I’m sure you have NO idea what this post is going to be about…and it wasn’t actually planned, but my hubby gave me the idea.
The last few weeks I have been looking at used dolls at the Thrift Shop and our Goodwill. Not so much at the dolls but at their feet… especially the ones with flat feet who have rounded toes or even boots on. You see, when you are making doll shoes it really helps to have shoe lasts or molds to form the leather shoes around. You can buy some for the dolls I sew for, but they can be very expensive. I bought the ones I have for the Ruby Red Fashion Friends, and I’ve made a couple for a few dolls out of Sculpy or air clay. But at $25-$40 a pair, I was searching for a cheaper solution.
I decided if I found a doll with slightly larger feet than the doll I was wanting to make shoes for, it might work. So that’s why I’ve been on the dolly feet search.
Well, the other day I was at Goodwill and found this plastic kind of army boy doll who had a pair of molded boots on. I should have taken a picture of him all in one piece, but I forgot before I had my hubby break his legs off his body.
I sanded the tip of his boots off and rounded them just a bit… and they are the perfect fit for Noel, my 10″ Boneka doll. The boots he had on were just what I was looking for… the right length for Noel’s foot, the right width and they had that snubby toe area I needed.
After your boots are stitched together, you wet the leather and when you put the mold (or Lizard Guards foot) in the boots, they conform to the shape of his foot and look like this at the toe vamp… rounded and plenty of toe room.
If you don’t wet them and shape them, they look like this boot before it’s done.
I revised a pattern I had made for Boneka dolls and put the new coral pair of boots on Lizard Guard and are letting them dry overnight.
So why am I calling him Lizard Guard? Well, today when I took Reuben out for a walk, this caught my eye… it was in our Holly bush, right outside my kitchen door.
I knew my hubby had put this half of his body there… when I asked him about it… he said “Lizard Guard” was protecting our property!
I left him in the bush and he’ll make me smile every time I look out the window.
I hope it made you smile too!!
Have a wonderful weekend,
Blessings, Jeanne
Is there no end to your creativity, Jeanne? I see a discarded toy; you see a possible model for boots for another doll in your staf! Too good!
I see you have two bids on Molly’s darling outfit already! I can certainly understand why–it’s a beautiful ensemble.
Charlotte
Wonderful! 🥇 Glad George has his Guard on duty to protect your property so no one can steal your creativity!
Perfect!
Looks like George will be getting all the accolades this morning! Everyone and their mother loves a guy with a sense of humor! You really lucked out, Jeanne!
Too funny! George has a great sense of humor.
I thought maybe you saw an actual lizard🤪😲but your guard guy is a hoot! Nice joke George!
Seeing the different steps in the shoe/ boot construction is so interesting !
The weekend will give you time to decide what cute doll will be the next model😉
Enjoy the weekend…Hope it will be as nice as ours is “supposed” to be.
this is a cute story about the lizard guy.
He looks great in the bushes, very brave too
The shoes are perfect and exactly what you needed to shape the shoes!!
Well, you are now an official “shoe cobbler”
George and David would get along great. A sense of humor is always a plus, especially as the years go by. David said he married me because I laughed at his jokes. He said most women didn’t get them. When we first started dating I was into wok cooking. He asked me if I knew what a wok was. I said of course I did but what would he say it was. He said a wok is something you fwo at a wabbit. I thought that was hilarious and it won me a husband.
My imagination was running wild about how the “lizard guard” helped you make shoes and boots. I figured it was maybe what they called the boots. You know to keep your feet and legs safe from snakes and lizards. As I said, my imagination was running wild.
I tend to be like Charlotte. I see a discarded toy and to me it’s junk. But then I did cut the faces off my worn-out bedroom slippers. They were owls and I thought the eyes would look cute on the back of a doll jacket. I washed the slippers and cut out the portion I wanted to save. Then they became junk. Many of my trims are things I saved off packages and ribbons off fat quarter sets. One of my dolls is wearing a gold elastic headband with a bow that I took off a Christmas candy gift. I have a larger one that looks like a Celtic knot on the gold elastic but I need to cut it down and add magnetic closures to the ends. This doesn’t particularly save me money as I’m still addicted to buying trims but it does add to my stash.
But my daughter-in-law is truly amazing. She sees a neighbor put something in the trash and she takes it home to see if she can salvage it. She babysits for two children around my grandson Azure’s age (3 years). She found a swing set where the people kept the sliding board and got rid of the swing set part. Now the three little ones have a swing set they didn’t have before. She also looks for used things and found a small bounce house for a good price and bought it. Problem is it was still a pretty good size. She has a very small backyard but fortunately she has a very large game room and it ended up in there and took up most of it.
Your cobblering is becoming very professional. You have invested a lot of time in learning and it’s definitely showing. I always think what you have made is great and then you do it even better. Your patience in learning this is amazing.
Congrats to your DIL. There is such a need for childcare for young ones, and her recycling is great. Yours too. 🙂
Dear Jeanne, that is a funny story. I guess Reuben can have a rest from his post as sentry dog (laugh).
Good job on finding these unusual shoe lasts. You have definitely become a shoe maker to the dolls!