A few weeks ago, I started to feel like a REAL dancer because I killed my first pair of points. Tried to eek out a few minutes of life, but the "It's dead, Jim" moment still came. One problem that dancers often face is what the hell to do with dead shoes. While I got about 2.5 months out of these, some dancers murder shoes like it's their job. So, what to do with all those scuffed up, mushy, undanceable shoes? Make stuff out of them!
Step 1: I started by ripping out the shank, which I found surprisingly easy. I just had to rip out the suede lining piece, work the back end of the shank until I could get the back end of a hammer in there and started prying the thing out. There are little nails holding it together, but that's what the hammer was for.
Step 2: Making 'em green! Again, nothing too hard. I mixed up some Rit dye, sponged it on, and then sponged off the excess with clean water. Nothing hard, but it made me NERVOUS because the still drying dye looked NASTY. Like a dark bluish-grayish-blackish mess. I was relieved to see it looked much better dry. Still way dark, but I tried to make it look intentional.
Step 3: Embelishing. Ok, I'll admit, the embroidery is on the sloppy side, but this was the hardest part. Though the box is all soft and mushy, it's still quite hard and a real pain to stitch through. Look cute if you stand back. I guess if anyone gets close enough to critsize I could just kick 'em in the face. Ha.
Step 4: Finishing touches. I replaced the drawstring casing with some of my dress fabric (this was to make the darker green look more intentional, as I mentioned) and glued the suede piece back in.
And, that's about it. Yay.
They're darling! And what a clever way to repurpose shoes that were otherwise dead. Perfect!
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