The summer has been pretty lazy in here as well in my personal life. But that´s how summers should be, right? But now I think I will carry on revamping my shoes. The revamping in the last post was a lot work. Now I´m going to keep things simple and quick.
First, as an introduction, I must say that I absolutely love the 40's contrast colors, color blocking and two tone elegance, especially in shoes.
(From here)
(from here)
(from here)
(from here)
I have these lovable 1930's brown shoes that I bought in near mint condition. I have treasured them and worn them only in a few special occasions.
I adore them as they are but I needed a pair of simple shoes in solid color to test this easy way of modifying your shoes. I got an idea from this picture:
(from here)
On the shoe second from the top there is a fringed tongue. Fringed tongue is often associated with loafers that were also a popular look in the 40's. I thought the mix and match of rougher and sporty loafers and sophisticated heels looked kind of cool. So I went with the idea!
First I dug through my supply of leather scraps to find a suitable piece and color. I ended up with forest green. Then I measured the front of the shoe and made a paper pattern. You can make the pattern in any size you want to, but I wanted to cover the lacing. Here are the measurements I used:
top: 4 cm/1,6"side: 7,5 cm/3"
bottom: 5,5 cm/2,2"
I folded a paper in half and drew the pattern on the other side. The top of the pattern I drew on the fold so when I cut it out the pattern was duplicated and the duplicates attached from the top. I needed to make the pattern double so the leather would cope with piercing and wear. I shortened the back piece a bit. Then I drew the pattern on the leather and cut it out.
When the leather piece was cut I made some detailing to the bottom with croppers.
Next it was time to cut the fringes.
And the last step: punching the holes for shoe laces that keep the tongue in the right position. I used a leather punch too for piercing the holes. (Okay, okay. My boyfriend used it. I couldn´t press hard enough..) I folded the duplicate piece back to make even holes.
Then I pulled the laces through the holes. The duplicate is again folded back so it will strenghten the tongue.
I also found this Etsy-shop where you can buy these tongues ready made and another blog post with a DIY instructions for a bit different fringed tongue. Those findings were helpful in this project!
