How to Make DIY Fancy Glitter Holiday Shoes

The night I got introduced the wonderfulness that a little glitter could add to a pair of shoes was also the night I found out about the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I was seven years old and my mom and her friends had turned our condo into a costume-making workshop. They sewed and glued their way to the best handmade Rocky Horror Picture Show costumes that Halloween.

To this day I’ve never seen a better version of Columbia than my mom, a more spot-on Magenta than my aunt and a more perfect interpretation of Frank N. Furter than one of their friends who also happened to be a sheriff.

I was too young to understand the storyline of the musical but I loved the costumes and the music. They had the soundtrack on repeat the whole night as they worked in our living room gluing sequins to pretty much everything while my mom toiled away at the sewing machine reinventing thrift store finds into costumes that ended up winning the best costume contest at the party they went to that weekend.

When I was in high school my mom finally let me watch the movie and my love affair with the only musical comedy that didn’t annoy me began. Drawing on the spirit of handmade costumes and working together that I’d experienced when I was a kid, I cajoled my friends into get dressed up and heading to a late-night showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. We pulled some last-minute costumes together and I went to town with some glitter and spray glue on an old pair of my shoes.

I lost track of those glittered shoes a long time ago but when I headed off to Reno for my bachelorette party last year I knew my shoes had to be as sparkly as I felt. I glittered them up and hit the casino leaving a trail of glitter behind me.

I’m a long time fan of the defunct brand Famolare’s but since they’re no longer being made and I’m a hard-to-find size 11, my Ebay hunts haven’t gone so well. I turned to the SAS brand as the second best option for comfortable-vintage-looking-grandma-librarian shoes that make me happy.

A few weeks ago I was just about to retire a pair of SAS shoes that I’d already given new life to with a coat of red spray paint that was cracking and chipping. Then I saw a jar of glitter on the shelf in my studio and knew exactly what to do. This time around I put a bit more thought into how to stop the glitter from falling off. I went with Aleene’s Tacky Glue to adhere the glitter and decided to do a clear coat of gloss medium on top. I’ve been wearing the shoes for a month or so and these two adjustments have hindered the glitter from falling off.

If you want to join me in my glitter shoe obsession, just grab an old pair of shoes and glitter and glue your brains out. Turns out I’m not the only lover of glittery shoes. I saw our friend Rachel of The Crafted Life sporting an awesome pair in a video she made about her garage makeover. Glittery shoes need not just be reserved for Halloween but can be the perfect addition to a casino excursion, New Years Eve party or even become a part of your daily wardrobe as a way to add some sparkle to your life. Every time I put on my glittered up shoes I fondly remember that night in my childhood living room watching a group of adults get their DIY on.

-Nicole S.

WHAT TO GET:

For the shoes:
-Old or boring shoes that you’re ready to give new life to
-Paintbrush
–Aleene’s tacky Glue
–Gloss medium
-Glitter
-Washi tape
For the shoelaces:
-Cool new shoelaces or you can sew your own. If you’re sewing your own, get the following:
-Fabric
-Sewing machine
-Thread
-Safety pin

WHAT TO DO:

For the shoes:
1. Run washi tape along any area of your shows that you don’t want covered in glitter. Press down hard and make sure it’s fully adhered.

2. Start in a small section and paint a thick layer of tacky glue on the shoe with a paintbrush.

3. Pour glitter over the glue area.

4. Repeat steps two and three until you’ve covered your shoes completely with glitter.

5. Set the shoes aside and let them dry overnight.
6. Once the glue and glitter is completely dry, remove the tape. You may need to use a craft knife to help.

7. Paint a thick layer of gloss medium over the whole shoe in sections.

8. Let the gloss medium dry completely overnight. Then repeat step seven.
9. Let the second layer of gloss medium dry completely and then run your finger along the shoe to see if glitter is coming off. If it is, add one more layer of gloss medium. The gloss medium helps create a protective coating over the glitter so you don’t leave a trail of glitter behind you everywhere you go.

For the shoelaces:
1. Cut strips of fabric that are 1 inch wide and as long as they need to be to lace through your shoes.

2. Fold one piece of fabric in half width-wise with the wrong sides (not printed sides facing out) and sew down the length of it using a straight stitch.

3. Use a safety pin to turn the tube right way out but attaching it to one end and then pushing it through to the other end so that it comes out the other side.