If you’ve recently got married, or have been a bridesmaid, or have simply bought some pale summer shoes, maybe you’d like to extend their wearable life by dyeing them?! Often pale shoes get pretty messed up after a day of walking around churchyards and dancing on a sticky dancefloor, so are pretty unwearable after a wedding! I fancied changing my shoes into a more colourful shade to wear all year round, and you may like to go for a dark color for the winter months. Either way, here’s a fab tutorial adapted from Yahoo on how to go about dying your fabric shoes – so don’t blame me if it goes wrong, because you only get one-shot at dying a shoe a different color and the only other option if you don’t like it is to dye them black, so choose your color carefully!
You can also dye canvas shoes, and if you get the right type of dye you can even refresh leather, suede, nubuck and even imitation leather accessories. Check out Dylon.co.uk for inspiration and to get an idea of the range of dyes you can get. And one of the effects that I particularly like is this dip-dyed style that can be achieved with two contrasting or coordinating colours – so pretty and a good idea if you just want to jazz up your summer shoes ready for next spring/summer – here’s the dip-dye tutorial from State of Unique.
- Before you start to dye your fabric shoes, be sure that your shoes are clean and dry.
- Completely read and follow the instructions on the container in order to achieve the best results. Some shoes dyes are directly applied to the footwear. However, other dyes, especially if you need a lighter color, need to be diluted before they are used.
- Place a layer of old newspapers across your work surface to protect it. Then, place crumpled up balls of white tissue paper inside your wedding shoes so they’ll retain their shape.
- You’ll want to wear a pair of plastic gloves on your hands so the dye doesn’t stain.
- Usually, a dyeing job on shoes is started at the back seam. The color is applied in light, even coats. The more coats, the darker the end color will be.
- Once your bridal shoes are finally the color you want them to be, allow them to dry thoroughly out of the sunlight and away from direct heat.
You’ll also need to get a good brand of water-repellent for your newly dyed shoes. Because, one negative factor about dyed shoes is, the color will run when it gets wet. A good-quality
water-repellent can’t completely stop the color from running, but it can help.
So if you have a pair of pale fabric shoes that you are certain that you won’t be wearing again, have a go at dying them rather than throwing them out and prolong their wearability for autumn/winter.
