Fabric Shoelaces: A Tutorial

Do you have projects on your someday list that just never seem to bubble to the top?? I have lots of those! Twice a year, I go to a quilt retreat, and I pick something off that list to work on there. I've come to really look forward to experimenting and doing something just to scratch an itch! 

The project I chose for my recent retreat was making homemade shoelaces for a pair of shoes!

I chose an inexpensive pair of white shoes from Walmart for my experiment. These happen to be their Time and Tru brand, and they cost about $13. A pair of Keds would also work great!

Supplies: 

1 pair of shoes 

One 2 1/2" x WOF strip of fabric for the laces (one strip from a jelly roll would work great!) 

Heat shrink tubing to make aglets 

For insoles: 

One fat eighth 

Approx. 10" x 12" piece of fusible like Steam-A-Seam 2 or Heat-N-Bond

I actually did TWO things to customize the shoes. First, I added one of my favorite fabrics - a Rifle Paper Co. floral print, to the insoles. It was super quick and easy, and used the same method that I used to make a custom mouse pad! (Tutorial for that HERE!) 

I first removed the insoles from the shoes.

Then I pressed a piece of Lite Steam-A-Seam 2 to the wrong side of the fabric - making sure both the fabric and the fusible were a tad larger than the insole. (Why Lite Steam-A-Seam 2? Because that's what I had on hand. Regular Steam-A-Seam or Heat-N-Bond would work great too!)

After pressing the fusible to the fabric, I peeled the paper backing off the fusible.

Then placed the insole right side to the fusible.

The two insoles fit perfectly on these scraps of fabric I had! 

I used my rotary cutter to cut away the excess fabric, though scissors would work just as well.

I cut slowly and carefully along the edge of the insole.

Almost done! 

A quick press allowed the fusible to permanently adhere the fabric to the insole!

Then I just put them back in the shoes! So easy! 

Next up was to attempt to make new shoelaces.

I began by cutting a 1 1/4" x width of fabric strip from the fabric. (Well, I cut two because I was making two shoelaces.)

I first pressed the strip in half lengthwise, then opened it up, and pressed the two sides in to meet in the middle.

Lastly, I did another quick press to fold the strip in half before taking it to the sewing machine. 

At the sewing machine, I used 50wt Aurifil thread to stitch along the edge to close the open edge of the long strip. I stitched very close to the edge, being sure to catch both the top and bottom of the strip. 

After sewing one, I put it into the shoe to check the length and width - perfect! So I repeated the steps to make the second one. 

The finishing touch was to add aglets - the tiny plastic part at the end of shoelaces. I brainstormed a few different ways this could be done to secure the ends of the fabric, but ultimately decided to use heat-shrink tubing which is typically used for electrical wiring.

I chose an inexpensive set on Amazon which included several colors. Surprisingly, most of the colors worked well with my fabric choice! I chose this 1/4" size in blue, but did consider the clear too.

I trimmed the pieces of tubing to about 3/4" long, though I probably could have used 1/2" lengths instead. Regular (not fabric) scissors worked great for this. 

I slide one of the tubing pieces over the end of the shoelace, putting the fabric in about half way. As you an see in the photo below, I pinched the fabric in half so it inserted easily into the tubing. 

Then I used a heat gun toaster to melt the tubing. (Ideally, a heat gun would be great, but I used what I had! I just held it above the toaster, and the heat worked perfectly!) As it heats up, the tubing just shrinks around the end of the fabric! 

Aglets! 

Note the difference in these two aglets. The skinny portion on the end is based on how far the fabric is in the tube. I personally like the look of the one that's half-way, so something to think about when you make yours.

I looked up creative ways to lace your shoes, but went with this "traditional" X method. The shoes came laced a completely different way, and there are dozens of other ways when you search too.

I am absolutely smitten with them, and they make me smile every time I see them! Have you ever made your own shoelaces?? What fabric would you choose?? 

This week, I'm sharing my shoes for Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday! You can link up your own blog post, Facebook post, or Instagram post so we can high five you for your finish too! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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