Revamp it or Marie goes to the beach

Hallo allemaal, leuk dat jullie er alweer zijn! Vandaag is het 'Revamp it' party en onze gastvrouw is de creatieve Natasha Burns. Ik weet niet hoeveel mensen er mee doen, maar op haar blog staat vast een lijst met deelnemers die je ook kunt bezoeken om flink veel inspiratie op te doen. Ik heb gekozen voor een project dat al sinds vorig jaar zomer in de kast lag:

Hi you out there!

Anxious waiting for what is coming up next, aren't you? As today it's 'Revamp it' party, hosted by the ever creative and artistic Natasha Burns of Natasha's Artistic Creations. I don't know how many peeps have been bent over their sewing machines, but be sure to check out Natasha's blog and visit all players. It will certainly be a party filled with inspiration and maybe showing how to save some big bucks to revamp ordinary clothes into customized fancy costumes, bags, shoes and whatever.

When Natasha published her ideas about this party for the first time on her blog I immediately signed up. This was my chance to finally start and hopefully finish a project that was still in the attic.

When Summer comes and it is hot I like to have comfy shoes, like flip flops or linen shoes, which we call, like the French, 'espadrilles'. No synthetics please. Last year I bought a pair of 'espadrilles' on sale for only 5 euros (about 7.50 usd). No wonder:

Vorig jaar kocht ik deze schoenen vanwege hun comfort voor 5 euro in de uitverkoop, geen wonder! Ze passen ook helemaal nergens bij en dus ga ik ze oppimpen, voordat deze zomer ook voorbij is.
According to my daughter the blues are skulls, mmmm I can see what she means. My main problem is that I just don't have any clothes to match with these, even no blue jeans. But they fit me like soft slippers. So let's revamp them, before Summer is over...


Eerst speld ik een neutrale katoen van Ikea dubbel op de schoen. De katoen heet iets van Bømül ofzo, wie verzint toch die namen?

First I pinned a double cotton fabric (this is Ikea's cheap neutral cotton, called something like Bømül, I would like to know very much the person who invents these names, but let's go back to the shoes) on the shoe. Double to avoid still seeing the orange and blue.

Vervolgens naaide ik de bovenkant van de katoen vast en oooooh wat is dat daar op de achtergrond? Ja hoor de Tacky glue gebruikte ik voor de zijkanten en die kreuken minder dan de voorkant.
I attached the upper side by sewing, but wait, wait... What is that in the background? Yes next to the thread...oooh it is indeed tacky glue and I have to admit that I used this to glue the sides. The front was sewed again and you can see that tacky glue doesn't leave wrinkles!
Now the foofing up could start. I decided to crochet some flowers. You might remember that learning how to crochet again was one of my resolutions for 2009, as Santa gave me a lovely book. So I took the book and did what I thought I had to do and:


Vervolgens dacht ik bloemetjes te haken. Toen ik een jaar of 12 was heb ik duizenden bloemetjes gehaakt voor mijn winkeltje in wording. Maar dat blijk je dus gewoon te verleren, ook met boek.
Mmm that sure looks different...I must have crocheted dozens of flowers when I was about 12 and had huge plans to open a small shop. Apparantly unlike swimming or biking you do 'unlearn' how to crochet.
But to be honest I wasn't using the book Santa has given me. So I took that book, another thread, another needle and I changed location:


Maar een andere haaknaald, ander garen een andere locatie en een ander boek geprobeerd. Dat van Nicki Trench dat Sinterklaas in de ramsj gekocht heeft. Nicki vertelt aan coole meiden hoe ze moeten haken.
Now the book Santa gave me is: the Cool girl's guide to crochet by Nicki Trench. To explain Nicki just tells you what to do. Yes I am a cool girl:


Ja hoor, ik ben ook een coole girl! Nu verder met pimpen.
Now back to revamping:



When I started I wanted to use vintage lace or the crocheted flowers but in the end I decided to use them both. I glued the lace on the shoe.


Mmm nog niet helemaal af zo te zien.
First try. Btw make sure that you have enough materials to foof up both shoes. I thought there certainly was improvement, but they just needed some more:



Don't you agree? Click on the photo if you like to see more detail.


Dat is beter!
That's better!
Now you can see what I did: I glued on the lace, crocheted the flowers and ended with a little cord, like the stem of the flower. Sewed them on and used vintage pearls as flower hearts.


Mijn dochter showt ze. Ze vindt ze heerlijk zitten, maar ze wil ze absoluut niet hebben! Ach, nu heeft iedereen Birkenstocks. Maar ik denk dat ik een schoen heb waar Marie Antoinette op naar het strand zou gaan. Toen waren er ook al Birkenstocks, maar zij droeg ze niet!
And you can actually wear those espadrilles! Here is my daughter modeling them.
'oooooh they are so comfy', she immediately told me. 'Do you want to have them?' I asked her. Too bad that you couldn't hear her saying: 'NOPE!'

All the girls are wearing Birkenstocks over here, it's the rage of last and this Summer.
But I like to think that I am the only one who goes to the beach in shoes that Marie Antoinette would have worn. I am sure she never ever wanted to wear Birkenstocks!

When I was searching for the url of Birkenstock, I discovered that Birkenstocks were made for the first time in 1774. Though globalization wasn't as normal then as nowadays, Marie Antoinette could have actually worn Birkenstocks. But she didn't.



Thank you Natasha for stimulating me to finally start and finish this project.
Thanks for your visit over here, as always I love to hear from you. Don't forget to go to Natasha's blog to see who is playing too, have fun today!
xoxo LiLi M.

Bedankt Natasha voor het organiseren van deze blogparty. Vergeet niet bij de anderen op bezoek te gaan. Ik vond het gezellig dat je hier was, bedankt voor je bezoek en tot ziens, xoxo LiLi M.