Shoe bags

One of my challenges is to reduce my stash of fabric and I do have several tubs of material in my sewing room. Earlier in the year I made book covers and Japanese knot bags, both were a lot of fun to make and I donated them to charity, therefore using up some fabric.

I rarely make anything for myself to wear anymore, one because its takes so long and two because its actually cheaper to buy ready made.

A girl friend of mine was mentioning a few weeks ago that she hates packing her shoes in plastic bags when they travel anywhere and suggested shoe bags would be a good thing.

As they will be travelling back to their home country soon after being away for a fair time and having two seasons of clothes and of course shoes, I wanted to make some shoe bags for her and her hubby.

No real idea of how to make one at first but I used the design of the Knot bag and cut out a circle by running a pen around a plate that I have and thought it would be an ideal size. Next I measured around the circle as I needed that much material to join and then finally I looked at the length of the bag. Some of the first ones were a bit big so I cut them down in size, bag was finished by sewing a piece of cord in at the top making it a drawstring.

I used up some fabric and even found two difference colours of cord, goodness knows what I bought them for or when. I have made about a dozen bags and I packed a postage bag with seven or eight and posted off to my friend, should arrive in a few days. I will make a couple more for us to use with we travel.

Shoes

I really like shoes and probably have far more than I need. I don't pay a lot for them and probably the most I have ever paid for a pair of shoes than I remember was $75 from USA, I ordered them online and there was an outline of how to select the size. I was a bit worried that they wouldn't fit esp when I had paid so much but they fitted well. I only wear them on special occasions mainly because I did spend that much (which is crazy I know, I should be wearing them all the time to get my monies worth) the other reason is that that they are higher than what I usually wear these days.

Anyway I digress, as those shoes are not the ones that I wanted to post about. Before I returned to work, I ordered some clothes online from a store that I do buy a few pieces of clothing (it was far easier and cheaper to sit at home in front of A/C and choose what I wanted) and they have added shoes to their stores as well only very recently. To increase their sales some shoes were priced at $5, I decided to add a pair that I liked to my order.

The pair was sandals and I usually cant wear sandals  because I have a high instep (plus too much padding!). These shoes had two straps one across the toe and another over the arch plus a strap to go across the back with a buckle.

I hated the strap at the back and so I thought that I would "doctor"them. I got my big craving knife and cut the straps off! thinking OMG what if I ruin them? Kicked myself in the bum and thought well not going to wear them as they are so no dramas. I wore them shopping last week for a short time as I didn't want to get blisters and they were so comfortable that I wore them to work with every intention to take another pair of shoes. 7am til 5pm is a fair amount of time to spend in new shoes and I am on my feet most of the day good intentions but that was as far as I got, no second pair of shoes. But now i have worn them for two days at work this week and they are fine, Five dollars well spent!