Last year I bought a pair of ballet slippers thinking they'd be a great minimalist shoe for work. I got the widest width the dance store had, but after wearing them for about 5 minutes, knew they would not work for me. They were way too narrow.
I've been thinking of deconstructing them and use the materials for something that might work but I've been really hesitant to rip apart a brand new pair of shoes. Last night I finally did it.
I ripped out the stitches holding the sole together, then peeled off the inner and outer leather soles, along with the thin lining between them. I was left with the cotton-lined leather upper.
I cut a much wider outsole from scrap suede. I used my huaraches as a last of sorts. I wrapped the leather upper around my huarache sole and glued the new outsoles to the upper. I cut felted wool the same size as my huaraches and glued those inside the new slippers as liners.
They're perfect now! So comfortable and warm. Just what I needed to head outside on these cold winter days.
(Note, the new leather outsole is still very narrow, but the upper and inner sole provide the width. I started out with a full-width sole and the shoes looked pretty ridiculous. It might have looked better with a dark sole, but all I had available was the light colored leather.)
First pic is what the original ballet slippers look like from a mfg photo. You can see how narrow the soles are! 2nd pic is my new sole. Much wider than the original, but a bit narrower than the upper to keep the ballet slipper look. 3rd pic is the comfy soft wool inner. Last pic is me wearing my new comfy wide slipper.
Very cool. I am not sure if I enabled the posting of pics in the forum... let me get right on that, I would love to see them!