Hi everyone,
I managed some time for a sewing project over the weekend. Sorry, it wasn’t for my dolls, but my hubby. He was in desperate need of a pair of Muck boots to wear outside when he was doing things. We tried looking for weeks to find some, but none were big enough in size and they all had TOO small of an opening for him to slide his foot down in, since his ankles are swollen.
One of the times we were coming back from St. Louis, he stayed in the car and let me run in a Thrift shop and lo and behold, look what I found… a pair of size 14, extra wide, Skecher’s men’s hiking boots. I sent him this picture and said I thought I could make them work. They were… drum roll… $9.95 and were brand new! The soles didn’t have a speck of dirt on them. They had some dust on the top.
Now, they weren’t the traditional Muck boots we had been searching for, but they had nice thick rubber soles and the lace up front made it better to fit around his large ankles.
When I showed them to him in the car, he liked them but didn’t have my “vision!” I didn’t look up the price of them until after I did this… They would have been a great resale item, but he needed outdoor boots.
So, this is what I did.
Using a pair of leather scissors, I cut off the top part of the boot that I knew would be too tight on his ankles…
Then I cut off a section of the long tongue…
Using some leather thread, I whip stitched the edges so they wouldn’t fray…
This was my pile of scraps where I cut off the top and then pulled out the foam that was padding the upper ankle section…
I stitched the 2 layers of the boot insides together using a whipstitch again.
I found the softest, most flexible piece of leather in my stash and cut 2 long strips about 3-1/2″ wide a little longer than the area I was going to pad. I punched holes on one edge of each strip… Then using a leather cement, I flapped the leather pieces over the rough edge of the boot ankle area I had just cut off…
I folded it over to the inside of the boots and cut off the excess right before the holes for the laces…
I used a silver sharpie and marked all the holes with a dot…
I used some clips to hold the leather piece in place for about 15 minutes. It really bonded well to the inside fabric of the boot lining.
I had to enlist my hubby’s help with this next part. The boots were WAY too thick for me to punch holes all the way around the ankle area, so I helped him find his smallest drill bit, and YES, I had him drill the holes in the boots so I could stitch the new leather padding around the ankles. I threaded my needle and did some saddle stitching all the way around the ankles.
They turned out pretty nice… all finished off and no rough spots on the inside.
So here is WHY it was time for new boots… these are his old tennis shoes he was wearing… yep, that’s duct tape holding them together… they were a size 14 6E wide!
Here’s an old one and the new old…
“Hey, Mikey… he LIKES them!”
Thanks everyone,
I’ll see you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Jeanne, I don’t know, but, really, are we supposed to be surprised that you were able to do this?? You are the original Mrs. Fix-it for sure! My goodness, size 14 shoe, hard to find anywhere I would think, and to see that you found some practically brand new ones is a miracle! What a treasure George has in you!
So George is doing things outside? Good to hear that! You can’t keep a good man down for long!
The leaves here are almost getting to be ankle deep in the yard, and smothering the grass, so we have been outside clearing them up while we can, with the nice weather. A very large deer came by the other day and had a salad at my expense, namely my pretty orange mums right in the front of my house! They were so pretty and gave a pop of color to the front yard, and now they are gone, except for a few scraggly ones, but there are buds that he missed, so I’m hoping they will open. The deer are beautiful to behold, but can be very destructive when it comes to my yard!
I hope everyone has a good day today, no more colds, aches or pains.We all have much to be thankful for!
Linda, just go to Amazon and buy “Dear Out”. You spray it on you plants and the deer will not touch it! You only respray after a hard rain. You smell it a bit while you spray it but the smell goes away except the deer smells it. I have used it for years and it really works.
Oops, I meant “Deer Out”
Oh dear, those deer! We had a huge fully antlered buck around the neighborhood recently. He was actually chasing some of the so much smaller females. I’m sure that there will be little twin fawns coming around later on. I’m sorry that yours had your mums for lunch.
Sissy and Joy, we do use Deer Out, but I had no idea they would eat mums! We just have them on the front porch, but then one plant is kind of out there on the other side of the sidewalk, and you guessed it, those are the ones that got eaten. We used up what we had for this summer, so had no more Deer Out left, and we won’t be going g to get more u til next spring. Just one plant that is already chewed up isn’t worth it.
Just remembered we use Liquid Fence, not Deer Out from Lowe’s.
Beautiful work, Jeanne! Nice they have steel toes, too!
Good morning dear ones. Tuesday already.
Jeanne, the shoe remodel is well done. Wow, excellent craftswomanship ☺️ I am impressed. Reallly really impressed.
I am so happy to hear that George is moving around and probably tending to his chickens and your beautiful yard! I bet the leaves are dropping like snowflakes.
Yesterday was a good day for both of you I bet. I hope you are getting plenty of blue skies and sunny days to enjoy out side too.
Here, I have a bunch of silly errands to do this morning: run around town for various things, KittyPrincess food too. Then, if it is nice, and I am peppy, I need to rake the grass!! and put down some topsoil. And maybe some seed. I need to find some pep and some will! Going for a long walk with hubbs is much more fun. He used to be the grass and yard guy, but this property is not very exciting, very uneven in the front, 🥹 kind of like a bad haircut haha well, it is a very lumpy property. Okay, enough of that. I will try to get a photo of my latest progress on the cream colored quilt top… it is just in pieces now.
I need to find an artificial tree, kind of like the white birch tree, maybe a white birch tree, about 5 feet tall for a Thanksgiving gathering, also some thin-ish fall colored paper, and a bunch of scissors. I will let you know about this project if it comes to … “fruition”
I hope all of you are doing great! Joy did you get another dolly? How is the other house maintenance going? You and other person are really busy managing the two properties. It certainly keeps us out of mischief! Love to all of you
Wow, Jeanne is the shoe maker again! I loved seeing the work she did piece by piece. I wonder if there is anything she can’t do? Also it is great to know that George is up and getting around some. Still sending love and prayers.
My older son Ronny arrived yesterday. He and his work buddy still keep him upstairs at his computer part of the time while he is here but we had a great visit after dinner. He has time off this morning for awhile and helped me getting stuff out of the garage into Peyton’s truck. They are taking it to the dump. Peyton made his wonderful Belgian Waffles for our breakfast. Wishing for a great day for you all!
What a boot makeover! Something only Jeanne, would give a try. After seeing the first cut, I kept wondering if that wasn’t going to rub on the ankle, but no, a real finished boot appeared from the ciaos. And they even look presentable as well. Another job well done for Jeanne! Keep it up and maybe there will be some new dolly outfits appearing in the future when spare time is a reality. 🙂
Around here the weather has been cooperating. We had our plumber out to do the back line of which he was able to get his smallest blade through, barely. So, we discussed what we could do to remedy the problem. Poor guy’s back has been giving him fits so he had to hire someone to help move the machine around. So heavy. Anyway, I think we’ll work on jacking up the playhouse and leveling it first and then, go to the pier that is right on top of the sewer line and under the deck second. The second is going to be a ton of work. Ugh!
Guess we must have taken the day off yesterday afternoon anyway. Around here, we both were looking for information on the computers. Between financial stuff and looking for a turkey prop, the afternoon wised by. Then, I decided no turkey and started looking at well, dolls. Oh, I did manage to throw in a big load of towels and get them washed and dried and put in a pile for the next plumbing episode. So are the days of our lives. 🙂