Customizing Shoes with Embroidery

I have this pair of canvas shoes that were really quite boring. They're actually men's shoes and my husband has a pair of his own so I really needed a way to pretty them up. I realized that they are the perfect material for embroidering and I had been wanting to try out a few basic stitches and designs. I decided to give it a try and I love the way they turned out!

I just did a basic backstitch in a swirly vine pattern and a lazy daisy flower on each foot. I underestimated how difficult it would be to manipulate the needle on the inside of the shoe, especially down by the toe. On the second shoe I tried to work the needle and thread from the outside as much as possible.

On the back heel I added another little flower. The heel had a piece of leather glued on the inside for extra support. It made it much more difficult to push the needle through. I actually broke one needle so I needed to upgrade to something sturdier. When I did the second shoe I used a thumbtack to poke holes for each stitch ahead of time. The glue also gunked up my needle and thread a little bit.

On the side of each shoe I added a heart so I could experiment and practice with satin stitch. 

I love wearing these. This was a really fast and easy project and the possibilities are endless. I hope this inspires you to eye up some of your tired old shoes and give them a little face lift, too!