Soleless Sandles by Clare Dempsey

There are all sorts of frame beads on the market now, that you can fill with pretty paper or stickers and enamel. Before you cover your paper or stickers, embellish them with Art Glitter! Today, I am sharing how to make soleless sandals, but you can use this idea for any jewelry piece or even a paper crafting embellishment! Have you ever seen a soleless sandal? They are the prettiest way to go barefoot poolside or at the beach! Won’t these look great with your first pedicure of the season? Disclaimer, I am not a foot model, and as you can see, I need a lot of help making my feet pretty!

Supply list:
DMC White Crochet Cotton
Memory Frames by Inkssentials (two frames, one package has three frames)
Patterned paper (I used My Mind’s Eye Breaking Free Totally Flipable” paper)
Art Glitter 278 Poppy Ultrafine Opaque Glitter
Art Glitter Fabric Dries Clear Adhesive & Ultrafine Metal Tip
Liquid Glass
Black Plastic Beads
Red abalone shell beads
Fasteners

I started by cutting a circle in my patterned paper and adhering it to the center of my Fashion Cap ring. Using my Ultrafine Metal Tip, I applied my Fabric Dries Clear adhesive with Poppy Ultrafine Opaque Glitter on the flip flops of my paper and allowed it to dry. Be sure to clean up your work area of all the extra glitter before working continuing onto the liquid glass or enamel step! Then I filled the bottle frame with liquid glass and using a pin popped any air bubbles. I allowed my Liquid glass to dry overnight.


I then staged my beads on my foot and determined about how many I wanted from my ankle to my toe ring. I also determined the pattern I wanted with my beads. Once you have determined your pattern, string the beads onto the crochet thread BEFORE you start! This will take some thought if you make your own pattern, as you will need to decide where the toe ring goes and then pattern for the beads is Mirrored.


For my specific sandal, I followed the steps below, but you can adapt your sandals to your size foot and or your favorite beads. Consider a bead that is metal or plastic if you plan on wearing them on a cement pool deck.

Step 1: I wear a size 8 shoe started by leaving a 9” tail for adding my closure later and chained 5 single crochets to start my sandals.
Step 2: I placed one small black bead, two chain stitches, one large black bead, two chain stitches, one small black bead, two chain stitches, one red abalone bangle, two chain stitches and then I repeated from Step 2 two more times. You should end up with three groupings of the three black bead and one red bangle combo.
Step 3: Now single crochet to one side of my frame.
Step 4: On the back side of the frame, chain 8 times and make 4 groups of the same bead combo above (towards the toes).
Step 5: Chain stitch around the second toe. I needed 18
Step 6: Following the stitching head back up the center of the sandal, until you get to the single stitches below the frame.
Step 7: Chain stitch eight times and single crochet to the opposite side of the frame.
Step 8: Stitch two more groups of beads on the opposite side.
Step 9: Confirm the crocheted sandal is long enough and then tie your closure pieces on to either end, fitting the sandal as needed.


Step 10: Repeat for second sandal, mirroring the stitching so that closure falls on the opposite side for the other foot.

So get out your Art Glitter and crochet hooks and give this a try. You can also try these variations: one using Fashion Caps Rings as a toe ring, and Art Glitter.



And a third option using a fabric flower and Gala Glitz Black from Art Glitter. Just cut fabric circles, finish the edges with a candle flame, and add some Gala Glitz in the center using your Art Glitter Fabric Dries Clear glue! You also use beading supplies instead of crocheting! These sandals should NOT be worn in the water!