My dolls dress better than I do

I wasn't going to order these, but couldn't resist the temptation. So, I made the preorder and should get them in a couple of months. The way I thought it was that I'm never going to get a chance to wear Louboutin shoes, so I could at least get them for my dolls.

Sandals for a Monster High doll

This is the first pair of shoes I made for a Monster High doll. The insoles are made of leather and straps are cardwoven bands made of sewing thread and thin silver colored thread. To get the strap length correct, I decided to make the buckles first and only then glue the ankle straps in place. One thing to keep in mind while gluing the straps in place is to make sure you don't make them too tight. You need to be able to open and close the buckle. So make sure to check that you can do it before the glue has dried.


I used metal strips inside the soles to help keep the correct shape. It also helped dealing with the bulge caused by the end of the straps.


I thought it would be a good idea to add a little extra, so these wouldn't be just basic sandals. As the buckles aren't glued or soldered shut, the coins can be easily removed.


Almost ready: straps in place, outer soles glued in place, only heels are missing.


Here are the finished shoes. The heels are carved from balsa wood and covered with leather.

A finished pair of shoes for a Monster High doll

In addition to making the cork soles, I've also managed to get this pair finished. The inner and outer soles are made of leather, the heels are made of balsa wood and covered with leather, and the bands are cardwoven out of sewing thread.

Cork soles for Monster High doll shoes

I haven't made any doll shoes for some time, but as I got two of the Monster High dolls, which have odd-sized feet (not Barbie scale, but not like 15" dolls either), I got enough motivation to make some shoes.

The first idea was to make cork soles a bit differently than before. The usual method (stacking cork sheet pieces horizontally) requires a lot of work in the carving stage. This time, I decided to try if I could get the arch in the right shape in the cutting stage.

First I drew the shape on paper, cut the pattern, copied it to the cork sheet and cut the pieces. The two pieces are mirror images, so that the pencil marks are hidden inside and won't be visible.


Then I glued the pieces together using PVA glue and making sure the sides with pencil marks were inside and clean sides outside. These little plastic clamps are very handy when gluing something this small.


While the heels parts where drying, I made the bottom parts. The picture doesn't actually show the final form as I cut these in roughly the correct shape and carved the final shape after everything was glued together. The reason for this is that the bottom part needs to be a bit bigger than the heel, so you can remove the excess following the edges of the heel to get as seamless result as possible.


Here the pieces are together before gluing. I carved the heel shape as close to final as possible before gluing.


This is what a finished sole looks like. Now I only need to decide what kind of shoes I'm going to make using these.