May 20, 2010 | By Carly J. Cais
Just messing around on Zazzle. Who didn’t love that gorgeous Miu Miu swallow-printed rhinestone-encrusted platform pump from their Spring 2010 show?
So I designed a similar black-on-baby-pink swallow print for a pair of sneakers on Zazzle. (I’ve been wanting to make a pair of custom sneaks for awhile, just the multiple layouts for the numerous parts of the shoe were pretty daunting. I gave up on matching the pattern across the seamlines, since it will be different for each size. If you have any design inclinations I urge you to try out their Keds Custom Shoes design tool! It’s really fun and the possibilities are limitless – you can customize the entire patten, as I did, or just choose color presets and the color of all the trims etc.) The shoe I chose is the Keds Women’s Lace-Up – and I’ve loaded it into my virtual store there, so anyone can buy their own pair too! I’ve set the pattern and allowed customization of the trims.
For my pair, I chose white trim, pink stitching, white laces, silver eyelets, white sole, and pink insole. Oh so many choices!
I can’t WAIT until they arrive and I can rock them out…first off, I’m switching out the laces to sparkly silver, and maybe pairing with some cuffed light blue denim shorts and a breezy, blousey white top? Or a black paperbag-waisted skirt and a chambray denim shirt? (With painted DIY Miu Miu collar, of course!)
If you’d like your own pair, they are available in my Zazzle store:
(The only bummer is custom sneaks take about 4 weeks to make. Totally worth the wait though – and they’ll arrive just as summer is upon us!)
xoxox
Carly
photo from Style.com
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May 15, 2010 | DIY, From You
She’s referring to the above booties.
I received the following question on formspring.me:
Hi! I adore your blog; your DIYs are absolutely fabulous! Anyways, I fell in LOVE with your booties from “How to Make a Pair of Boot-Covers from a Leather Jacket.” Where did you get them?! <3 always, Kaelie
Hi Kaelie! Thank you for your kind words!
Those booties I bought from Forever 21 – in early November 2009. I haven’t seen them since on the website or in the stores, but maybe there’s Ebay? I will mention they are the most hideously uncomfortable shoes EVER – there’s no padding in the sole, so you can feel the ground as you walk on it…and the top of the shoe is cut too high and grates on my ankle bone with every step I take. (You can see it digging into my ankles in the above photo.) The toe-boxes are also made too narrow…ick. They look pretty, though!
xoxox
Carly
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Apr 28, 2010 | DIY
After spotting this editorial in Lucky Magazine back in winter, I decided I wanted a foldover-style boot too! 
So chic – and it visually slims up your legs, working in both casual and more edgy ensembles. But since I always make instead of buying new unless I absolutely must, I’m not going to plonk down $199 on a boot…especially when I already have a whole bunch of shorter boots that will work perfectly as the base (see below).
Here’s how to make your own version, using an old beat-up leather jacket: (more…)
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Nov 23, 2009 | DIY
Note: Though this is a somewhat long and rambling post about shoe adornment, I do include a quick-and-easy DIY for the shoe elastics above. Scroll down for the tutorial!
As evidenced by the above Polyvore I made, elastic-banded pumps are in, in, in! I love how the black stretchy part over the upper contrasts so sharply with a shiny patent.
But I get the weird feeling that these will also be passe in a couple seasons. What to do??? I love that in Japan they’ve taken the idea of shoe-adornment to a whole ‘nother level with shoes that feature removable bands so you can change up your look whenever you get bored.
Even though the above shoes were in a magazine a couple years ago (!), you can buy the bands separately, in red, holographic silver, white, brown, gold, or black, for about $9 a pair here. If I started making sets – like a set of 3 pairs – and sold them for $12, do you think they would catch on in the States? 
The concept of shoe bands is kinda similar to shoe clips, but just…bands. If you opt to adorn the top of your boot, then maybe Bandits are for you! They carry a number of different styles, not just the Southwestern-inspired motif pictured above.
Bandit boot chains above. Adding to DIY list pronto.Their boot chains are completely covetable, and a lookalike of
LitterSF‘s boot chains, only about $20 cheaper. But I digress.
Shoe bands! Right. So why buy when you can…
You guessed it!
DIY!
D.I.Y. Removable Shoe Elastics…Cause Why Not??!
(This is soooo simple!)
I have the skinniest, boniest feet ever. I know.
You need:
*your favorite pair of heeled shoes
*about 8″ elastic
*sewing machine
*thread matching elastic color
(sorry, no photos…but you can definitely figure it out!!)
1. Start by puting on the pair of shoes you want to adorn with elastics. Wrap a piece of thick elastic around the upper part of your foot (halfway onto your arch). The band needs to go all the way around the pump and overlap about a 1/2″ on the underside, in front of the heel. Make sure it’s tight so it won’t slip down (just not too tight since we don’t want to crush our foot bones!).
2. Cut elastic to correct length.
3. Sew on a sewing machine – just reinforcing the overlap area on the elastic.
See? The meeting of the two ends is at an angle – NOT straight on.
I’ve found they work best when the elastic overlaps at an angle – NOT one side meeting the other side exactly – to accommodate the curve of your foot. Repeat for other elastic.
Only really necessary for 1.5″ wide elastic like this; for the thinner types of elastic it doesn’t really matter.
Presto! It’s like you have a whole new pair of shoes!
And I also tried adding thinner elastic to the ends of silver vinyl belting for a different look…and sparkly silver ribbon for yet a third look. Both have thinner pieces of elastic sewn onto the ends of the contrasting ribbons. (The elastic is only about 1.5″ long in-between, for the underlay part and to allow the band to slide over the widest part of the shoe at the toe.)
You could do virtually anything! Chain overlaid onto ribbon…frilly ribbon with grosgrain in the center…a line of sequins…anything at all!
Happy DIY’ing!
xoxox
Carly
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Dec 12, 2008 | Fashion, Media
Piperlime Guest Editor and Celebrity Stylist, Rachel Zoe, helps you open up your shoe closet (and your hearts) and shares her tips on what trends to buy, store and most importantly, donate this holiday season.
BUY (“One of the best parts of getting rid of old shoes is replacing them with new ones”, Zoe says)
**Pumps – “Black, nude, silver or gold. They go with everything. And always, always have a platform.”
**Tall Boots – “Go for black or brown. If you’re not into brown, grey is a good option.”
KEEP (“Hold onto the classics. Just when you think something is gone, designers will send it down the runway.”)
**Cowboy boots – “They come and go. A classic will show its face again.”
**Square toes – “If it’s iconic, like a square toe, keep it. Who knows? It could be back in a year.”
DONATE (“It feels so good to donate. Something you don’t want could make someone else’s day.”)
**Anything bedazzled – “Don’t toss it. THROW IT!”
**If it screams last season – “Get rid of super-super trendy.”
**What you don’t wear – “If you’ve never worn it, get rid of it.”
**Shoes that don’t fit – “You’ve got to move on. Let go.”
Have shoes to give? Piperlime has joined efforts with Soles4Souls this holiday season to impact as many lives as possible with the gift of shoes this holiday season. Simply go to www.piperlime.com for instructions on how to donate your used or gently-worn shoes to Soles4Souls and receive a $15 gift certificate.
-Carly J. Cais
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