DIY Boot Covers

Recently I've been sewing cosplays for a future event, and realised, "Hey, if I take photos whilst I make this, I can post a tutorial!" Radical idea, huh? ;)

So after a long (long long long) break, you lovely readers of Unfortunately Oh are getting a new DIY! Thanks to everyone who stuck with the blog (and doubly thanks to everyone who followed me over to Doing A Thing, where I post about books, chocolate, cafes and...doing things!)

Without further ado, here it is: How To Make Boot Covers (or spats. Or even gaiters. I don't know. I'm going to keep calling them 'boot covers').

This is a great method for fancy dress or cosplay, to make existing footwear more appropriate to the costume. Plus, it doesn't damage your boots :) It's especially good if modifying cheap footwear isn't an option due to your shoe size or medical conditions that restrict the sorts of footwear you're able to wear.

You'll need:

For the pattern:

• Your boots/shoes
• (If applicable) the trousers you'll wear the boots over
• Cling film (plastic wrap!)
• Sticky tape or packing tape
• Marker pen
• Scissors
• A friend to help (optional)

For the boot covers:

• Pattern (see above!)
• Fabric
• Zip for each cover*
• Scissors
• Matching thread
• Elastic (approx 1/2" wide)
• Dressmakers pen/pencil/chalk
• Dressmaking pins
• Sewing machine (or a needle for hand-sewing and lots of patience)

* Either open or closed-ended zips, dependent on how long you intend the boot covers to be. In the past I've used open-ended ones the length of the covers, but this time I used shorter ones as I was making over-the-knee covers and didn't think I'd find zips that long!
Edit: Seriously use long zips. Zips that let you unzip the cover entirely, if possible. It makes these so much easier to get on/off!

Note: This is a LONG tutorial, though it's relatively easy to make these. So I've put in headings:

• Making the Pattern
• Making the Boot Covers
• Putting Them On
• Other Examples

You can click these to skip to the necessary section :)

Vintage Picnic Window Display

Today I pulled together yet another charity shop window display, for Humanity at Heart.
This is another one that has been planned for a while, which gave me time to make a few things to enhance the finished 'look'.

The theme this time was 'Vintage Summer Picnic'. The manager and I envisioned chintzy china, picnic baskets, pom poms and flowers a plenty!
Over the past months, the shop has collected donations specifically for the window, so there were plenty of items to put in the display. I particularly loved the big basket, and some adorable Minton cups and saucers (which sold before I had a chance to take photos!)

The yarn pom pom garland was put together a few weeks ago on a day that I found myself at a bit of a loose end. The pom poms were from a massive batch that Samantha (At home with Mrs H) sent me forever ago! (I finally used them!!!) I simply used a darning needle to thread them onto jute string.

I spent an evening last week making the tissue paper flowers/pom poms, which I hung from pink ribbon left over from another project. It was no good for sewing with, but perfect for this! 

I hung another of the tissue paper flowers in the entrance of the teepee.
The teepee was constructed using bamboo sourced from the shop's garden and donated fabrics. I decorated it with some retro-styled felt flowers, which I made using donated and leftover felt.
I also made the self-standing retro flowers using the felt and some old wire coathangers.

This window turned out really nicely, and shows what a difference it makes to plan ahead.
Hopefully it will encourage more people into the shop, to look at all the lovely stock available!

To see some of my past window displays, check the window display tag.