Roses On My Toeses!

Now that it’s warm enough for sandals, the bows just don’t work.
Roses to the rescue!

(Yes, that’s a cat getting in on the action–he loves shoes!)

I used the rose pattern from the Irish Filigree Necklace,
found in Annie’s Favorite Thread Projects.
It’s quick & easy–the whole project (including figuring out the leaf pattern!)
only took a couple of hours.

For the leaves I started with ch 15, sc in 2nd chain from hook, sc in next ch.
1 dc into each of the next 2 ch
1 trc into each of the next 2 ch
1 dc into each of the next 2 ch
1 sc into each of the next 2 ch

Proceeding up the other side of the chain
(working into the free loop of each ch),
1 sc into each of the next 2 ch
1 dc into each of the next 2 ch
1 trc into each of the next 2 ch
1 dc into each of the next 2 ch
1 sc into each of the next 2 ch
ch 3, sl st to end ch (picot)

Sl st down the center of the leaf to form the vein
(or skip this step if you don’t care about a vein!)
& fasten off.
This leaves a bit of stem, which you don’t really need–
you could probably start with 11 chains.

Sew the leaves to the roses, sew the roses to the shoe clip findings
(I got these on ebay)
clip to shoes and you’re good to go!
(Just make sure you sew them on facing the right way–
I got it wrong the first time & they were pointing backward!)

Bows On My Toes!

Spring is sprung!
Time to decorate my white shoes!
(They desperately needed help!)

I didn’t take photos of the process, though,
so I made another pair in black.

I used this pattern for the lace, although I made the bow itself differently.

I started with a repeat of 6 shells across (a starting chain of 19)
and 5 shells long for the white–7 shells for the black.
The white thread was so old it didn’t have a size designation,
but it seems to be something thicker than size 10.
The black thread is Knit Cro-Sheen (size 10).

You could make the bows larger or smaller
by increasing or decreasing the number of shells in length & width.

Once that was done, I cut the thread & attached at the edge of the beginning chain
to do the same thing in the other direction,
making the shells in the remaining loops of the original chain,
opposite the first shells.
That way the outside edges match each other

The center is the same as the pattern, but only 5 shells long
(you could make them a little longer if you wanted the center a little looser).

I left long tails on the centers
(you could do the same with the original chain on the bows & use that),
threaded a needle with the tail & wove the thread in & out of the center of the bow
(and then back again) to gather it.

With that same thread, I whip-stitched the two ends of the center to each other,
being careful not to catch the bow itself in the sewing.

I pulled & tweaked the bow & the center into the shape I wanted,
then used the same thread to sew on the shoe clip findings
(which we found on ebay).

Here are the finished shoe clips upside down next to the plain shoes
(you can see the shoe clip findings attached)
with some kitty interest :).

And the finished shoe clips on the shoes:

Voila!