How-To: Cute Snow Boots For Under $30!

Talk about #firstworldproblems. What's a Pennsylvania girl living on a smaller than a shoestring budget supposed to do? I cannot sacrifice cute-ness for warm and dry feet, and I certainly can't sacrifice eating for $140.00 snow boots. Seriously - who pays that? They're just going to get dirty.

So after researching, I found 2 common themes in the snow boots I loved but could never afford: fur and ribbon/laces. So one afternoon I decided I would make my own (and you can too!).

Ew, plain boots.

These are my $22 snow boots I bought at Wal-Mart. Pretty hideous, but pretty budget friendly (they're also pretty warm and super dry - always a plus). I bought a spool of ribbon and fray check (which has a million uses and everyone should have it) at Walmart for about another $4.




Then I ventured to JoAnn's and bought an 1/8 of a yard of "Grizzly Fur" in black. Fun fact about fur fabric: In order to only cut the fabric (and not the hair), the associate should rip it to the desired length. I couldn't rip it to the right length at home because I was only taking off about an inch, so I just cut it with tiny sewing scissors as close to the mesh as possible and I don' think I really cut anything I wasn't supposed to cut.

I "fray-checked" all of the edges and cut slits to run the ribbon through later. I folded the pieces about in half so that I would have symmetrical slits all the way around. It was a little off of exact half because I needed to leave extra room where the zipper was so I could still un-zip them if need be. This was probably the hardest part of the procedure (not really hard at all) and I neglected to take a photo - I was in the zone.

See my pretty pins?

Once both of your boots have fur trim cut, you just pin it in place, making sure everything matches and you have room. Then, you just sew the fur to the boot top! I sewed the whole way around the very bottom of the trim as well as very close to the top on the inside as well. With the fur being so thick, you can't see the stitches at all and the boots were so thick, I didn't go through to the outside of the boot (but you wouldn't see that anyway). I only used a modified running stitch to attach because I was making 2 passes. I have pulled them on and off many times, and so far, it seems to hold up well enough.



All that is left is to cut and thread your ribbon and tie it in the back (or the sides or front), wherever your heart desires. I put mine in the back to pull the two sides of the fur trim together, and because I love the look of bows on the backs of shoes - super cute! Make sure you do something to the ends of your ribbon to keep the ends from unraveling on you. I used synthetic ribbon, so I simply melted the ends to fuse them together.

Oh, I'm sorry, did you not want me in the photo?

It should be said that I had some help with the photography portion of this post. Apparently Shippo thinks that whenever the camera is out, he's going to be photographed. I spent just as much time making the boots as I did shooing him away from in front of the camera and chasing him around every time he grabbed the fur fabric and ran away with it. He likes furry things or just fur apparently.


Of course, ever since I made my boots, it's been the most mild winter I can remember, and I had few chances to wear them (I'm in no way complaining). I have worn them a fair bunch though, and I'm sure there will be many more in the near future. I hope your boots keep you happy and warm this winter!

Craft on, homies!