Amy Brown Fairies - #1301 - the boot toppers!

Having the correct footwear can make or break the look of a costume. And boots are expensive. And, even more important, a very specific boot, like the one in this drawing, is probably impossible to buy anyway.

So, it was decided that a pattern for boot toppers was more important to put in this pattern than a wing pattern.  Really, there is only so much room in one of those envelopes. Good inexpensive wings are getting easier and easier to buy (both sets of wings the models are wear, I found on line). But, boots like this are very expensive, if you can find them.

These are not the first boot tops I've made in my life.


This Santa pattern I made has a basic man's boot top. Santa HAS to wear boots. I made a boot top with a big floppy cuff for this pirate, but it did not make it into the pattern. There was too much in there already.  So, the serious pirate has to go out and buy real boots. But that's what serious pirates do!

The boot tops for this fairy costume needed to fit over very high heels, so I trundled down to my local thrift store and bought an assortment of stiletto heels in a few sizes with a moderate range of heel heights.

As I always do, when I can, I try on and wear anything I'm working on. 


In order to get a tight fit and for easy on and off, I planned to make the front part of the boot top with pleather and the back with spandex.

This is the reason I initially made the buckle tabs with the off white pleather.  You can't make buckle tabs out of spandex and I didn't want to require people to buy a whole other cut of fabric just for the buckle tabs, but then I thought of .... 

grosgrain ribbon!!! 
So much easier and fast.  The hole for the buckle tang (yes that is what it is called) can just be poked through the ribbon. 

Hardly any sewing at all. Just be sure to use a zipper foot to sew close to the buckle when sewing the ribbon to it.

And now this boot will look like the one in Amy Brown's excellent and fun drawing!