It’s flip flop season and my kids couldn’t be more excited. Moving to a new school and having the policy of no flip flops was DEVASTATING for my son, to say the least. Every day he would get home from school and throw some on just to wear around the house! My daughter is the same way when it comes to sandals. I’m not sure what it is, but they would walk through 6 feet of snow in flip flops if I let them! So on the first day of Summer break we headed to the store to buy both kids some new Summer flip flops. They were so excited, but my daughter soon got disappointed when she couldn’t find “the coolest ones” for herself. I told her we would keep looking, and just got some for my son.
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A few days later we were at the craft store, and while in the checkout line my daughter spotted these butterfly flip flops. She immediately grabbed them out with an excited look on her face, and then her face dropped. I asked what was wrong and she responded “I love the butterflies, but the top is just BORING”. You see, my daughter is a girly girl if I’ve ever seen one. She loves all things bling, makeup and jewelry, and frills galore. So to have just plain blue straps across her flip flops was not cutting it. As she put them back, I noticed that they were on sale for $1.49. I knew I could work with that!!! So I told her to throw them in the cart and we would find a way to make the tops of them not so boring anymore.
When we got home, we went on a search of my craft room (or should I say craft boxes, because I haven’t unpacked them from our move) to find something to give them a little pizzazz. We were coming up empty handed, when I noticed my box of scrap fabric. I immediately thought of all my young dance days and didn’t everyone have a pair of frilly fabric flip flops to wear to shows and competitions?! I told my daughter I had just the thing, and we gathered all the fabric up and went to work!
Supplies:
- Scrap Fabric (I used 50 strands that were 4 inches by 3/4 inch thick)
- Inexpensive pair of flip flops
- Shears
Start by cutting long strips of fabric into long strips from one end to the other, with your pinking shears. I cut mine at a 3/4 inch width (approximately…I didn’t measure nor did I cut in a straight line!)
Next cut all the strips into 4 inch sections. I used about 50 4inch strips total for both flips flops, and they were a size 10 toddler size. Obviously the bigger the flip flop, the more strips you are going to need.
Now tie each one of the fabric strips in a single knot around the top strap of the flip flop. To get an even coverage, I divided the strips in half (one half for one flip flop, one half for the other) and then in half again (one half for one side of the strap, one half for the other!). This way I didn’t have to worry about one section being more “poofy” than another.
Continue tying all the strips of fabric onto the straps until they are both completely covered. It really is as simple as that, and because it’s so easy, the little ones can help as well. Or if they don’t quite know how to tie, like my little one, they can pick the strips of fabric and hand them to you. My daughter loved choosing patterns for me!
Have your child put on the flip flop, and they are ready to show off their unique and totally not boring new flip flops!
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