Suede Soles

That's soles, not souls. I don't know how to suede a soul. If I did that'd be cool. Moohaha. Anyway, I can suede shoes. When I first started dancing I quickly discovered one's regular shoes would not do. They don't slide. And while official dancing shoes are lovely and I do own several pairs, they are expensive.

Another option is taking a regular pair to a cobbler and having them suede a pair you own. Slightly less expensive than dance shoes, but it’s still pricey.

So I looked on line, and lo and behold, a shoe sueding kit. It was 20 bucks for a small bit of suede, glue, and a thingy to trace the shoe. I'm sure you're thinking what I did right about then, I can do that myself. So I did. I bought some suede scraps on eBay for ten dollars, about enough to do 100 pairs of shoes. Well, maybe not that many, but a bunch. Two bucks for some leather glue at craft store. And that folks, is all you need.

Here's what you do. Trace the ball of one shoe on the suede. Don't need to do the heel, unless you spin on the back of your foot, which I've never seen anyone do.

Cut it out. Write 'glue' or 'howdy there' or whatever on the side you cut so you won't put it on backwards (oh yes, been there, done that).

If the shoes are already sueded (you can re-suede worn suede soles) or leather you don't have to do anything to the bottoms. If the bottom is rubber, take a knife and score the sole - glue will stick better that way.

OK, so now put glue on the cut out suede (the side you wrote ‘glue’ on). This next part is important, don't put the glue on the shoe, it won't work as well. Get the glue on every bit of the suede, be generous, but don't glob. Now wait. This is important too. Let the glue get tacky (about 5 minutes or so).

NOW put it on the shoe. Aim well; you can adjust, but not much. Press it hard on a surface that you have covered with a towel you don't want. Run another towel you hate along the edge of the shoe to pick up glue ooze.

Let sit for a couple of days and check the sides. If a bit lifts up, take a q-tip and put a little bit more on, and let sit again. Do the same for the other shoe.

Voila.

I've done this on a bunch of shoes and danced the heck out of them and they stick just fine. And, you can get a second life out of fancy dance shoes. The bottoms don't look as nice after that, but who would see, unless you fall on your butt? And if you do that you won't care about your shoes anyway.