Oh yes, more espadrille goodness around here! I made these evil eye espadrille shoes and they are freaking awesome. I just continue to find it positively delightful that I’m able to make my own shoes and I’m pretty sure I am not alone in my enthusiasm. It always amazes me how much can be created with fabric, a sewing machine and needle and thread. It’s revolutionary, I tell you! If you want to make your own pair, I have opened up more listings in the shop! I had to close it for a while because I sold out so you might want to hustle over and get your kit now. As I am learning, they don’t last long.
For these shoes, which I made a few months ago, I attempted the classic reinforced toe look by adding extra, tight blanket stitches. I like it enough. But, I have since worked on my technique. These turned out a bit messy for me and I needed to perfect my technique.
Of course these shoes are still incredibly wearable and I’m digging them even with the imperfect toes. The fabric is a screen print from Ellen Baker of The Long Thread that I purchased on Etsy. I can’t seem to find Ellen’s Etsy shop right now but I recommend emailing her if you are interested in this fabric. It’s stupendous and while it’s pricy it’s totally worth it. I’m considering asking her to specially make some fabric for some specialty KITS; does that sounds interesting to folks?
I’ve struggled in the past to get my espadrilles to fit properly. I am a size 9.5 in shoes and the shoe soles only come in single sizes. Yet, somehow, the size 9 soles would slip off my feet. What I did to get a tighter fit on this pair was to grab a bit more fabric when I created my blanket stitch.
It makes the blanket stitch (the stitch holding the fabric to the shoe soles) more prominent which is a look I like anyway. It also means the shoe is less wide and therefore holds tighter on my foot and doesn’t slip off.
Now I can pad around town warding off those evil spirits. Wahoo!
That fabric is SO COOL. In general if you’re a half-size do you recommend going a size up with your kits? I’m a half size too and obviously you don’t want to be overflowing the soul, but since loose shoes rub and blister, I was a little nervous!
I recommend sizing DOWN! The soles run a bit big, actually.
Thank you! 🙂