The shoe is designed to hold your needlepoint in place with the help of an adhesive 3M panel as well as strategically placed 3M strips under the lips of the shoe that will be touching to top of your work.
Take care not to wear the shoe too much until you have inserted your needlepoint piece. An intact sticker protecting the 3M produces best results.
Leather upper made of a soft pebble natural milled cowhide.
Leather sole secured with McKay stitch sole construction and topped with veg-tanned bull sole that will form to your feet and is buttery to the touch.
*To ensure you're selecting the correct size, do not rely on the size conversion chart alone. Download actual sole outlines and:
Size 35: US 5.5-6
Size 36: US 6.5-7
Size 37: US 7.5
Size 38: US 8-8.5
Size 39: US 9-9.5
Size 40: US 10-10.5
Size 41: US 11-11.5
Size 42: US 12
Any tips for when I insert my finished canvas into my shoes?
They really are very middle of the road.
Unless you typically need shoes that are on the more narrow or wide side, you should focus on identifying the correct heel-to-toe length for you via the sole outline printout.
Do the slides fit
narrow -or- wide?
A: SO MANY!
A: NEITHER!
What kind of mesh should I use?
A: Whatever you prefer!
I have inserted both Zweigart 13 and 18 as well as Zwigart Penelope (10/20) for really detailed work – see here! The mesh size does not matter as much as the fiber choices (see following question).
If you are coming up with your own design, you can purchase Zweigart on Amazon here or at your LNS.
I have really loved working with Zweigart Penelope and personally prefer it for the slides. It is a little less thick/bulky than 13 or 18 and the petite pointe of the 20 really lets you pack a punch of detail in such a small area.
You can purchase a pre-cut square of Penelope canvas here.
I don't want to design a canvas!
A: No prob (and I totally get it!)
Your shoes will come with a pattern of the perfect outline of the stitch area.
Take that to your LNS and purchase any canvas that it fits on.
As long as it has space for you to trace two of the of the pattern outlines on it, you’re golden!
What kind of fibers do you recommend?
A: The less bulky, the better!
The back of the canvas should absolutely be your business on this project! The tidier and less bulky you keep the back of the canvas, the better the finish you will have.
Essentials, Cards with flatter threads (like Firewerks, Neon Rays, etc), and Strandable DMC have worked beautifully in all the pairs of shoes I have stitched.
If the back is too bulky, it makes the finishing process far less seamless. For example, I used Planet Earth Wool on 18 mesh. The finished piece was much thicker than prior samples and made for a much slower and more difficult self-finish.
Click here for my step-by-step tutorial on how to get the best finish possible!
Because of the curve of the foot, this self-finish is a bit more of a detailed process than self-finishing products that are flat and perfectly rectangular (like a luggage tag, card holder, etc).
However, after inserting finishes into several pairs of slides myself, I encountered pretty much every hiccup there is to overcome so you don’t have to! If you follow the process in the video, I have no doubt you’ll be able to avoid placement hiccups and totally nail it.
The short version?
One can only stitch so many pillows & ornaments.
The long version?
When I was a child, my mother stitched herself a pair of needlepoint mules. She worked on them for months and when they finally came back from being finished overseas we were both simply obsessed with them!
When I first began my own needlepoint journey (dare I say obsession?) as an adult, I was simply dying to do a pair of needlepoint shoes just like she had! Unfortunately, the avenue she went through were no longer in business.
I could only find one other option out there and the cost of the finishing frankly knocked the wind out of me. Would it be worth it? TOTALLY! Was it in my price range? Absolutely not.
Cut to several years down the road… after designing and producing self-finishing bags and bag straps, I decided shoes simply had to be next.
Just like my other products, the non-negotiables were:
1. MADE BY HAND
Just like our needlepoint!
"A work of art to house needlework art" became my motto.
2. MADE IN TEXAS
...in my beloved hometown El Paso, TX!
It’s a special border city where the only thing warmer than the desert climate is the people who live there. El Paso is the furthest West you can go in Texas, the only part of Texas in a different time zone, and (lucky for me!) where top luxury cowboy boot brands have their leather goods made the old-school way (Lucchesse and Kimosabe, just to name a few!)
My hobby is an artform passed from generation to generation. I stitch because my mother stitched and my grandmother before that!
In El Paso, handmade boots and leather craftsmanship is the exact same.
3. MADE TO ORDER
Fast fashion and needlepoint just don’t go hand in hand in my opinion. The shoe that arrives on your doorstep was literally made especially for you!
I worked for months with generational local leather artisans to perfect a handmade sandal that would hold your precious work. All of us out here in West Texas can’t wait to see what you create with them!
The Inspiration
