Shego Costume: Making Spandex Boots (Part 5)

Wowza, Fanime has come and gone, and I've not yet finished posting about my Shego costume build. So, I'll be updating with the rest of the dress diary. But just in case you want a refresher:

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Making Shego:

• Making Shego: Part 4 - Gloves
• Making Shego: Part 3 - Finished Body 
• Making Shego: Part 2 - Fabric Swatches
• Making Shego: Part 1 - Bodysuit

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As part of Shego's costume, she has built-in "boots" to her bodysuit.

So,  I thought to do the same, which, of course, requires more research into making spandex boots. I looked at a few online resources (listed below) and took a little bit from various links to make my boots.

First, I picked out a pair of comfortable and cheap shoes from Payless Shoe store that I thought might work. You can also try your local thrift store to find a pair. I emphasize COMFORTABLE, because I'm going to be in this costume for hours and I need to have something that won't kill my feet after an hour. (Too many cosplayers have sacrificed comfort for accuracy, and I'm of the opinion that you can have both!)

NOTE: You definitely need an extra set of hands while making boots. My Viking was kind enough to help me.

1. I cut out the final leg pattern piece and left extra fabric at the bottom of it so that it could be stretched out over the shoe.  
2. My Viking stretched out the excess fabric over the shoe (while I was wearing it) and used E6000 to glue the spandex to the edge of the sole AND onto the sole itself.

Make sure to test your glue, shoe, and fabric combination before you start gluing! I discovered that E6000 doesn't interact well with the shoes and it took a bit of the black off...right onto the GREEN FABRIC (although it wasn't visible on the black spandex).

It took a couple of days to finish the glue'ing process. My Viking was meticulous, and he'd glue down one part of the spandex to the sole of the shoe, then do the next. Once all the glue was dry, I sewed the legs to the rest of the bodysuit.

Here are the bottom of the shoe, which looks like crap. And I was a bit worried about slipping and falling as the rubber sole is partially covered.

 

Knitters to the rescue! I remembered something about hot glue and knitted slippers (from reading something on Ravelry.com), so I searched online, and discovered that you can use HOT GLUE to build traction onto slippery slippers, so I thought it would work for spandex covered shoes! 

I heated up my glue gun, and zig-zagged across the bottom of the shoes.

It worked perfectly. Once the hot glue was completely dry, I didn't slip once.

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Resources I found useful:

• http://tenleid.tumblr.com/post/57756141195
• http://crashcult.blogspot.com/2010/12/costuming-bootcover-tutorial.html
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awd8cZZOiNM
• Hot Glue & Slippers: http://www.maybematilda.com/2012/01/slip-proof-your-babys-socks-and.html