Shoes get an extension in their Life!

I am a practical person when it comes to footwear.  I prefer to be more comfortable than fashionable; therefore I wear lightweight flats most of the year.  I have flats in almost every color but my favorite are my black pairs.  So when one of my very favorite pair of black flats got a hole in the top I was not happy.  The fabric of the shoe is a lightweight mesh.  I am not sure how the hole was created but one day I looked down and noticed that you could see my toe nail polish really, really well.  The hole was not a large one but it was noticeable especially with bright pink nail polish shining through.

Well I started pondering some pink lemonade ideas and came up with a simple solution - a patch of some type.  I started digging around in my stash of appliques and patches and found some small dragon fly appliques.  They were the perfect size but the wrong color.  The appliques are white and my shoes are black.  I did not want to draw attention to the tip of my shoe so I decided to color the applique.  Now my first thought was to dye the patches.  But mixing up a batch of dye for two small applique patches did not seem practical.  As I began to stir the ideas around in my head it hit me.  Sharpies!  I could color the small appliques with a black sharpie very easily.

I colored the appliques with a black sharpie.

This picture is at the end of the summer and they still look pretty good.

This process turned out to be very easy and quick, my favorite kind of project.  Once the appliques were dry I glued them to the shoes with E6000 glue.  I wanted to make sure they stayed attached to the shoe.  They have lasted all summer.  The coloring has faded slightly but this just gives them a little more character.  The shoes have even been soaked several times and the patches still look great.

So, once again I can wear my favorite shoes a little longer.  Sometimes you just need to patch things up a little and you can extend their life.  I am always looking for ways to get more out of what I own.  It is not only good for the environment and my pocket book it usually doesn't take a lot f time or effort.  Hopefully you can extend the life of some items you have.

Danna