I Want to Pimp My Shoes!

My kiddo is at an age where he wants to be independent and doesn't want to do the "girly" stuff that mummy does. I was rather disappointed when that stage came because I enjoyed having him take part in my upcycling activities; we have made so much together. Now it's football and youtube - I'm not sure what is the obsession with the latter, but sometimes it drives me up the wall when I see youngsters just waste their time running through videos that have no meaning and are just recorded for a laugh.

So you can imagine what I think he would be doing during the mid-term break this week. Fortunately (cue sigh of relief) I didn't have to worry about that. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised when he asked me whether we could pimp his old school plimsolls. The school had requested for black shoes, and so his old white ones were just sitting in the shoe cabinet waiting to be hacked.

He wanted them a different colour and wasn't sure how to do it.

So we settled on using the batik dyes that I had purchased for my earlier upcycling project. We had orange, yellow and blue to choose from, and we soon found ourselves splashing paint all over the shoes. I did one shoe and he did the other.

After letting the shoes dry, we decided to jazz it up a bit by adding some embroidery using contrasting thread. Again, I did one and he did the other - it was a bit of a challenge as we had to try and get the needle in and out of the canvas without poking it straight through. I think he did very well and managed with all the threading and sewing. I like how one foot is different from the other!

After seeing the transformation, I can safely say that my son can sew! Woo hoo.

Upcycling T-shirts into Toys

Boys can get a little carried away with mechanical-type toys. My son wanted to make a robot, but I'm not very good with electronics and so we ended up making a stuffed toy robot out of old t-shirts. You can try this out with your kids - get them to design the toy they want, choose their colours, and sew something on their own. 

Time taken - two afternoons. You may need to split this into 2 - 3 hour sessions as kids get grumpy after a while.

Upcycled Football Shorts for Junior

Do you know the "Football Crazy" song? I am reminded of it every weekend when the boys in my household watch the English Premier League, and then go for training with their friends. Without football, their lives would be incomplete (or so they say!).  When hubby's football shorts had lost their stretch around the waist, I found it impossible to thread some new elastic and decided to scale it down to make a new pair for junior!

Refashioning - Boys Can Sew!

I've always wanted to get my son involved in refashioning but never had the chance to until last weekend. At the beginning of the year, he told me he wanted to learn how to use the sewing machine  and I was very happy that he mentioned it (although secretly I think it's because stepping on the pedal is very much like driving a car!)!

So, we ended up doing some cutting, painting and a little bit of sewing.  Two hours later, we ended up with a "new" pair of shorts, a very happy kid, and a proud mummy. This is an easy peasy project.  Click below to read more!