Recovered Toms Tutorial

I like to think that I was one of the early adopters of the Toms movement (as I like to call it). I got my first (and only) pair just about 5 years ago on sale for $30. I loved them. I wore them a lot. I happened to get a white pair- bad decision. Very quickly they got dirty - and even in the wash they didn't clean up. A year ago a hole appeared, and since then I haven't put them on. So there they sat in my closet.

Until.... about a month ago I saw a recovered pair of Toms on Pinterest. And this awesome Etsy store the re-covers new Toms. Genius! I knew it was something that I needed to do with my dirty, holey, outdated Toms!

Many other tutorials I found used a waterproof flexible glue. Well I didn't have any of that, and I wanted something less sticky. So I used Stitch Witchery. Stitch Witchery is a fusible adhesive that semi-permanently fuses two pieces of fabric together. It is washable too, so I don't have to worry about my Toms getting wet and falling apart.

 Stuff you need:

• Old Toms
• Fabric Scraps
• Stitch Witchery 
• Iron (on cotton setting)
• Scissors
• Crumbled Paper to put into shoe while ironing 

First step- put that crumbled piece of paper into the toe. It help keep the shoe top firm and keeps your hands from burning while using a hot iron .

 

Next plan out fabric scraps. You need a piece of stitch witchery on each end of each scrap. Cut those to match, too. 

Then carefully, starting with the toe of the shoe- place a piece of stitch witchery down and then the fabric scrap. Using you iron and your hand (inside the shoe to push the toe toward the iron) iron together the shoe and the fabric.  Fold top edge of toe down, because thats what normal Toms look like anyway. 

Then continue adding scraps on the top of the toe. For small sections, only one piece of stitch witchery will be needed.

Work your away around the back. (Optional, remove Toms flag from shoe and re-sew or fuse onto new fabric!)

And then, you are done! Check seams. Or if you want a more finished look, add ribbon around the bottom edge.

So fun. They are far from perfect, but now I can wear them again. At least until they get dirty - then I'll just put some new fabric on them again!

***I am not sure how these will hold up. But I hope that they will stay good for at least a season. I'll keep this blog updated if anything bad happens to it! :-)