What do you get when you mix macrame with shoemaking? Some beautiful summer sandals 😍
Isabella Strambio is a macrame artist who teaches women how to awaken their creativity through macrame!
In her own words "I help creative women explore and reconnect with their creativity using the art of knotting- macrame- as a tool so they can express themselves and find mindful moments in the everyday. Since teaching macrame I have seen the benefits this craft has had on so many women. Macrame has given confidence, creativity, identity, purpose, joy, and has helped with mental health, isolation, health, and chronic illnesses."
You can learn how to make the macrame uppers HERE.
So how did we make the shoes?
You can watch the full making process here:
Learn how to make the macrame uppers with Isabella's tutorial:
Let's break it down step by step:
Step one: The first step was to cover the heels with the beautiful yellow leather I picked out. To cover the heels, I coated the block mid heel and leather with water based glue and then wrapped the leather around the heel.
Step two: I then followed the same process to cover the shanked insoles. I covered the leather and the shanked insoles with water based glue and then wrapped the leather over the insole boards.
Step three: I then grabbed a mid height last (you can use your foot instead), taped the shanked insole to the bottom of the last and placed my macrame upper over the top of the last.
Step four: To last my upper, I glued the ends of the macrame with my water based glue and glued the underside of my insole board. I then wrapped the macrame under the insole board and trimmed the excess off the ends.
Step five: Next I cut out my soling - I used 2mm beige resin soling. I traced my sole pattern onto the soling and then used my heavy duty red scissors to cut this out neatly. I then used my strong solvent based glue and glued both the soling and underside of the insole. After waiting for this to dry a little, I pressed the soling onto the insole.
Step six: The next step was to drill and screw in my heels.
Step seven: The final step was to create my insocks. You can create your own insock or use our Insock Pattern. I also added some foam underneath the insock for a little extra comfort.
Step eight: And the shoes are done!
To say that I am OBSESSED with how these turned out is an understatement 🤩
I created a FREE 40-minute online course called 'Introduction to Shoemaking' to show how easy home shoemaking can be and to give you a little taste of what I Can Make Shoes is all about. It also includes a full step-by-step tutorial 😉
If you are wanting to dive a little deeper into the world of home shoemaking, my online Footwear Masterclass is one of the most popular shoemaking courses in the world!! 🌍 (Casual brag! lol)
The course covers how to make shoes from scratch including heels, flats, boots, sneakers, sandals, and more. The thing that really sets this course apart from others is that it's specifically designed for total beginners and requires very little in the way of tools & equipment, there's even a bonus module on how to start your own shoe brand.To make getting started even easier, the course comes with a FREE Shoemaking Starter Kit, delivered to your door, anywhere in the world! 🌍
Happy Shoemaking, Amanda xx
Pssssssst.... If you want to have a look at the shoes our students have been making, give us a follow on Instagram.
