Red Ruffle Heels

Shoes : Forever21 (similar here, here and here)

If you follow me on Instagram (@emilykfarina) you may have seen that I did a fancy little DIY project lately that involved a pair of Forever21 shoes and a whole lot of ruffled silk.

The technique I used was not a new one, but rather a shoe-decorating method I had employed for my senior fashion collection at Cornell. I had seen a pair of designer shoes recently that had chiffon rosettes all over them. Immediately I thought "I can do that. I'm going to do that". So I found an affordable pair of heels (in case it didn't turn out so well, minimal loss) and hit up Mood Fabrics for a little silk crepe de chine. Rather than go for some boring color like black, I went for red. Bright red.

Far from a practical shoes, these are more like a wearable art project for me. I can imagine wearing them with a flowy white dress or ripped jeans for perhaps some rooftop cocktails...see if I can make that a reality soon!

Always curious, Boom wanted to check things out and sneak into a photo.

 

To Make the Rosettes:

The technique is very simple and can be done with any fabric. I usually use a lightweight CDC or chiffon for these flowers, but it could be interesting to see how they turn out with a thicker fabric as well. To create the rosette, cut two circles (per flower) around 3" in diameter. Then with a matching color of thread, hand-stitch a circle through both pieces of fabric. This circle should be around 1.5" in diameter. You then pull the thread to tighten the stitches, this creates a little tip at the inside of the circle and causes the outer edges of the circles to curve around into the rosette shape.

I took a few photos during my construction process, you can see a little glimpse below of what the rosettes look like before I applied them to the shoes.

 

If anyone is interested in a more detailed overview or video of how this is done, let me know in the comments below! Maybe I will work on posting a tutorial.

Although they aren't quite as fun, these shoes without the flowers are for sale from Forever21. They also came in black when I purchased them, but it appears they are only available in red now. I love the tassels and the lace-up look is super trendy this summer. You also can't beat the pricetag at $30.

I included a few options to get the look yourself below!