This is how I make Naruto sandals. It isn't as easy as cutting up a sock and pulling it over your sandal, but I think it looks a lot better. I find this method really inexpensive and simple, though you will need to know how to use a sewing machine (or find someone who can help you). This is the result:
To start, you will need 5 pieces of equipment:
1. Sharp pair of scissors
2. Sewing machine with a heavy-duty needle
3. High-temperature Hot Glue Gun (I use a cheap $1.99 model from Wal-Mart)
4. Fabric pencil or colored pencil to mark cloth
5. Sewing pins
These are the materials you will need:
1. 1/2 yard of cotton duck in the color of your choice. Though, if your feet are bigger, it's a good idea to go ahead and buy 3/4 yard of fabric to allow for extra room.
2. Thread to match (I'm using button-hole thread because it's strong, but All-Purpose is good enough)
3. High-temp glue sticks
4. Cheap pair of flip-flops
5. Upholstery tacks to use while assembling the shoe
A note on fabric: Cotton Duck is a strong cotton fabric usually used for outdoor stuff. You can find it at JoAnn fabrics in the section where they keep the upholstery and outdoor fabrics. It is rather stiff, and of very heavy weight, which makes it hard to cut and sew sometimes. I use it because it is very durable and looks more like shoe canvas, but I'm sure lighter fabrics would also work, if you find yourself intimidated by working with such heavy stuff. A good alternative is to ask the clerk to help you find a "bottomweight fabric with a little stretch," a cotton blend with 2-5% spandex is a good option because the extra give will compensate a little for a better fit and make getting into and out of the shoe easier. Also, the cotton duck I use is about 54 inches wide (if I remember correctly) so if the fabric you want to use is narrower, buy more to compensate for lack of width.
Optional materials include:
1. Fabric paint to change the color of the flip-flops (it's darn-hard to find royal-blue flip-flops)
2. Upholstery Tacks painted the same color as your fabric for anchoring the shoe to the sole (not really necessary, as I've found hot glue alone works just fine, but extra security can't hurt)
Step 1:
The first step is to cut the thong off your flip-flops* and paint them the right color if needed.
*if making Sand-Village Sandals, do not cut off the thong and see notes on special Sand-Village Style construction
Step 2:
Cut your piece of fabric in half, parallel to the short sides. Take one piece of your fabric and fold it in half, making a rectangle and place it on a solid surface.* Put your foot on the fabric as shown, so that your ankle bone rests roughly in the center and your foot is parallel to the longer side of the fabric.
*When you cut the length of fabric in half (which is originally 24" long [for 3/4 yd] by 60" wide) each piece should be 24" long by 30" wide. Then, you fold the pieces in half to get two layers for the two halves of each shoe. The final rectangles, when folded in half, should measure 24" long by 15" wide.
Step 3:
Keeping your foot at 90 degree angle as much as possible, use your pencil to trace the top of your foot from your toes back to about 3-4" up your ankle.
Step 4:
Smooth and darken the line as needed and make two marks, one where your toes meet the rest of your foot, and the other at your ankle where your foot meets your leg.
Step 5:
Extend your line straight out to the edges of the fabric.
Step 6:
I have labelled the toe point "A" and the ankle point "B."
Step 7:
Using a straight stitch of medium-short length, stitch along your line between points A and B. Hooray! You have the first seam done!
Step 8:
With your scissors, cut along approximately 1/2" outside your line. (Don't worry about the apparent color-change, I just turned the flash off my camera)
Step 9:
Use your scissors to cut nicks into the edge of the fabric along your seam. Make sure your cuts do not cut too far and go through your stitching!!!
Step 10:
Turn your shoe inside-out. Admire your seam. Smooth out the unsewn parts of the top edge, matching them up and pinning, if needed.
Step 11:
Stitch along the top edge of your sandal from where point A is to the edge of the fabric, and from point B to the edge. Make sure to leave a 1/2" seam allowance. (These parts of the top seam are flipped out because they will form the cuffs)
Step 12:
Admire your handiwork.
Step 13:
Turn the whole thing inside-out again.
Step 14:
Put the shoe over your foot, making sure to place the top seam a little off-center, so the the seam traces a line back across your foot, running along the toe next to your big toe.
Step 15:
Pull the fabric back, but not too tightly (leave room to manuever your foot in and out of the shoe!), and center the fabric so that the two pieces meet at the middle of your heel. Pin the fabric together at the soon-to-be seam.
Step 16:
Trace a line where the heal-seam should go.
Step 17:
Slip your foot out of the shoe.
Sew halfway up the line, from the bottom edges of the fabric up to your ankle (across from where point B is on the top seam is) forming the heal-seam.
Step 18:
Trim the fabric 1/2" outside your heal-seam line. Turn the shoe inside-out.
Sew the rest of the heal seam, leaving a 1/2" allowance.
Step 19:
Notch along the upper part of the heal seam that you just stitched,like you did with the main part of the top seam.
Step 20:
Put your shoe back on and adjust the seams so that they are placed correctly.
Step 21:
Roll back the front of the shoe to form the toe-cuff. You'll probably want the front edge of the cuff to hit at the middle of your big toe. Make sure the cuff is straight and even, and pin.
Step 21:
View of pinned toe cuff.
Step 22:
Roll down the top cuff.
Step 23:
Place the flip-flop sole on the ground and put your foot on the sole. Making sure the shoe stays tight over your toes, push an upholstery tack through the toe cuff on each side of the shoe into the flip-flop.
Step 24:
Pulling the shoe down TIGHT, stick in more upholstery tacks at intervals around the sole. The tighter you make sure the shoe is pulled down against the sole, the more snugly your sandal will fit in the end. (Note: you may want to mark on the bottom of the sole where the heel seam is supposed to meet, so that you place the shoe back on the sole accurately.)
Step 25:
Pull your shoe off.
Step 26:
Cut through the fabric 1/2" below the bottom of the sole.
Step 27:
Fold the bottom edge of the shoe over 1/2" and stitch.
Step 28:
Put the shoe back on the sole and tack in place.
Step 29:
You could start gluing at this point, but for complete accuracy, I like to add the heel cuff. If you don't care, just skip ahead to the gluing part.
Step 30:
Cut out a piece of fabric 5"x4" wide and fold in half lengthwise.
Step 31:
Stitch the short sides closed, leaving a 1/2" allowance. Turn the rectangle inside-out.
Step 32:
Center the rectangle on the bottom of the heel of your shoe, leaving approximately 1/2" of the open side of the rectangle hanging over the edge of the shoe. Stitch around the top 3 edges of the rectangle, then fold the bottom edge over the bottom of the shoe and stitch. It may be difficult to stitch this part due to the thickness of the fabric. Just hang in there, turn the presser foot to the lowest pressure and make sure you don't push the machine faster than it wants to go, or you'll break needles. Voila! Easy heal-cuff. Pin your shoe back onto the sole.
Step 33:
Now to gluing! Pull out an upholstery tack or two and lift up the edge of the shoe. (hey, that rhymes!) Lay down a line of hot glue along the sole where the bottom of the shoe lies. (But make sure to stay away from the very front where the shoe goes, or you'll have glue squishing out where it's visible.)
Step 34:
Press the shoe edge down into the hot glue and hold until the glue cools. Be careful not to burn your fingers!
Step 35:
Continue untacking, lifting and gluing sections of the bottom of the shoe until you've gone all the way around.
Step 36:
The finished product. At this point, you can opt to secure the shoe to the sole further by pushing matching-color upholstery tacks into the side of the sole, but I find it really isn't necessary (I've run around like a maniac for days without them, no problems).
Step 37:
Put it on your foot and show it off. (You may need to unroll the top cuff if you can't squeeze your ankle through it; just reroll the cuff once it's on) Now all you have to do is repeat the whole process for the other foot!
To start, you will need 5 pieces of equipment:
1. Sharp pair of scissors
2. Sewing machine with a heavy-duty needle
3. High-temperature Hot Glue Gun (I use a cheap $1.99 model from Wal-Mart)
4. Fabric pencil or colored pencil to mark cloth
5. Sewing pins
These are the materials you will need:
1. 1/2 yard of cotton duck in the color of your choice. Though, if your feet are bigger, it's a good idea to go ahead and buy 3/4 yard of fabric to allow for extra room.
2. Thread to match (I'm using button-hole thread because it's strong, but All-Purpose is good enough)
3. High-temp glue sticks
4. Cheap pair of flip-flops
5. Upholstery tacks to use while assembling the shoe
A note on fabric: Cotton Duck is a strong cotton fabric usually used for outdoor stuff. You can find it at JoAnn fabrics in the section where they keep the upholstery and outdoor fabrics. It is rather stiff, and of very heavy weight, which makes it hard to cut and sew sometimes. I use it because it is very durable and looks more like shoe canvas, but I'm sure lighter fabrics would also work, if you find yourself intimidated by working with such heavy stuff. A good alternative is to ask the clerk to help you find a "bottomweight fabric with a little stretch," a cotton blend with 2-5% spandex is a good option because the extra give will compensate a little for a better fit and make getting into and out of the shoe easier. Also, the cotton duck I use is about 54 inches wide (if I remember correctly) so if the fabric you want to use is narrower, buy more to compensate for lack of width.
Optional materials include:
1. Fabric paint to change the color of the flip-flops (it's darn-hard to find royal-blue flip-flops)
2. Upholstery Tacks painted the same color as your fabric for anchoring the shoe to the sole (not really necessary, as I've found hot glue alone works just fine, but extra security can't hurt)
Step 1:
The first step is to cut the thong off your flip-flops* and paint them the right color if needed.
*if making Sand-Village Sandals, do not cut off the thong and see notes on special Sand-Village Style construction
Step 2:
Cut your piece of fabric in half, parallel to the short sides. Take one piece of your fabric and fold it in half, making a rectangle and place it on a solid surface.* Put your foot on the fabric as shown, so that your ankle bone rests roughly in the center and your foot is parallel to the longer side of the fabric.
*When you cut the length of fabric in half (which is originally 24" long [for 3/4 yd] by 60" wide) each piece should be 24" long by 30" wide. Then, you fold the pieces in half to get two layers for the two halves of each shoe. The final rectangles, when folded in half, should measure 24" long by 15" wide.
Step 3:
Keeping your foot at 90 degree angle as much as possible, use your pencil to trace the top of your foot from your toes back to about 3-4" up your ankle.
Step 4:
Smooth and darken the line as needed and make two marks, one where your toes meet the rest of your foot, and the other at your ankle where your foot meets your leg.
Step 5:
Extend your line straight out to the edges of the fabric.
Step 6:
I have labelled the toe point "A" and the ankle point "B."
Step 7:
Using a straight stitch of medium-short length, stitch along your line between points A and B. Hooray! You have the first seam done!
Step 8:
With your scissors, cut along approximately 1/2" outside your line. (Don't worry about the apparent color-change, I just turned the flash off my camera)
Step 9:
Use your scissors to cut nicks into the edge of the fabric along your seam. Make sure your cuts do not cut too far and go through your stitching!!!
Step 10:
Turn your shoe inside-out. Admire your seam. Smooth out the unsewn parts of the top edge, matching them up and pinning, if needed.
Step 11:
Stitch along the top edge of your sandal from where point A is to the edge of the fabric, and from point B to the edge. Make sure to leave a 1/2" seam allowance. (These parts of the top seam are flipped out because they will form the cuffs)
Step 12:
Admire your handiwork.
Step 13:
Turn the whole thing inside-out again.
Step 14:
Put the shoe over your foot, making sure to place the top seam a little off-center, so the the seam traces a line back across your foot, running along the toe next to your big toe.
Step 15:
Pull the fabric back, but not too tightly (leave room to manuever your foot in and out of the shoe!), and center the fabric so that the two pieces meet at the middle of your heel. Pin the fabric together at the soon-to-be seam.
Step 16:
Trace a line where the heal-seam should go.
Step 17:
Slip your foot out of the shoe.
Sew halfway up the line, from the bottom edges of the fabric up to your ankle (across from where point B is on the top seam is) forming the heal-seam.
Step 18:
Trim the fabric 1/2" outside your heal-seam line. Turn the shoe inside-out.
Sew the rest of the heal seam, leaving a 1/2" allowance.
Step 19:
Notch along the upper part of the heal seam that you just stitched,like you did with the main part of the top seam.
Step 20:
Put your shoe back on and adjust the seams so that they are placed correctly.
Step 21:
Roll back the front of the shoe to form the toe-cuff. You'll probably want the front edge of the cuff to hit at the middle of your big toe. Make sure the cuff is straight and even, and pin.
Step 21:
View of pinned toe cuff.
Step 22:
Roll down the top cuff.
Step 23:
Place the flip-flop sole on the ground and put your foot on the sole. Making sure the shoe stays tight over your toes, push an upholstery tack through the toe cuff on each side of the shoe into the flip-flop.
Step 24:
Pulling the shoe down TIGHT, stick in more upholstery tacks at intervals around the sole. The tighter you make sure the shoe is pulled down against the sole, the more snugly your sandal will fit in the end. (Note: you may want to mark on the bottom of the sole where the heel seam is supposed to meet, so that you place the shoe back on the sole accurately.)
Step 25:
Pull your shoe off.
Step 26:
Cut through the fabric 1/2" below the bottom of the sole.
Step 27:
Fold the bottom edge of the shoe over 1/2" and stitch.
Step 28:
Put the shoe back on the sole and tack in place.
Step 29:
You could start gluing at this point, but for complete accuracy, I like to add the heel cuff. If you don't care, just skip ahead to the gluing part.
Step 30:
Cut out a piece of fabric 5"x4" wide and fold in half lengthwise.
Step 31:
Stitch the short sides closed, leaving a 1/2" allowance. Turn the rectangle inside-out.
Step 32:
Center the rectangle on the bottom of the heel of your shoe, leaving approximately 1/2" of the open side of the rectangle hanging over the edge of the shoe. Stitch around the top 3 edges of the rectangle, then fold the bottom edge over the bottom of the shoe and stitch. It may be difficult to stitch this part due to the thickness of the fabric. Just hang in there, turn the presser foot to the lowest pressure and make sure you don't push the machine faster than it wants to go, or you'll break needles. Voila! Easy heal-cuff. Pin your shoe back onto the sole.
Step 33:
Now to gluing! Pull out an upholstery tack or two and lift up the edge of the shoe. (hey, that rhymes!) Lay down a line of hot glue along the sole where the bottom of the shoe lies. (But make sure to stay away from the very front where the shoe goes, or you'll have glue squishing out where it's visible.)
Step 34:
Press the shoe edge down into the hot glue and hold until the glue cools. Be careful not to burn your fingers!
Step 35:
Continue untacking, lifting and gluing sections of the bottom of the shoe until you've gone all the way around.
Step 36:
The finished product. At this point, you can opt to secure the shoe to the sole further by pushing matching-color upholstery tacks into the side of the sole, but I find it really isn't necessary (I've run around like a maniac for days without them, no problems).
Step 37:
Put it on your foot and show it off. (You may need to unroll the top cuff if you can't squeeze your ankle through it; just reroll the cuff once it's on) Now all you have to do is repeat the whole process for the other foot!