Ten Ping’s feet…
Now that I have a pair of shoes done, I’m going to have to build a whole outfit around the shoes… I guess I should have just picked the black felt instead…
Don’t forget… Ten Ping’s outfit it listed on Ebay and you can see it by clicking on the picture at the right side bar, or you can click HERE.
Also Lian’s Black and Pink Houndstooth Check dress ends THIS EVENING… HERE is that dress set. Plus a picture to refresh your memory…
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
You succeeded with your teeny shoes. Another material for shoes is ultra suede although I imagine you would need to buy on ebay or another source. I believe I’ve seen small leather squares at Michaels or Joanne’s on the notions wall. I don’t know how tedious it would be to hand sew Ultra suede. A regular, not leather needle is used in the machine. It glues well as I’ve used it for doll shoes. Hope you received the pics. I accidentally tried shoes I thought would fit Ten Ping on my Kish Olivia. Shoes I bought for Jenny & Lexie do fit but have no source for them. Congratulations on your teeny shoes!
Hi Jan,
Yes, I was determined to make some kind of a shoe from what I bought. I’ve learned a few things and will try again…
I did receive your pictures and those petal shoes are just beautiful… It’s like they just fold up over the foot…very pretty! I liked all of them. Thanks for sending the pics of them.
Someone else told me about some shoes from a doll shop called Jo’s Doll Shoppe in Michigan or Minnesota… and I saw Lexie and Jenny shoes in stock. But they didn’t have a size so I didn’t know if they would fit or not.They were a little mary jane shoe in yellow, pink or blue. I may give them a try. Maybe you were the one who told me about the shoes for Jenny and Lexie…I’ve forgotten…
Anyway, thanks for the tips about the ultra suede… I may have to try that.
Blessings, Jeanne
Diane makes lots and lots of diff type of shoes… you need to watch some of her videos.. they are really good. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGqIC5hBRoa51gybHXeprew
here are just the shoe videos.. https://www.youtube.com/user/Scoresheet1/search?query=shoes
HI Kath,
Thanks for the youtube videos. I had seen some of them…just wish she did the little tiny shoes. There is a seller on Etsy (DollProject) selling a tutorial for tiny little 28mm shoes and her shoes are adorable, but the download is $65! I “almost” gave in last night and bought it…there has to be some tricks in her tutorials… She says it can be adapted to any size shoes…that’s the part that almost sold me on it…
Thanks so much, Jeanne
Yes, I may have bought Ten Ping’s patent Mary Janes from Jo. They were sold for Lexie and Jenny. I also bought items at the same time from Little Princess Frocks. The petal design is terrific and why didn’t one of us figure that out. I’ve spent a lot of time cutting and gluing the notches around the heel and toe of shoes to fit the upper on the insole. I’ve found the slip on really needs a tie that goes around the ankle and anchors to the band over the instep, but I used double sided tape at times in photographs to hold the doll’s foot to the inside of the shoe.
HI Jan,
Thanks for your help with the doll shoes. I’m going to go back and look at Jo’s shoes again for Lexie and Jenny. She doesn’t have a size on them so I might ask if she can give me a length on them.
I’ve used the little sticky Zots (adhesive dots) on my dolls heels to hold them in place too. Blessings, Jeanne