I Got Shoes!

You notice I didn't say "bought" or "new" in there, right? I did buy them, but years ago. And they are new, but only in the sense that they haven't been worn; they've been in the closet a long, long time. They're some of the Borns I bought on clearance somewhere, and I know why: because they had this dorky Velcro strap that was just dumb: ugly, impractical, didn't function well. I wore them once and thought, "Aw, man; I'm going to have to find another home for these." But I loved them--they, like almost every pair of Borns I've ever tried on, are fabulously comfortable. I love the distressed-looking leather.

I kind of hate Velcro. While it's a great idea, it's not such a great idea for people with animals. Cat fur + Velcro = major ickiness, plus it quits functioning once the fur gets in there. You have to keep grooming the Velcro, like combing the cats.

What I didn't love was the strap. I like shoes I can slip off easily--we don't wear shoes in the house, so we take them off at the front door. And when I get into the car, the first thing I do is slip off my shoes and tuck my legs under me and sit cross-legged. That's how I like to sit, but I don't want to sit on shoes that have been walking around through spit and microscopic fecal residue and who knows what else. Gack.

OK, so I didn't think to take photos before I set to work. The EGE faked it for me, though. This is what they looked like before:

I took the seam ripper and a pair of sharp scissors and did surgery to them, and now they look like this:

Now, if you're picky, this might not work for you, as you can see the seam holes and can, if you're That Kind of Person, tell by the shape that these once had a strap. That kind of thing doesn't bother me, though--I like funky. I like altered. I have a very well-defined sense of tacky, and it doesn't encompass stuff like this. If it does seem weird, think of it this way: the seam holes will eventually become less visible, and when I'm wearing them, I can't see any of the details, anyway. Plus unless you're wearing $500 shoes, you don't expect people to be staring at your feet, right?

And I adore these shoes. Of course I tested them out before the altering by tucking the straps inside the shoes and walking around the house to see if they were going to slip up and down on my heel, which I assumed they would. Even without socks, though, they don't. They're perfect--it's like this is how they were meant to be made but someone got the stupid idea to add the strap.

My husband is happy: his favorite thing to say to me is, "Shop in your own house." Because, as you might guess, there's enough stuff here to keep me busy altering for the rest of my life.

Not that that's going to stop me from getting up out of this chair and heading over to Goodwill--it's half-off Sunday, and who knows what's there waiting for me to find it? I found a fabulous white heavy-ish linen tunic there last week. Less than $2, and by the end of today it will be either purple or plum. Maybe raspberry--I haven't decided yet.

XO