My efforts to purchase a pair of 18th century style shoes involved much unsatisfied web browsing and *one* trip to Payless Shoes. I swear I find perfect costuming shoes every time I go there (1920s, 16th century and now 18th century). Anyway, they are ivory colored, and my chemise a la reine is white with yellow sash and ties, but I already planned to cover them in fabric. A quick purview of Joann Fabrics’ quilting cottons found me a cheery print, though probably not period.
I draped a muslin to get a rough pattern piece for each side and then the toe, which I cut from the fashion fabric and rubber cemented to the shoe. The fabric of the shoe had a tendency to absorb the rubber cement so multiple coats were sometimes necessary. Once all the pieces were securely in place I glued a piece of single fold bias tape down the back seam, then glued double fold bias tape all the way around the edge. To secure the inside of the bias tape, I wore the shoes around with my pajamas for 15 minutes. 😉
I tried to get a picture of the dress and shoe together, but you can’t really tell, so here are the two side by side.
