I know we’ve almost said goodbye to flip flop weather (at least here in Chicago, where our fall coats and sweaters started making appearances this past week), but before you throw your summer shoes in the back of your closet, think about doing a revamp of some old flip flops to get them ready for next season.
I was at a small boutique shop recently and noticed flip flops on display with different straps to match whatever you happen to be wearing. You clipped the new straps on when you felt like a change, rather than having four hundred different pairs of the same kind of shoe, just in different colors/styles. This seemed genius to me, but the price was wayyyy beyond what I was willing to pay for most shoes, let alone a pair of flip flops, and the different types of straps cost almost as much. I thought about it for a few days afterwards, and realized I could easily do this myself, and save a bundle. I’ve seen many tutorials for how to dress up your flip flops with fabric, lace, old T-shirts, etc., but what if we took it a step further? What if we made these redesigns interchangeable? Enter, velcro.
Okay, okay, okay. I know what you are saying. “Caitlynn, I haven’t had velcro on my shoes since I was a toddler.” Fine, if you’re that anti velcro, you can go with little metal snaps, also. I just used what I had in my craft bin, which happened to be velcro.
What you’ll need:
Several feet of velcro, both positive and negative.
Scrap fabric
An old (or new) pair of flip flops that has cloth straps (plastic/rubber won’t work)
An upholstery needle
A sewing machine
Thread
I started by measuring the velcro up along the strap. Every strap is going to be a different size, so I can’t give you an exact measurement, you’ll just have to measure your own. Be sure to cut the velcro on the exact angles of the strap ends, also. For instance, where the strap meets the shoe, it is probably about a 30 degree angle or so. Be sure your velcro matches that exactly. I cut several strips of velcro (obviously you’ll need four per set, 2 left and 2 right).
Next, I used an upholstery needle I bought at the dollar store to stitch one side of the velcro to the flip flop straps.
Once I was done stitching, I took a piece of scrap fabric, and measured it against the strap and the velcro. I folded in the edges (to have a smooth, unfraying edge) and used my sewing machine to sew the fabric to the velcro. Then I trimmed any excess fabric and strings.
Unless the shoe is a few inches from your face, you can’t tell that there is anything different about the strap.
And it looks a lot better than the old worn out strap underneath.