I’ve always hated doing shoe and boot covers until my friend introduced me to this method. Turns out it’s not very well known how to do it! So I decided to take some photos while I did my most recent ones and make a tutorial for others to use. This tutorial can be used for socks, shoe covers, spats, custom boots, and anything else you can think of!
I’m only covering how to make the pattern, not how to sew it because I feel like that part is pretty straight forward.
Here we go~
Skill level required: beginner
Time: ~1hr
Materials:
-shoes
-saran wrap
- tape
-pen
-paper scissors
-ruler
-butcher paper
- a body
- a friend!(not required, but VERY helpful!)
Here are your supplies! I used blue tape because it’s what I had lying around, but I would suggest packers tape. It’s a lot easier.
Ok, step 1! Put on your shoe and start wrapping your leg with the saran wrap. It sticks to itself, so this step is pretty easy. I am making suuuper high boots, so I have the wrap pretty high up. Only go as high as what you’re making to cut down on time& supplies. Also, be sure to get all around your shoe(and underneath if you’re making a custom sole).
It is very important that you are keeping your leg straight from here on out. If you bend it, the tape and everything will move around and your pattern won’t fit as well as you’d like. So keep your leg straight!
Step 2, tape bracers. I suggest putting long strips down the center front, center back, and perpendicular in key spots(top, mid thigh, above/below knee, mid calf, ankle, foot arch, toes) these strips will act as support for the rest of the tape and prevent you from taping too tight.
Step 3, the fun has begun! Tape, tape, tape!! Looks good, right??
WRONG! Here’s where it’s important to have a friend helping. It’s hard to reach everywhere unless you are very flexible.
Step 4,Be sure you have everything covered in tape before moving on to the next step.
Step 5, mark your seams. I suggest doing a front and back seam, if not more. Did some dashes up the front of my leg for where I wanted the seam, and then used a flexible quilting ruler to make it a straight line. Since I was doing this on my own, I couldn’t draw the back seam. I’ll show you how to do that in a few steps!
Step 6, cut it off. BE CAREFUL, PLEASE. Especially around your knees and ankles.
Step 7, you are now free from your sweaty leg prison!
Take your cast off your leg, but leave your shoe in.
Step 8, Now that it’s off, tape up any spots you may have missed, including the bottom of the shoe if you’re making the bottoms as well. Mark around the bottom edge of the shoe to get the correct shape, and cut it out.
Step 9, this is for if you didn’t draw& cut your back seam. Lay out your cast and fold it as closely in half as you can. I have the legs of a 6th grader, so mine folds very nicely without many bulges. If yours doesn’t, fear not! Just get it as close as you can to in half and we’ll flatten it out in a bit.
Step 10, cut it in half! Looking good so far! This is also where you can add extra seams and style lines if your character calls for it.
Step 11, we’re now going to transfer your pattern to butcher paper! If your pattern isn’t laying flat, here’s what you do…
*snip* that’s it! When you’re tracing your pattern, you just sketch between the opening to make it a smooth line.
Step 12, Finish tracing it out, and your pattern is done! Yaaaay we made it! Haha Mark the outside/inside in a way that you can tell them apart(I used O and I). Don’t mix them up!
From here, you need to add seam allowance before cutting it out otherwise it’ll be too tight!
That’s it! After that, the sewing part is pretty straight forward. I would suggest knit fabrics and maybe a short zipper at the ankle, but if you want to use a woven that’s fine; just add a bit more ease and include a zipper up the back from top to bottom.
Let me know if you have any questions, and hopefully you won’t hate doing shoe covers as much now! haha
This is an awesome method and I used it for my Annasui shoepants… which reminds me. If you are willing to splice this pattern with a leggings pattern, this is a great way to make shoepants when you’re working from a fabric (like 4-way stretch vinyl) with less stretch than spandex!
