I bought myself a pair of shoes months ago with the intention of stitching on them, but like so many of my projects I just couldn’t decide what to do. So I decided to get a pair of shoes for Evie and stitch those to get myself inspired. I used a water soluble marker and drew some designs on them. I made it up as I went along, and once I did the first shoe I just copied it onto the second.

I picked a colorful pallet, I wasn’t going to limit myself! These shoes are for a 3 year old so they should be bright and fun!

Now, I learned a few important things that I would like to share.
Make sure you can get your hand and a needle into the shoe before planning the design. I had grand plans for adorable satin stitched hearts in the middle and a row of French knots, but when I went to start, I just couldn’t maneuver the needle inside the shoe.

I made some design changes and resigned myself to the fact that doing a neat satin stitch wasn’t really plausible with a shoe. It would have been too difficult to keep the stitches even, so I just stuck with back stitches.
Another thing that is important, make sure you have a sharp needle. It’s tough to pierce through the canvas.

I added a few little details to the sides of the shoes, another little heart and then an “E.” Although Evie doesn’t understand cursive and thinks it’s a 3, so maybe I should have used a more simple letter! She absolutely loves the shoes though! They didn’t come in half sizes so they are a little too big, plus with all the snow she’s going to have to wait until spring to wear them outside, but she wears them all the time inside!

This was a really fun little project, it didn’t take too long and it was a nice departure from normal stitching on fabric. I think I’ve planned out what I’m going to stitch on my shoes now, I just need to plan out a color scheme!
Have you been stitching on anything more nontraditional lately?