Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Stretchy boots for Monster High dolls

Monster High dolls' legs are so thin that boots with zippers or laces would be hard to make, so I decided to try stretchy fabric instead.

After cutting the pieces, I sewed the back seam and made the soles (two layers of cardboard plus leather insole).


Then I put the uppers on the doll's feet, put the soles in place, and trimmed, turned and glued the uppers under the soles.


As you can see in the previous photo, there was a lot of extra fabric, but when you trim it properly, the result is neat.


I made the heels out of wood. I had some round strips of wood and decided to see how that would work. I sawed the upper parts of the heels in 45 degree angle using a mitre box. Then I measured the height of the heels and sawed them off of the strip.


Next, I used a craft knife to make the front of the heel straight.


Then I covered the heels with the same fabric I used for the uppers.


Finally, I glued pieces of leather to the bottom of the heels, glued the heels in place, and glued pieces of leather as outer soles.

Here are the finished boots on Draculaura:


14 comments:

Gabi-5mates said...

Every detail is perfect!

Laura Shiva said...

WOW perfect!

Linda said...

FRUSTRATING! I can't get the boots to look good (actually i run in to problem when i shall glue them to the soles...it just don't work...;_; But I love the tuorial otherwise...

You wouldn't likie to take a commission?

Tarja said...

Linnzy, that is the hardest part and you need a lot of practice to get it right. And no, I don't take commissions.

Varjohaikara said...

These are so pretty boots! Thank you for the great tutorial! :)

Anonymous said...

You are amazing!! I love your tutorials. I'll try to make these as soon as I can. Thank you!!!

Unknown said...

Hey! i looove this idea-- I am currently working on a project to turn ordinary monster high dolls into their basic wave 1 look and -as you know- draculaura has pink boots! thanks so very much. I will definatly use this idea!


thanx so much,

--Leonard Wolff

Unknown said...

Ifollowed instructions for strechy boots for larger doll american model boots came out perfect except soles were to weak for her larger size should i renforce with extra layer of cardboard sole and can i use shoe repair glue instead of pva glue if dont have any to bond heels to leather

Unknown said...

I would like also to see sole right after glue heel do you glue leather outer sole after you glue heel or before this was confusing me

Unknown said...

I am big fan of your work. It inspire me to make my own doll shoes after seeing the plateforms with metal high heel and foamcore soles i try it but come out not so good

Tarja said...

Juanita, I have made shoes with card stock soles for American Model and the soles were sturdy enough. You could use thicker card stock or add extra layers.

Use PVA glue, because it isn't just for gluing the layers together, but also forms part of the structure, making it stiffer.

Finding PVA glue is easy as it's that white liquid paper glue sold almost everywhere where stationery is available.

As for the leather outer sole, you can either glue it first and then the heel or heel first and then the outer sole. It's a matter of preference and sometimes one method might be easier than the other.

Unknown said...

Thank you so much .I also tried the pattern for the shoes you took picture of and made pattern for they came out great still having a little trouble with the heels but Im getting better at it You are very inspireing to me and I absolutely love you to peices I follow all of your work .You have help me to save my creative spark .

Eyespi said...

seriously same question here!

Tarja said...

Which question? I think I've answered the questions so far. Which one needs clarification?