It's been hectic these couple of weeks, trying to get another costume finished, enjoying the last of the summer holidays and getting ready back for art school. As a result, this end of the project has had to take a back seat, and I have a feeling this will take me much longer than expected and will be something that I'll only work on when I have some free time... but my hopes are still high that I should finish most of it by the end of September!!
BASE
I originally had plans to use shoes from Primark, as they were cheap at £8 and were the right shape. I was going to completely alter it anyway so I wanted a fairly low priced pair, and if it were to go wrong (which I seriously hope I don't jinx!) then I wouldn't have forked out too much. Additionally, I'd need to buy the pleathers, foam and velcro etc and I wasn't sure how much that would be so I wanted to keep this an achievable, budget build.
My plan was to remove the tongue and use that to create the front flaps, and the rest I'd make up from pleather, cotton batting, and thin EVA foam - as my notes dictate. However, since I didn't make any progress after buying the shoes, I was still on the lookout for a better base, just in case if I were to come across any. And as luck would have it, I did.
Just last week, whilst I was looking for something else, I came across these in Tesco's F&F clothing department (kid's section) for £14:
And they're absolutely fantastic! It's almost twice the price of the Primark pair but to be honest, I'm quite happy to pay that considering it's not too much on the grand scale of things and it was
way more comfier. I will be wearing these after all, and hope to keep them in good shape for even every day wear, so it was definitely sensible to go for these much sturdier and supportive shoes than Primark's rather thin pair. Furthermore, it's going to make my alteration process a little easier and looks quite similar to the original Reeboks as it has (in my opinion) similar underfoot patterns, lower rim, front face (i.e. holes and general shape); and the bonus of already having a velcro strap. If I were lazy, I could even just paint it and it would look quite similar from a distance... even then, these would make a great base for an easy alteration to Bishop's low rise pair... maybe I'll buy another and do that too...!
In any case, my plan still stands: repurpose the tongue into the front flap, build the high rise section from pleather, cotton batting and thin eva foam. Pleather the rest of the shoes.
So if you've got small feet (size 5 and under) like me, I highly recommend getting these! They would be super for any ALIENS inspired kid's costumes or even mini-Ripley's and mini-Bishops out there!
